Colin Holter

Birding 40+ years in Sussex & beyond, especially fond of NW Scotland & the Islands.
Partial to a bit of seawatching.
All photos my own (RX10iv/OM1ii).

[Colin Holter @ColinHolter]

@nigull56 😂

[Colin Holter @ColinHolter]

Absolute pleasure to see this superb adult Caspian Tern at Dungeness RSPB on Friday morning. Seriously hefty bird, but always just a bit too distant, absolutely dwarfed a Common Tern & other nearby species showing just how big it was - the largest tern species in the world.

[Colin Holter @ColinHolter]

@Photos2Print Brilliant Mark, well done. That release must have felt so rewarding...great stuff!

[Colin Holter @ColinHolter]

@Photos2Print Thanks Mark, it's obviously working! Well done!⭐

[Colin Holter @ColinHolter]

Common Tern chick anticipating a meal, & with watchful parents as it takes a precocious dip (which didn't last long before it scuttled back onto the island with the parents looking far less concerned when it was back on dry land).
@ryeharbour_NR
@SussexBirding

[Colin Holter @ColinHolter]

More of the Common Terns @ryeharbour_NR last week, food carrying & often involved in altercations with their neighbouring terns & gulls & just occasionally having a placid moment on a post...marvellous sights & sounds...
@SussexBirding

[Colin Holter @ColinHolter]

Some more Sandwich Terns from @ryeharbour_NR last week. I love the animation of the feathers that photography shows, something you can never appreciate with the naked eye - like the ruffling of the trailing edge of the primaries when slowing down to land in pic 3. @SussexBirding

[Colin Holter @ColinHolter]

The Common Terns from the Denny Hide @ryeharbour_NR seemed to be bringing in more variety of prey than the Sandwich Terns; sand eels, sprats, also I think possibly prawns & maybe baby squid or cuttlefish? Constant activity in the colony.
@SussexBirding

[Colin Holter @ColinHolter]

The Sandwich Terns @ryeharbour_NR are nesting on the island just in front of the Parkes hide this year giving wonderful close up views. Fascinating to watch the comings & goings (& squabbles) in the colony. They seemed to be finding plentiful sandeels & sprats. @SussexBirding

[Colin Holter @ColinHolter]

Little Egrets are now commonplace over much of the country, but I enjoyed watching this one successfully fishing in front of one of the hides @ryeharbour_NR last week.
I think it's sometimes it's all too easy to disregard the species you see often. Good to stop & look...

[Colin Holter @ColinHolter]

What a conservation success story Avocets have been. Good to see many pairs with young at Pagham Harbour this year, & more last week at Rye Harbour.
Such elegant birds, but noisy & feisty when they need to be.
@SussexBirding

[Colin Holter @ColinHolter]

Birding doldrums? Now is prime time to spend a bit of time at a tern colony on the coast - lots of activity as parents are very busy feeding young. Such a delight to watch these Little Terns at Pagham Harbour recently, where they seem to doing quite well.🤞
@SussexBirding

[Colin Holter @ColinHolter]

This Garden Warbler with an impressive beakful of insects was chacking constantly & only dived into a nearby hawthorn (where it clearly had a nest) when a loitering Jay flew off.
Southern Block, Knepp last week.
@SussexBirding

[Colin Holter @ColinHolter]

@Photos2Print Thank you Mark. 👍

[Colin Holter @ColinHolter]

Nearing the end editing my photos from the Uists last month... Raptors are never far away on the islands, we saw both eagles, though Hen Harriers seemed fewer than our previously, but good numbers of Short-eared Owls including these 2 near the roadside on Benbecula.
#Hebrides

[Colin Holter @ColinHolter]

We had one evening of very clear distant visibility on North Uist, which gave us our best ever views of the St.Kilda archipelago some 40 miles out into the Atlantic (for most of our week St.Kilda was invisible - cocooned in Atlantic weather systems).
#StKilda
#Hebrides

[Colin Holter @ColinHolter]

We saw many Great-Northern Divers around Skye & the Uists coastlines in May, it's always such a treat to get good views of them in their splendid breeding plumage.
#Hebrides

[Colin Holter @ColinHolter]

A few more of the beautiful Arctic Terns on North Uist, May 2026.
#Hebrides

[Colin Holter @ColinHolter]

Arctic Terns, North Uist. May 2026.