Comments on: Beach Birding in August | British Birding http://dartfordwaffler.co.uk/beach-birding-in-august-british-birding/ Birding from around the world Wed, 16 Jul 2025 21:15:21 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.5.1 By: Nick http://dartfordwaffler.co.uk/beach-birding-in-august-british-birding/#comment-148125 Nick Fri, 26 Aug 2022 15:32:55 +0000 http://dartfordwaffler.co.uk/?p=63035#comment-148125 Hi John.

Thanks for that really interesting comment. The first half was a really nice story and makes me remember that yesterday was the funeral of my old French teacher, Mr Graham Nicholls, who was an inspiration to me and many others as young teenagers with our birding trips after school.

The second half of your comment has some sad themes, particularly the destruction of that estuary. I am lucky to be able to travel to lots of great birding locations around the world but Shellness is somewhere I always appreciate every time I am back in UK. On this visit I was on the beach for many hours, and only a very few people came by; just me and the birds, it’s lovely. I found some similar lonely beaches recently in Oman where I was the only person around, alongside lots of Sooty Gulls, terns, egrets and even Persian Shearwater. I love those lonely beaches.

]]> By: john williams http://dartfordwaffler.co.uk/beach-birding-in-august-british-birding/#comment-148123 john williams Sat, 13 Aug 2022 03:53:34 +0000 http://dartfordwaffler.co.uk/?p=63035#comment-148123 It is a delight to read this report about a place I always wanted to visit, and hope to if I can ever afford to go back to England. Thank you for posting all the info. I met you briefly on Doi Inthanon some years back, and hope I thanked you then for all you had posted about different birding sites in Thailand. My interest in the bird world goes back 67 years when our primary school nature teacher took our class on bird walks in the Nottinghamshire area. Seeing that my best friend and I were interested, he took the two of us to see Peter Scot giving an illustrated talk in the city hall about his Gloucestershire reserve. We were introduced, and when we asked for the great man’s autograph, he produced a sketch pad that had original water color sketches of two Mandarin duck in flight, and signed each page. It was an emotional moment. I got to see his reserve years later, but Peter Scot had passed on. At the age of ten, my pal and I went on bird walks together. We had no binoculars but were delighted to spot a Purple Sandpiper on Nottingham sewage farm. Our teacher confirmed that, but told us not to hang around there because of the foul air!
I left England in 1966, and travelled around Europe, the Middle East, and India, but had little money, and no binoculars, which I regretted when seeing birds off the Norwegian Coast, in the Himalayas, and boating through the huge bird reserve near Agra in India – place set up for the rich Brits during the Raj. But it wasn’t until I found myself in a well paid job in Japan that I could afford binoculars, and a telephoto lens to help ID the wide range of new birds. South of Nagoya, there were wetlands I was able to see all the shore birds you list in your Sheppey report, and at one point, in wellingtons, trying to photograph hungry Phalarope, I had Spoonbill Sandpipers running around at my feet. Sadly, that whole area was soon filled in, fenced off, and replaced by a huge oil refinery. And there has been a similar ending for nearly all tidal estuaries in Japan. So much for the Japanese love of nature.
But here I am in Chiang Mai now dependent on affordable hospital care, and thankful for your excellent field trip notes. So, thank you again!

]]>