Sometimes it is nice to travel to visit our favourite birding hotspots but at other time it is good to poke around local areas of open land to see what birds can be found. Particularly with the seasons changing and wintering bird numbers building up, local open spaces that may have become unproductive over the summer months are likely to have had an influx of species that while maybe not nationally significant, may be interesting from a local perspective. With this in mind I took a short afternoon trip to nearby Dartford Marshes, a relic of open land on the Thames at the boundary of the county of Kent and London. I wasn’t expecting too much from my visit but in the end I was extremely pleasantly surprised both in the quality of some of the birds I saw but also the variety and numbers of birds present. Just get out and you might be surprised at what you see; I was!
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 [...]
Brent Geese Autumn Flocks | British Birding
November 14th, 2020 
Nick Although birding in autumn brings expectation in terms of seeing scarce and rare birds as they migrate it is also a time to enjoy watching large flocks of commoner species as they gather in migratory flocks or as their numbers build up as they arrive on their wintering grounds. When I am in UK one of the birding spectacles I look forward to in autumn is the arrival of large numbers of Brent Geese in the Thames estuary in southeast England. Flocks of these winter visitors arrive in tens, then hundreds, finally forming groups in their thousands and their constant contact calls help to create an amazing atmosphere when out birding on the marshes of North Kent. Over the last few weeks I have made a number of trips to several locations where these charismatic birds gather and spent time watching and photographing them as well as creating a video about them. Read more »
Birding at Sevenoaks Wildlife Reserve | British Birding
November 9th, 2020 Nick One of the most pleasant aspects of this time of the year is the palette of colours provided by the foliage of trees and with some good weather over the last few days I decided that a good place to appreciate these colours was at Sevenoaks Wildlife Reserve in Kent where I hoped that these colours would be magnified by their reflections in the water in this collection of old gravel pits. Of course, being a birder I chose a location that had the possibility of turning up a few interesting species too and I was able to see a good variety of nice birds as well as being treated to a good display of autumn colour.
Birds such as varied as Blue Tit, Eurasian Jay, Siskin, Redwing, Shoveler and Long-tailed Tit added to the colour while Goldeneye, Grey Wagtail and Caspian Gull provided interest as scarce birds for the area. A late or wintering Blackcap was a little surprising too but the autumn colours inspired me to make a short video to capture the atmosphere I experienced while birding at Sevenoaks Wildlife Reserve. Read more »
Herring Gull, First Winter, with Colour Leg-Ring | British Birding
November 8th, 2020 Nick On 16th October 2020 I enjoyed a nice birding day at Minsmere and Southwold with David Scott. Although the day had not turned up any rarities we saw a wide variety of nice birds including big groups of Redwings feeding on berries, Coal Tits on the feeders, a Mediterranean Gull on the scrape, a male Eider in flight out to sea, lots of Brent Geese flying overhead, large numbers of Goldcrests in low bushes and great views of a few Dartford Warblers. We finished the day at Southwold Harbour with a nice Purple Sandpiper and a first winter Caspian Gull but as we were leaving to go back to the hotel we noticed a first winter Herring Gull that had a colour leg ring on it. I stopped the car and took a couple of quick photos so that I could report the bird to the relevant person. Read more »
Birding Walk in the Darent Valley | British Birding
November 4th, 2020 Nick It is not always necessary to travel far to see good birds. There is often the temptation to travel to bird hotspots or to chase after rarities to satisfy the urge to enjoy seeing a variety of scarce and interesting birds. However, today I was reminded that by spending time watching birds close to home interesting birds can be seen too. With the idea of trying to photograph Siskins and Redwings I took a walk that I have made many times since I was very young along the Darent Valley between the villages of Hawley and Sutton-at-Hone in Kent. The walk I took passes through farmland and fishing lakes but it was at the watercress beds that I decided to linger and photograph small birds as they fed on hawthorn berries and alder seeds. A small flock of attractive Siskins were present but shy, groups of Redwings were feeding but hard to approach although a colourful Grey Wagtail on the stream was easier to observe in detail. While lurking around trying to get photographs of these birds a massive surprise suddenly made the day one to remember. Read more »
Great Grey Shrike | British Birding
November 2nd, 2020 Nick Chasing around after rare birds is a style of biring that can either be a rewarding addiction, if you connect with the species you are looking for, or a disappointment if you end up in some supermarket car park only to be told that you should have been there half an hour ago. I don’t often chase after birds but on the few occasions that I have I have had the latter experience more often than the former including last week when I went looking for a Great Grey Shrike that had been seen on several days at Capel Fleet, on the Isle of Sheppey in Kent. I wasn’t that bothered as I had a nice day, seeing a superb male Hen Harrier among other things but a few days later I went back on the off chance that it might still be around along with the fact that I just like birding in this lonely area.
At first there was no sign of any shrike and as I was chatting to a couple of birders, including a very enthusiastic young birder, I was more focussed on spotting raptors than anything else but when the conversation came around to “a Great Grey Shrike was seen here a few days ago” something quite weird happened. Read more »
Birding Walk in the Churchyard | British Birding
October 28th, 2020 Nick On a day of showers with sunny spells I took a short walk across the fields to the local church at Sutton-at-Hone which has a nice variety of trees and overgrown patches that make it a mini wildlife haven. I arrived in the mid-morning, during a sunny spell and a high level of bird activity with flocks of small birds roving through the low trees in search of food and noisy thrushes feeding on hawthorn and yew berries. With so much activity I spent around an hour and a half in the churchyard photographing birds and enjoying the autumnal colours but I had quite a surprise when a group of noisy, scolding birds drew my attention to something unexpected sitting in a yew tree. Read more »
