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 [...]

Yellowhammer: British Birding

July 27th, 2015

Nick

Yellowhammer is a bird that should be common in the farmland close to where I come from in Northwest Kent. There is a mixture of arable and pasture with plenty of hedgerows which should supply this species with a suitable habitat, but I can walk a long way without hearing its distinct call. Around 25 years ago Yellowhammers were fairly abundant in this area where there was suitable habitat, which seemed to be anywhere where arable and pasture were side-by-side and there were a few bushes to act as song posts, but like so many farmland birds there seems to have been a huge decline in Yellowhammers in this area.

However there is one area, locally, where there is still a healthy population of Yellowhammers and a few mornings ago I made a quick visit to Castle Farm near Lullingstone along the Darent Valley where suddenly Yellowhammers become fairly common and it did not take long before I found my first one. Read more »

The Brecon Beacons NP; A Short Birding Trip

July 20th, 2015

Nick

Last week Shuki Raviv and I spent a couple of days birding in the Brecon Beacons National Park in South Wales with Red Kite, Dipper, European Nightjar and Tawny Owl our main target species. Although the weather was poor on our arrival over the course of the time we spent in the area we enjoyed some great birding as well as some much better weather in which we were able to enjoy some long walks and great scenery.

On our first afternoon the drizzle and low cloud rather hampered our efforts although we did see some nice woodland birds including Spotted Flycatcher, Goldcrest and Coal Tit. We spent a lot of time walking along streams looking for Dippers, without success, but finding many Grey Wagtails, Pied Wagtails and a territorial Common Sandpiper as well as farmland species including Greenfinch, Meadow Pipit, House Martin and Goldfinch. A few Buzzards were also nice but 4 female Goosanders flying in to the Talybont Reservoir at 9pm were excellent to see and set us up nicely for an excellent day to follow. Read more »

Oare Marshes: British Birding

July 17th, 2015

Nick

A few days ago I made an afternoon, followed by a morning, visit to Oare Marshes, near Faversham, Kent with Shuki Raviv from Israel.In mid July Oare is usually a good place to see a variety of the first migrating waders in breeding plumage as they head south from their breeding grounds and we were not disappointed with large numbers of Black-tailed Godwits displaying a wide variety of plumages for us to study at close range. I had read reports of Spotted Redshank recently seen at Oare and after observing many other species we found a single Spotted Redshank in almost complete breeding plumage – excellent. Other waders seen were large numbers of Pied Avocet, 10 Dunlin, 1 Golden Plover, 1 Bar-tailed Godwit, 3 Whimbrel, 20-30 Eurasian Curlew, large numbers of Common Redshank, 1 Common Sandpiper, 8 Green Sandpipers, 40+ Northern Lapwing and several Ruff in partial breeding plumage. Read more »

Lung Sin Waterhole in June: Thailand Birding

July 6th, 2015

Nick

Lung Sin Waterhole and other similar sites, near Kaeng Krachan National Park, are well known for the number and variety of birds that visit them in order to bathe and drink, offering many fantastic photo opportunities of common and scarce birds. These waterholes tend to be at their best in the driest of weather, usually the middle to end of the dry season when the forest is very dry and the waterhole is the only water source for some distance, but there are a few excellent birds that are regular visitors in the wet season too and one of these, Red-legged Crake, was the target bird of an afternoon there with some visiting birders. Read more »

Petchaburi Wetlands in June – Thailand Birding

July 3rd, 2015

Nick

The wetlands of Petchaburi include freshwater rice fields and fish ponds, salt farms and mudflats all of which attract huge numbers of migratory birds in the months October to April. With large numbers of birds, including the critically endangered Spoon-billed Sandpiper, come large numbers of bird watchers but very few people visit the area in the wet season. Certainly in the months of May to August the large congregations of shorebirds are absent but the region still has some species of interest which make the area worth a visit at any time of the year as I was able to show some visitors recently.

Spending a day in the Petchaburi wetlands we were able to make some interesting observations, including some resident species in breeding plumage as well as good numbers of large waterbirds and a few rare species.

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Rainy Season Birding; Kaeng Krachan – Thailand Birding

July 2nd, 2015

Nick

Pittas are perhaps the most sought-after group of birds in Thailand by visiting and resident birders alike. Their combination of intricate plumage and difficulty to see make them very desirable but they are at their easiest to see in the wet season, when they are breeding, and at a time when few birders visit Thailand. However, I recently escorted three visiting bird watchers on a tour put together in order to find Pittas and other breeding birds and at Kaeng Krachan we were successful in getting multiple sightings of three species – Blue-winged, Blue and Hooded Pittas.

Although heavy rain and winds a few days before our arrival had destroyed many known nests of Broadbills we were still successful in finding 6 species of these fantastic birds; Dusky, Long-tailed, Silver-breasted, Black-and-red, Black-and-yellow and Banded Broadbills. Broadbills are a favourite of mine so I was very pleased to be able to share these birds with those accompanying me. While unusual weather conditions made birding hard at times we were lucky enough to see some really good birds, something which tends to be always true at this time of year at Kaeng Krachan.

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Rainy Season Birding; Khao Yai – Thailand Birding

June 25th, 2015

Nick

The rainy season this year should perhaps be renamed the “grey skies & windy season” after the experience of the last few days birding at Khao Yai. However, there were some sunny spells and the weather certainly did not stop us from finding some great birds, although it took a fair amount of patience from the group.

Top of everyone’s expectations were Pittas; so hard to find outside of the breeding season and still not an easy proposition when the birds are breeding. So, finding two species – Blue Pitta & Hooded Pitta – in two days was very pleasing. The Hooded Pitta showed itself with the minimum of fuss at a regular site for the bird. On the other hand finding Blue Pitta required a large effort and lots of searching before finding one just an hour before dusk on our last day. Our forest birding resulted in quite a few other good sightings too. Read more »