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 [...]

Blackcap Warblers in Spring | British Birding

April 8th, 2021

Nick

Most birders in southern England will have become used to the fact that this species has changed its status from being exclusively a summer visitor to a bird that winters in UK in small numbers. It has been discovered that these Blackcaps that winter in Britain migrate to UK from Central Europe and Scandinavia (check out this BTO Wintering Blackcaps Factsheet) meaning that the single male I saw singing on 5th January is almost certainly not in the area now and that the birds which are flooding into this area of Southeast England currently are migrants coming in from the Mediterranean region.

This morning I was showing Mary Anketell around my local birding patch and we came across good numbers of singing male Blackcaps, blasting their song out from the freshly unfurling hawthorn and elder foliage, providing a nice soundtrack to the sunny but frostily cold morning. Read more »

Spring Bird Song | British Birding

April 5th, 2021

Nick

Spring is my favourite time of the year in Britain. While winter has brought some interesting birds I always enjoy the lengthening days and the improving weather as the countryside begins to turn green again and summer migrant birds begin to arrive in small numbers at first and then in a flood of bird song. Resident birds have been singing for a few weeks but as spring progresses they become more aggressive and persistent in their song and as migrant birds join them a real chorus of bird song becomes a feature of Spring. Taking a walk on a sunny morning locally, I came across a nice selection of singing birds including a few migrant species that had recently arrived and a couple of locally scarce birds that were also nice to see.

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Eurasian Skylark Song Flights in Early Spring | British Birding

March 28th, 2021

Nick

Early this morning I opened the window to the sound of Skylarks singing in the early morning sunshine. With grassy fields and arable land right in front of the hosue this is a very familiar sound to me but through the autumn and winter, although skylarks do sing, I rarely hear them sustaining long song flights. Today was different, with several birds singing for quite long periods of time, so after breakfast I decided to walk around the many footpaths and farm tracks around the area and try to get some photographs of Skylarks in song flight. This is something I have tried to do half-heartedly before, with little success, but today I did get a bit more luck.

While photographing Skylarks I noticed a few things about their behaviour, particularly the length of the song flight in the rapidly changing conditions which made me look for more information in journals and reference books, which I will talk about here. Read more »

Birding Higham Marshes on a Sunny Day | British Birding

March 20th, 2021

Nick

After what had seemed like endless days of gloom the sun finally showed. I decided to head to nearby Higham Marshes, to make the most of weather, with the intention of trying to photograph Northern Lapwings performing their acrobatic display flight having failed due to poor light a week or so ago. Bright skies, cool air and only a light breeze it felt positively warm walking from the sheltered areas of scrub woodland inland of the marsh, the pleasant temperature confirmed by a sighting of a sun-basking Slow Worm, but a little chillier once I was in a stonger breeze on the Thames flood defences. However, with large numbers of birds on the flooded marshes and the sky filled with the song of Skylarks and Meadow Pipits along with the yelping of Mediterranean Gulls and weird calls of displaying Lapwings it was quite a magical atmosphere. Everything was perfect for photographing Lapwings but somehow I got sidetracked by all the other birds on the marsh and with the light in my favour I got a lot of nice birds in flight photos, including those Lapwings. Read more »

River Lapwing in Southern Thailand | Thailand Birding

March 12th, 2021

Nick

River Lapwing is a species that has declined considerably in Thailand due to human disturbance along rivers as well as habitat destruction, particularly along parts of the Mekong. However, there is one river in southern Thailand that seems to have a small population of this handsome bird that is doing ok. The Takua Pa river in Phang Nga province has been a site well-known for some years as a reliable one for River Lapwing with a couple of road bridges over the river from where it is often possible to spot a few of these birds on sandy islets when the water levels are low. Back in early 2019 I was made aware of another site along the river where birders are able to walk around a set of wet fields and find River Lapwings at various wet areas and along the river so I made a visit at the end of March 2019 and obtained some nice photographs of River Lapwings, seeing 9 individuals. Read more »

Colour Ringed Great Cormorant | British Birding

March 11th, 2021

Nick

I always encourage birders to report colour ringed birds to those who run the ringing programs involved. It is only by receiving reports that ringers can build up a bank of knowledge which can then potentially be used for bird conservation strategy formation. That is not to say that every report of a ringed bird or even every ringing program has a direct benefit to bird conservation but the formation of conservation policy or opposition to developments that might be detrimental to birds can only be as good as the data behind them, so that the more bird watchers report any sightings they have of colour ringed birds, the more accurate the data. Along with this, it adds a certain point of interest to a day’s birding and can liven up a quiet day, it certainly added to a really bird-filled day I had at Dungeness in Kent, SE England at the end of December 2020. After checking my photographs from the day I noticed a colour ring on the leg of a Great Cormorant and although it took quite some time to receive information after submitting the sighting, what I learned about the bird was interesting. Read more »

Winter Birding in the Snow; Darent Valley Local Patch | British Birding

February 14th, 2021

Nick

Winter birding on the local patch I have in Kent has been a little frustrating over much of January and February with lots of rain turning all the local footpaths into an absolute mudbath and birds being thin on the ground apart from large numbers of Redwing which although numerous were extremely shy. The suddenly, all of this changed with the arrival of far lower temperatures, freezing of the sodden ground and a covering of snow.

Over the course of a few days snowy conditions added a new layer of interest to my local patch birding along the Darent Valley with birds concentrating around areas rich in food sources and losing some of their shyness as the stress of the cold forced them to work harder to find enough food. Added to this was the arrival of a few species not normally found in the area including two species of birds I have never previously seen on my local patch in over forty years of birding the area! Read more »