Dartford Waffler

Gull Feeding Frenzy at Samut Sakhon | Birding in Thailand

A beautiful sunrise, thousands of birds, the sound of the sea; all the ingredients for one of the world’s birding hotspots, but in reality this is the atmosphere I was able to enjoy on a short morning excursion from Bangkok when visiting the “Red Bridge” coastal boardwalk in neighbouring Samut Sakhon province. Rather than being [...]

Birds in a Park in Bukhara | Birding in Uzbekistan

Uzbekistan is one of those countries that is great for birding and at the same time extremely interesting in touristic terms too; an ideal place to travel with a non-birding partner and then to find time to go birding in locations near the tourist spots and to visit some really spectacular scenery. In late April [...]

Top 5 Birds of Vietnam Birding Tour 2025 | Birding in Vietnam

Vietnam is the country in mainland Southeast Asia with the highest number of endemic species and the best place to see a number of regional endemics too as well as a fantastic supporting cast of more widespread birds. Leading the Calidris Birding Tours trip to Southern and Central Vietnam in March/April 2025 gave all participants [...]

A Day Birding in Qatar | Birding in Qatar

My annual migration between Thailand and UK has not only seen the cost of direct flights rise dramatically but I have grown very tired of sitting on a plane for twelve hours, if only I was able to make the journey under self-powered flight like a Bar-tailed Godwit! Indirect flights are, of course, a solution [...]

Parakeets & Peafowl | Birding in Thailand

One thing I have learned over the years that I have been bird watching is that there are many different ways for people to enjoy birds. I started birding by going on long country walks in England with birds being perhaps the most accessible category of wildlife to enjoy along the way. Friends of mine [...]

Growths on Legs & Feet of Birds

August 4th, 2015

Nick

While bird watching at Ashdown Forest a few days ago I spent some time trying to get some good photos of some of the commoner birds occurring in woodlands. A Treecreeper kept me occupied and frustrated for some time until I noticed a male Chaffinch foraging close by in the leaf litter. I was able to approach it quite closely a few times but due to low light conditions and me setting the camera incorrectly I failed to get a really good photo of it. However, when I was checking my photos I noticed that the bird had a large growth on its left leg so I followed it and managed to obtain some slightly better images.

The photos revealed a large, warty growth on the toes and leg of this Chaffinch but it did not appear to be in any distress although it was rather unusual that it repeatedly allowed me to get very close to it as it was feeding. I have seen this type of growth before in Thailand on the legs of Paddyfield Pipit and was informed that it was caused by a parasitic mite, but I decided to do a little research online to see what the cause could be in Chaffinches. Read more »

Reporting Ringed Birds – British Birding

August 2nd, 2015

Nick

A lovely sunny day prompted me to head to Dungeness on the coast of Kent this morning in the hope of seeing some terns and gulls at the water outlet of the nuclear power plant – “the patch”. Unfortunately there were very few birds at all there, just 20-30 Herring Gulls of varying ages and a couple of Black-headed Gulls and no terns at all which is a little unusual for the time of year. I spent some time watching but very little of interest was to be seen so I headed back along the access road to see if I could find any roosting gulls, finding a couple of small groups to photograph from the car.

A group of gulls lurking around the back of a fish hut, fighting over scraps, caught my attention and a quick look at them revealed a single juvenile Yellow-legged Gull among a group of Great Black-backed and Herring Gulls. These bold birds allowed me to approach fairly closely and I made sure I got some nice photos of Great Black-backed Gulls in different ages but it was not until I got home that I noticed that one of the birds I photographed was wearing a colour ring with an alphanumeric code on it.

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Ashdown Forest – British Birding

August 1st, 2015

Nick

Woodland and heathland birds in UK have both declined in numbers in my lifetime and many species that used to be common now seem to be scarce even in what looks like good habitat. The populations of some heathland species have now stabilized or even increased, probably due to improved habitat management, although others, particularly migrant species, continue to decline. Woodland birds have declined dramatically, particularly in the Southeast of England, to the degree that species such as Willow Tit, Common Redstart, Tree Pipit and Spotted Flycatcher seem to have completely disappeared from places where they used to be fairly common. With this in mind I decided to take advantage of good weather to visit Ashdown Forest to look for some of these birds.

Ashdown Forest is an area in East Sussex that has a number of connecting patches of heathland and woodland, still containing good numbers of birds that are absent in much of the southeast. It is a particularly good place to see European Nightjar, but on this occasion I did not plan to stay out until dusk. I did, however, see a number of other interesting species. Read more »

Returning Waders – British Birding

July 29th, 2015

Nick

July is a month when waders begin their migration south, from their breeding grounds and it is a good time to see some scarce species as well as some commoner ones in near breeding plumage. Many of the earliest migrating waders are adults that have failed in their breeding attempts as well as some successful breeders and juveniles meaning that their are a confusing variety of plumages for birders to test their skills with at this time of the year.

Having seen a nice Spotted Redshank in near breeding plumage when birding at Oare Marshes about 2 weeks ago I went back to this site today which is often a great place to see passage waders in late July. By far the most numerous species of wader today was Black-tailed Godwit, with a large flock of more than 400 birds resting and feeding in the shallow water, but as usual there were a good number of species to see, including a few scarce ones. Read more »

Shellness; Gulls & Waders – British Birding

July 27th, 2015

Nick

Shellness, on the Isle of Sheppey, Kent, is a location where large numbers of birds can be seen at more or less all times of the year. Today I made a late morning/early afternoon visit to see if there were any interesting passage waders at the high tide roost in the hope of getting some close-up views as birds began to feed on the receding tide.

Before reaching Shellness I stopped at the seafront at Leysdown where a group of birds were roosting on the mini golf course, most of which were gulls. I get very little practice with gulls when I am in Thailand so I took this opportunity to take a close look at this group. Within the flock of Black-headed Gulls, which were resting and preening, were a number of Common Gulls and Herring Gulls, both of which are common species, but something far less common was a Mediterranean Gull in full summer plumage. Further scanning of the group revealed a second Mediterranean Gull, this time moulting our of summer plumage and preening extensively – the bird pictured here. Within the flock of gulls were two roosting Oystercatchers but more surprising was Sandwich Tern which seemed out of place on a golf course.

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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 land, growing wheat and onions on rotation as well as some pasture with plenty of old hedgerows which should supply this species with a suitable habitat, but I can walk a long way without hearing the distinct call of this fabuous bird.

In the 1980s and early 90s 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 »