As ever, my recent trip to Portugal was a blinder. I love the relaxed atmosphere, the warm welcome I always receive, the tasty grub, agreeable temperature and the fantastic birds. On this occasion I was invited to speak at and run urban birding workshops at the 2014 Portuguese Birdfair Observaria Estarreja some two hours north […]
Portugal has some damn good birds! European Roller Whinchat Black Kite White Stork Black-winged Stilt White Stork carrying nest material House Martin constructing its nest House Martins collecting mud A displaying male Spanish Sparrow
It’s April and this has got to be the best month to be trampling the sacred grounds of The Scrubs, my beleagured local patch. My early spring wanderings here are due to change, almost certainly for the worst, once work commences on the HS2 and London Underground stations that are to be built immediately north […]
White Wagtail The Champions of the Flyways Bird Race was organised by the Society for the Protection of Nature in Israel. The whole thing was steered by the energetic and all around nice guy Jonathan Meyrav with the help of his colleagues. The race featured 24 competing teams of birders from Israel, Britian, Georgia and […]
A selection of the birds we encountered on our bird race. An Osprey preturbs a passing flock of Feral Pigeons Osprey Tristram’s Starling Laughing Dove Eastern Olivaceous Warbler Black-eared and Isabelline Wheatears Green Sandpiper Spotted Redshank with a Marsh Sandpiper Griffon Vulture Hen Harrier A colour-ringed Houbara Bustard of unknown provenance
Spent the day with my team mates Stephen Moss and Tim Appleton doing a leisurely semi run through of our route for the bird race tomorrow. Saw some nice things. Only hope we can see it all again – and some – tomorrow! Slender-billed Gull Ruff Crested Lark Nubian Ibex – not a bird, I […]
The big news from Eilat is that after a lifetime of wanting to see a Quail and failing miserably I am delighted to announce that I saw my first this afternoon. It was practically stepped on my producer and director Stephen Moss, called by British Bird Watching Fair co-founder Tim Appleton and was greatly enjoyed […]
I’m in Israel at the behest of BirdLife International Israel and others to compete in the Champions of the Flyways Bird Race to raise money and awareness for the plight of million of migrants that run the gauntlet of the many hunters that kill them in North Africa and the Mediterranean. Along with several other […]
Howard Vaughan, warden with TUB on a similar walk in 2012 I had a lovely Sunday morning/early afternoon co-leading a bird walk at Rainham Marshes in the company of the hugely knowledgable Howard Vaughan and up to 40 eager birders. Some of the crowd We saw a lot of the usual suspects – Shelduck, Wigeon, […]
Daybreak at The Scrubs I’m back in the saddle at my local patch having attended it three mornings in a row now, which is more visits than in the past two months! Singing Dunnock A variety of songsters were clearing their throats including Wrens, Dunnocks, Robins, Song Thrushes and at least one male Chaffinch. I […]
A female Northern Shoveler The Northern Shoveler, as its name suggests, is a bit of a northern duck. I’m not speaking about the north of England though. They breed largely, if not wholly, within the Northern Hemisphere taking in North America and the northern areas of Europe and Asia. In the winter they range further […]
Football in the park ‘What you raisin’ your flag for mate? You don’t know what it’s for’. ‘Square it!!! Square it!!!’ Those were the cries that greeted me on my first official visit to Wanstead Flats, Redbridge in East London. Yes, the Sunday League footballers were out in force vociferously playing the game that they […]
When the world renowned bird artist Ian Lewington told me at the British Birdwatching Fair last year that he was finishing illustrating a new tome to be called Rare Birds of North America I started salivating on the spot. He is one of my favourite bird artists – ever – and the rare birds of America intrigue […]
Alpine Accenter the prize bird in Les Baux I have spent a glorious week co-leading a Shetland Wildlife tour of Southern France that took in parts of the Camargue and the French Pyrennes. We managed to catch up with a host of great species, some of which were not expected to have been seen so […]
Griffon Vulture What an amazing few days I have just had! Navarra is a great place for birding and a shot hop from the UK. A full version of my memorable trip to the Navarra Region in Spain will appear in a future issue of Bird Watching Magazine. Meanwhile, here’s my trip list Navarra Region […]
A drifting female Marsh Harrier Thekla Lark Common Starling 1st winter Golden Eagle The same eagle powering past Eurasian Serin
A pair of Griffon Vultures A female Cirl Bunting looking up! The gorge at Arbaiun A flyby Red Kite Lammergeier A slightly better shot
TUB with artist & bird guider Gorka Gorospe Angry skies over Zolina It looks like rain The cliffs at Etxauri The limestone detail Spottless Starling White Stork coming in to land Now a pair, they settle down for a touch of courtship An overflying Griffon Vulture Chiffchaff in Pamplona
The very last edition of Birding World I started this year with all the best intentions of keeping a regularly updated blog with all my latest news and views. Well, so much for that. My main excuse is the fact that I was frantically finishing my next book – Look Up! How To Be An […]
An adult I found in the river at Agua Calientes, near Machu Picchu, Peru I was going through my photographs the other day and found a whole slew of photos from my recent trip to Peru in August last year that was facilitated by Crees Foundation http://www.crees-manu.org/. As I was in the Andes I was […]