Did you go birding on 1st January? The great thing about birding on New Year’s Day is that all the birds are new for the year list and as such almost all the birders I know are keen to get out on the first day of the year, and this year I was no exception. A gloomy morning was unexceptional and I had in my mind that the first bird of 2021 would be one of the commonest birds of the area; House Sparrow, Magpie, Common Starling, Collared Dove or suchlike so it was a huge surprise to open the door and hear a Corn Bunting in full song. A singing Corn Bunting on 1st January doesn’t sound like something very likely but a quick scan of the bushes in front of the house revealed the singing male which was quickly joined by a second bird, presumably a female. From home the route I took was along a chalk stream, through old gravel pits and farmland with a stop at an old churchyard for a nice variety of local birds including a few interesting ones. Read more »
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 [...]
Local Birding; Darent Valley | British Birding
December 23rd, 2020 
Nick When I was at school almost all my birding was done in the local area, other than a few trips with my school wildlife club and family holidays around Britain. Over the years I have traveled much further afield in search of birds but right now I find myself back where I grew up, with travel becoming ever more restricted my birding has become more focussed on the areas I birded when I was much younger. This has given me the opportunity to rediscover local bird hotspots as well as find scarce local birds that I haven’t seen in the area for many years. Until today the standout highlight of my old local patch along the Darent Valley in Kent has been Lesser Spotted Woodpecker (Birding Walk in the Darent Valley) along with Little Owl and my old favourite, Corn Bunting. On my walks in the area of the past few weeks I have visited a spot that used to host Woodcock in harsh winters but although I have searched hard I didn’t find any; until today. Although I didn’t succeed in getting any photos it was really great to track down this bird and enjoy taking some photos of more common birds. Read more »
Ringed Gulls at Beddington Farmlands | British Birding
December 21st, 2020 Nick Although birding is a relaxing hobby that takes birders to lots of interesting and often beautiful places I also find it rewarding to be able to contribute towards a greater understanding of birds which can provide information useful in their conservation. One of the easiest ways I have found of doing this is by reporting ringed birds whenever I am able to find them and read the colour markings or codes on them. When I made a visit to Beddington Farmlands on 2nd Novemer 2020 my main objective was to see the long-staying White Stork that was there (check out my video on it here – White Stork in London) but with large numbers of gulls to search through I was not only able to find an interesting variety of species but two different colour-ringed gulls, a Black-headed Gull and a Lesser Black-backed Gull, to add a different type of interest to a nice day of birding. Read more »
The Gull Next Door | Book Review
December 8th, 2020 Nick The Gull Next Door, by Marianne Taylor, is a book written from the heart of an author who has grown up around gulls and continues to get a great deal of pleasure from watching these resourceful birds wherever they occur, especially within the UK. Rather than a detailed examination on gull identification this is the author’s attempt to impart her love of this much-maligned group of birds to the reader through a variety of interesting facts, anecdotes and personal observations. Dealing with all of the species of gulls regularly seen in Britain as well as the rarities the author also examines interesting aspects of the ecology of gulls and their lifestyle, the often fragile relationship between gulls and humans, gulls in literature and art as well as the phenomenon of larophilia. Written in a conversational and easy-to-read style The Gull Next Door is one of those books that is interesting, enlightening, at times making the reader smile and the author’s enthusiasm for these birds is definitely infectious through these pages. This is an enjoyable book that gull experts and novices can enjoy, but most of all it is an enjoyable read for anyone who loves birds and is curious to learn more from an author who is easy to relate to and has a passion in the subject matter. Read more »
Singing Song Thrush on a Misty Morning | British Birding
November 30th, 2020 Nick When a bird is named for its song it is a good indication that its vocalization is something that is worth listening to and when it is heard on a morning with very limited visibility the lack of other visuals really amplifies the effect of this bird’s rich and energetic song. In fact the word foggy would be more accurate, although less alliterative, so that when I came across a particularly cheerful Song Thrush at Riverside Country Park in North Kent, UK, my ears took over from my eyes to appreciate this song that I rarely hear. With the still air several Song Thrushes seemed to be enjoying broadcasting themselves across the area without being hampered by the competitive sound of wind noise and as a soundtrack to the eerie atmosphere created by the mist it was lovely. With one individual seemingly oblivious to my presence I was able to get into a position to video it singing and capture the attractive song with its liberal use of phrases of mimicry. Read more »
Birding at Dartford Marshes | British Birding
November 20th, 2020 Nick 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!
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 »
