Dartford Waffler

Independent Birding at Zaamin National Park | Birding in Uzbekistan

Uzbekistan is a surprising country with a wide variety of landscapes, ancient historical monuments, some interesting food and drink as well as good infratructure that makes the country easy to travel in independently. However, my wife and I pushed this a little further than most travelers to the country by visiting Zaamin National Park where [...]

City Park Bird Abundance | Birding in Thailand

For those of us lucky enough to travel internationally to see birds it quickly becomes apparent that in some countries birds are abundant while in others birders have to work harder to see a wide range of species. This was brought home to me most recently spending a morning at Sri Nakorn Kuean Khan Park [...]

Touristing & Birding at Petra | Birding in Jordan

For those of us who travel with non-birding partners it can sometimes be tricky to balance enjoying time together somewhere interesting and the craving to maximise the opportunity to see new birds in new places. Personally, having a good holiday with my wife is the most important thing when planning trips together but doing some [...]

Rainy Season Birding at Pathum Thani Rice Research Centre | Birding in Thailand

There can be times of the year when bird watching hits a trough because a lack of activity, unhelpful weather or overfamiliarity with a smaller selection of species than at other times. In Thailand these factors are all true in the rainy season with a large number of species absent, on their breeding grounds further [...]

Mountain Birding from Chimgan | Birding in Uzbekistan

I have always loved immersing myself in mountain landscapes but over recent years my opportunity to do so has been limited with much of my time spent in tropical forests and wetlands in Thailand so when the opportunity presented itself to spend some time birding in mountain habitats in Uzbekistan I took it without having [...]

Shorebird Heaven – Thailand Birding

November 12th, 2016

Nick

As I will be heading back to Pak Thale & Laem Pak Bia for a few days tomorrow I thought I would process some of my photos from my last visit on 3-4th November. Of course for most birders viewing the critically endangered Spoon-billed Sandpiper is the top priority and I was successful on both mornings with this bird, getting quite close one day; I spent more than an hour watching some Spoonies feed at a distance of just 10 metres with at one point four individuals of the species feeding together including one white-flagged bird.

Perhaps the most impressive thing about my visit on these two days were the huge numbers of shorebirds at both Pak Thale and Laem Pak Bia salt farms. Not only were the numbers of birds very impressive but the variety of species was very high too with the star species being Spoon-billed Sandpiper, Nordmann’s Greenshank, Asian Dowitcher, Far Eastern Curlew, Terek Sandpiper, Malaysian Plover and White-faced Plover. Such numbers also allowed for many close encounters and photography opportunities. Read more »

Late October Migrants – Thailand Birding

October 29th, 2016

Nick

I often spend a morning looking for migrants Sri Nakorn Kuen Khan Park during the Spring migration in March/April, when it can be very good birding, but have never visited during Autumn migration in September/October due to the fact that I am usually back in UK. This morning I had a chance to visit this small but well-wooded park, and although migration is probably passing its peak for many birds I had hopes of finding something interesting; perhaps given the different time of year for my visit I could add a species or two to my park list?

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Birding from Home – British Birding

October 26th, 2016

Nick

These days I have two homes; one in Bangkok and one in UK – my mother’s house, which is where I grew up. Yesterday I returned to my Bangkok home from my UK home where over the last couple of months I have been able to enjoy birds and other wildlife on walks from the front door. As much as I enjoy Thailand this is not something I am able to do from where I live so it makes my stay in UK that more pleasant. Most of the birding from my mother’s house is not particularly spectacular, although a number of declining species can be found right on the doorstep and a good variety of birds can be found if you know where to look for them. Basically the area I go birding in when I am back in Britain is what was always my “local patch” when I was younger and the area in which I grew to love birds.

Over the years I have seen 128 species along the Darent Valley, close to my mother’s home, and the following are a selection of photographs from August and October this year (2016). Read more »

Shorelark Twitch at Reculver – British Birding

October 18th, 2016

Nick

Today I decided to make a trip along the North Kent coast to Reculver where Shorelark had been reported for about a week or so. As I have written on previous occasions I am not much into twitching. It is not because I don’t like to see new birds or that I am not prone to becoming obsessive about listing, it is just the simple fact that I do not like to be in crowds of people, but Shorelark is a bird I enjoy seeing very much and I did not expect there to be many other birders around given that it is not very rare in UK.

My main hope was that I would be able to get close enough to get some nice photos of a species that frequently can be very confiding as well as birding in an area that would hopefully provide a few other interesting birds. On arrival I met a couple of other birders who had exactly the same idea as me and we were all to be rewarded with some nice lunchtime birding. Read more »

Birding Away From The Crowds – British Birding

October 16th, 2016

Nick

Siberian Accentor is a great little bird, I had the pleasure to see several at very close range in South Korea earlier this year, in January, in the company of Nial Moores of BirdsKorea.org. However, when I got the news that one had turned up at Easington, East Yorkshire, I cancelled my plans to visit the area for a few days of birding and decided to pay a visit to the north Norfolk coast instead. Now, I know many UK birders will think I am crazy for missing the opportunity to add this rarity to my British list but while I know many people enjoy the camaraderie of twitching, I really do not like birding in crowds and many of the other rarities in the area such as Dusky, Pallas’s & Yellow-browed Warblers are commonplace where I live in Thailand and of no real excitement to me. Instead I hoped to find an area where I could encounter migrant species that I do not get the opportunity to see in Asia and at the same time do some birding in a nice place away from huge crowds of other people. With this in mind I decided to visit Burnham Overy Staithe where a Great Grey Shrike had been seen and where I would be likely to find other birds that were exciting to me. It proved to be a successful and enjoyable visit. Read more »

King’s Projects – Thailand Birding

October 13th, 2016

Nick

For all of us who love Thailand October 13th 2016 is a very sad day with the passing of King Bhumibol Adulyadej, aged 88. Apart from his steadying influence on Thailand, the way his activities most affected me were in the many Royal Projects that he initiated that are good places for birding. King Bhumibol initiated a large number of projects around the country which were designed to help rural folk which range from agricultural projects such as those at Doi Ang Kang (Chiang Mai) and Chang Hua Mun (Petchaburi), flood-mitigation projects such as Kaem Ling Nong Yai in Chumporn and the well-known experimental wastewater treatment project at Laem Pak Bia (Petchaburi) which most birders in Thailand will have visited.

There will be a long period of mourning in Thailand and many tributes to the King who devoted his life to helping the people of his country. My tribute will be a simple one; a gallery of bird photographs taken at the Royally Initiated Project at Laem Pak Bia, a site that has given much to birds and bird watchers thanks to the foresight of King Bhumibol. Read more »

Birds in Jakarta – Birding Indonesia

October 9th, 2016

Nick

After the successful completion of an endemic-filled birding tour to West Java & Sumatra last month I spent a few days in Jakarta, mainly to rest, but also to do a little birding in the city as I was interested in seeing the Javan form of Coppersmith Barbet which is so different from the subspecies I am used to seeing in Thailand. I spent two mornings birding in Jakarta; one morning at the well-known Muara Angke marsh in the north of the city and another morning in the park surrounding the National Monument in the centre of Jakarta. Considering that Jakarta is a huge, sprawling and polluted city it is quite a surprise how many species of bird I found in these two small green areas in a short space of time. Read the following account for lots of photos and a map locating both sites which provided a nice introduction to birding in West Java. Read more »