Happy New Year! I am looking forward to what I have planned ahead in 2019 with a birding trip starting in South Korea tomorrow but over the last few days I have also been thinking about some of my birding highlights in 2018. As usual I did a lot of birding in Thailand, which always produces lots of memorable sightings and a few “Thai ticks” as well as a couple of “Lifers” were obvious highlights but I was also lucky enough to have some amazing experiences with birds in Myanmar in the early part of the year, Malaysia in Spring, United Kingdom in Summer and early Autumn as well as a memorable road trip around Europe with some good birding in Austria and Hungary in September.  In November/December 2018 I traveled to Southeast China where large waterbirds were our main target and then I finished the year with some top quality shorebird watching in Thailand. With so many locations came a lot of good birds but there are some which stand out for various reasons including the always spectacular nesting seabirds in the Farne Islands, half the world population of Siberian Cranes at Poyang Lake, China, a long-awaited Crab Plover in Southern Thailand, dancing Chin Hills Wren Babbler in Myanmar, Rail Babbler and Garnet Pitta in Malaysia and my annual appointment with Corn Buntings near my home town of Dartford. You can read about some of my birding highlights of 2018 here.

January My year started, as it so often does, in Northern Thailand where it is normally pleasantly sunny and cool at this time of year but somehow my cheerful group from US had to endure some truly awful weather in the mountains for a significant part of the time we were there. However, somehow in the periods of sun that we did enjoy we managed to see the vast majority of the target birds and, as usual, enjoy some really good views of birds coming to feeding areas with this Chestnut Thrush as the undoubted highlight.

Chestnut Thrush

Despite the weather we saw a lot of great birds including Himalayan Cutia, Mrs Hume’s Pheasant, Spot-breasted Parrotbill, Giant Nuthatch, Black-throated Bushtit and many more – Enjoying The Birds You See.

When we moved closer to Bangkok the weather and the birds were more in our favour and a wonderful day of shorebirds including, of course, Spoon-billed Sandpiper, was followed by a very good visit to Kaeng Krachan National Park, where among other great birds, we got a really wonderful encounter with Ratchet-tailed Treepie after everyone was very patient as I tracked its quiet progress through dense vegetation before it emerged in all its glory.

Ratchet-tailed Treepie

In hindsight this observation was even more special as it will not be available for us in Thailand this year as the upper limits of Kaeng Krachan are closed for road maintenance.

At the end of January/beginning of February I led a birding tour to Myanmar. This was a great trip, with a nice pace, lots of birds and a fun group not to mention all of Myanmar’s endemics including the colourful Jerdon’s Minivet, Hooded Treepie, cute Burmese Tit and White-browed Nuthatch. My photographic highlight here was Sand Lark which finished off a really nice late afternoon session of birding along the Ayeyarwaddy river and displayed itself in the late afternoon glow.

Sand Lark

Apart from the endemic species the overall quality of birding was the real highlight in Myanmar with a good abundance of birds at most times. We had very memorable experiences with some of the skulking birds including Chin Hills Wren Babbler which made us work hard before suddenly appearing everywhere shortly before dusk, Scaly-breasted Wren Babbler, Brownish-flanked Bush Warbler, numerous Chestnut-headed Tesias and a pair of lovely Rusty-capped Fulvettas.

Connecting with key target birds is always a thrill but seeing Collared Myna in a setting of stands of flowering trees was excellent and really allowed us to enjoy these birds properly.

Collared Myna

Overall this was one of the most enjoyable birding trips I have been on with lots of good birds, great food, good company and getting to see a wide variety of habitats and cultures across the country. I have planned the next trip to Myanmar already, check out the itinerary here – Myanmar Birding Tour.

February As well as the tail end of my Myanmar tour in February I had some very nice birding in Thailand. A short photography trip was very nice but a 17-day trip was particularly special for the high level of success we enjoyed as well as a really great group and a lot of laughs. We visited North and Central Thailand with outstanding birds being Scaly Thrush at Doi Ang Kang and Coral-billed Ground Cuckoo at Khao Yai.

Scaly Thrush

Coral-billed Ground Cuckoo

For the second year in a row I recorded over 500 species on this tour but it will be hard to match this in 2019 with some partial closures of some birding sites and the closure of some stakeouts by national park staff who find it easier to harass birders than they do to stop poachers and encroachment.

March I had a change of scenery at the beginning of the month leading a tour to Peninsula Malaysia. Undoubtedly one of the year’s highlights was a visit to Fraser’s Hill where an abundance of excellent birds made the stay really lovely, with species such as Chestnut-capped Laughingthrush, Long-tailed Sibia and Fire-tufted Barbet as bird table birds to enjoy at breakfast it was a real treat. For me catching up with birds that are either not present or extremely rare in Southern Thailand was a real highlight; Malayan Whistlingthrush, Blue Nuthatch, Malayan Laughingthrush, Black Laughingthrush, Pygmy Blue Flycatcher and this Malaysian Partridge all stood out for me.

Malaysian Partridge

Fraser’s Hill was really good for getting close views of a number of species too with feeding stations around the mountain allowing us to get lots of memorable sightings.

Red-headed Trogon

Rufous-browed Flycatcher

At Taman Negara we found some very special birds, but birding was tough. Malaysian Rail Babbler was probably our crowning glory but Helmeted Hornbill, Large Frogmouth, Red-naped Trogon, Rufous-collared Kingfisher and this Garnet Pitta were all special too.

Garnet Pita

After everyone had had their fill of this Garnet Pitta I stayed behind and gradually managed to get closer and closer until I was just a few metres way; a very special moment made all the better for the fact that I walked away and the bird was still on its perch.

Malaysia was really full of amazing experiences and we ended with this; a Mountain Peacock Pheasant at point blank range. This is a really secretive bird, right out in the open. Amazing.

Mountain Pecock Pheasant

April March was a busy month for me with leading a tour to Central & Southern Thailand towards the end of the month too and then into April. Birding turned out to be harder than expected, mostly due to wetter than expected weather but it still provided me with one of the most memorable birds of the year – Crab Plover.

Crab Plover

This was one of my most-wanted birds in the world and one which reaches Thailand most years in ones and twos, but never anywhere that I can get to when they are there. Two birds had been reported months before I visited so it was much to my surprise to find that this one was still there on my visit. It was not only wonderful to see this bird but to spend time and get close to it for this photo was a real highlight. In fact I enjoyed it so much I went back a few days later, after the trip, with my wife to enjoy it again.

May I did little birding in this month, spending time at home and working on website development. Still, it was to turn up another major highlight of the year when I paid a visit to my local park where a Fairy Pitta spent a few days resting as it migrated north.

Fairy Pitta

This is a really rare species in Thailand being an annual but very scarce passage migrant and this was only the second record of the bird west of the Chao Praya river and it was great to see it on my local patch.

June In the middle of the month I flew back to UK to spend some time back home, staying with my mother in Kent. With lovely weather and breeding birds this is always a highlight of my year and getting reacquainted with the local Corn Bunting population is something that I enjoy a lot, being able to get familiar with good numbers of males on their territories.

Corn Bunting

Corn Bunting

I always enjoy trips to Shellness in Kent to see large numbers of shorebirds come to roost and this year I found myself close to a nesting Common Ringed Plover when I sat down in the sun to take a break. I did not see the bird at all until it shuffled around in its nest as I sat nearby eating my lunch. I took some photos before retreating, trying to create as little disturbance as possible, but as it was nesting right next to a public footpath it probably was not too bothered. It was a real thrill to be able to see this bird at such close quarters. It was also great to find two pairs of Yellow Wagtails nesting in onion fields close to home.

Common Ringed Plover

My annual pilgrimage to see Dartford Warbler was another highlight for me, unfortunately no good photos this year though.

July Although I enjoyed plenty of day trips birding around Kent in July the stand out highlight of the month was a short trip I made to Northumberland and North Yorkshire. With superb weather it was just great to be out in a lovely part of the UK but visiting Staple Island for Roseate Tern and then the Farne Islands for Puffin, Guillemot, Razorbill, Shag, Arctic Tern and others was superb.

Puffin

Shag

Razorbill

Many experienced birders have told me they have never visited the Farne Islands mainly because the birds one can see there are easily seen around the country, but in terms of a bird experience this is up there with the best of them. It is hard to believe how many birds and how close they are until it is experienced. This is somewhere all bird-lovers should go; the experience with Arctic Terns is amazing in particular.

Arctic Tern

After the Farne Islands I visited a site in the Yorkshire Dales that I had not been to since I was a teenager. Years ago my family spent time in Reeth and from here we went onto the moors and saw Red Grouse and I have seen precious few of them since then. I went back to exactly the same area and got some exceptional experiences with these birds which sadly were due, very shortly after, to be the targets of those that enjoy grouse shooting. I have mixed feelings about this pursuit but find it weirdly worrying that people derive pleasure from killing things.

Red Grouse

August This was a quiet month as I got things prepared for the British Bird Fair but I still enjoyed some birding around Kent, UK, where the highlights were Red-necked Phalarope and Bonaparte’s Gull. I did not get photos of either of these birds but I did also enjoy a trip to Crossness ature Reserve in Southeast London. This is a small piece of habitat in a really grotty part of the world, but I always really enjoy seeing how resilient nature is hanging on in such places. I found a surprising number of species here, while worrying if my car was going to get broken into (it was ok) and this juvenile Reed Warbler was one of the most enjoyable sightings.

Reed Warbler

September A road trip around Europe with my wife was a great way to spend most of September. We visited France, Belgium, Liechtenstein, Slovakia, Czech Republic and Germany but the real highlights were birding in Austria and Hungary, with a lovely Middle Spotted Woodpecker in Luxembourg.

I love Alpine Choughs. They are fun characters up in the high mountains and every time I went into the Alps in Austria I came across these friendly birds. On the mountains outside of Innsbruck we took a rest and started eating a snack but as soon as they spotted us Alpine Choughs began swooping in from all around. It was incredible how they spotted out cakes from far away mountains tops and were next to us within seconds.

Alpine Chough

Alpine Chough

 An unexpected highlight of these mountains was a pair of Rock Ptarmigans that were foraging within metres of a crowded lookout.

Rock Ptarmigan

Birding in Eastern Austria and Hungary was lovely too. It was really quiet, few people around and some pleasant countryside to amble around in and see plenty of birds that I don’t see too much of including finally catching up with a real bogey bird of mine: Black Woodpecker. Syrian Woodpeckers were great too as was Eastern Imperial Eagle and White-tailed Eagle but best of all was a flock of Great Bustards – a real thrill to find them.

Great Bustards

October Back in the UK I don’t really enjoy twitching but enjoyed some Autumn birding in my own way and a visit to Knole Park near Sevenoaks in Kent was very memorable and a little nostalgic for me. When I was a teenager my father used to take me for wildlife walks in Knole Park and I make occasional visits but a couple of visits in mid October for some reason really reminded me of the walks we used to have there. The birds I saw were fairly mundane from a British birder’s point of view, but as someone who lives in Thailand and given the situation, they were special to me.

Coal Tit

Redwing

Far rarer. and still Highlights for me, were a Grey Phalarope and Jack Snipe on the same day at Bough Beech Reservoir, also near Sevenoaks, Kent.

Jack Snipe

November Some really nice birding in Thailand again in November with Michael Carmody of Legacy Tours. We saw a lot of the regular star birds of Northern Thailand including Yellow-breasted Bunting, Mrs Hume’s Pheasant, Giant Nuthatch and many others but the real highlight of the month for me was seeing half the world population of Siberian Cranes in China. At Poyang Lake we had some unseasonally hot weather and had to walk quite a long way to locate Siberian Crane but when we did the numbers just kept increasing as birds arrived as we watched. finishing with at least 2000 birds; an incredible experience. Unfortunately they were a bit far away for me to photograph but Red-crowned Crane was not.

Red-crowned Crane

December Apart from the tail end of my China trip I did not do too much birding in December although a trip to the north resulted in a big highlight with my first Spotted Elachura in Thailand. However, a few trips to Petchaburi province in Thailand resulted in some of the best shorebird watching possible; seeing Spoon-billed Sandpiper on 5 occasions in this month was great.

Spoon-billed Sandpiper

My first Sharp-tailed Sandpiper in Thailand was quite exciting too but finding Thailand’s 3rd Collared Pratincole was one of the year’s highlights even though I had seen the first one for the country too. In the photo below you can see the white trailing edges to the wing that separate this species from the Oriental Pratincoles it was associating with.

Collared Pratincole

With a new camera it was also very nice to get some really good photos of Asian Dowitcher.

Asian Dowitcher

With trips to South Korea, Kazakhstan and Java/Sumatra planned for 2019 I am hoping for another good year but it is not just rare and new birds that will be highlights, I am sure that I will be excited again by birds I have seen many times but have a personal meaning to me. All the best for 2019.