Birding in the UK

[Kitsafari]

Hi fellow BY-ers and non-BY-ers,

 

The last time Herman and I were in the UK was 10 years ago when we drove up to Sheffield and spent a couple of days in London, enjoying the December Xmas lights and the Natural History Museum.

We are just exploring - still very fluid in our plans - a thought that we should go up to the UK to do our birding trip with the main goal of seeing birds in their breeding coats. that suggests that we should be up there between April and May? 

I am reaching out to the UK residents for suggestions of timing and places to visit for a, say 8-10 day trip with time constraints and probably location constraints too. We'll probably rent a car and drive. 

 

TIA!

Kit

 

[AndrewB]

Depends where your interest lie Kit.

Seabird colonies on the north east coast, Bempton Cliffs maybe?? Not an expert in this area.

North Norfolk coast for waders, seabirds, Harriers, even breeding Spoonbills. Then some excellent woodlands nearby (Felbrigg Hall and Blickling Hall). Inland walks from the coast for variety? (I know this area better).

Another option possibly in the south with excellent (but you would need to put the miles in on foot) birding in the New Forest and then go west into Dorset for some seabirds around Purbeck and then Arne reserve and maybe Radipole Lake (Weymouth), fairly sure Bittern are still to be found here. All around Poole harbour as well.

I think a bit more around what you would be hoping for could give other ideas.

[TonyQ]

Hi @Kitsafariwe will give some thought to this and respond with a considered post.

Many of our birds are in breeding plumage at the times you suggest, but some of the seabirds, including Puffins breed a bit later. We will think and reply again

[Dave Williams]

I guess you will be flying in to London but if you choose Qatar or Emirates it increases the options for easy access to other regions too. Personally I haven't visited London in over 15 years and have no wish to either! 

The target species for a non UK resident will be totally different than a UK birder who isn't that interested in the everyday species I wouldn't think. We do have lots of relatively easy birds to find wherever you might be in the UK and I'm sure you'd be happy to see them. The UK is of course a haven for nesting seabirds but as a result of avian flu access to some of the best places may well be limited, places like the Farne islands for example.

Generally speaking the east coast is better for seeing migrating birds but the west coast has in my opinion, nicer scenery. My own preference nowadays is to avoid moving accommodation too often so in 8-10 days I'd choose three locations at most. You then have to ask yourselves do you want to do more than just bag numbers of birds or do you want to include other things too ?

Maybe a good place to start looking is at the UK Big Year members to see what kind of numbers they are listing and where they have seen them? Safari pals is another place to consider.

Looking at my own totals, this year I have only added 77 species in the UK compared to 134 the year before. That said I was out of the country for much of April and May and have also lost my mojo to go out and look for more of late. There is also the fact that BY is about capturing birds in camera, I have seen many that I have yet to photograph  or at least get a reasonable shot that I'm happy to post.

If I am at home I'd be more than happy to share some of my favourite places here in North Wales and NW England. I have however already booked a two week trip out of the country in the time period you are suggesting.

[Zim Girl]

Hi @Kitsafari,  I live in the north west of england and am quite biased in thinking it is one of the better areas for scenery as well as birding.  We are close to upland areas which give a different selection of birds compared to more southern areas and also close to the coast for waders etc.  A good place to look for ideas is the RSPB website.  Their map gives the location of all their reserves and then you can read about the birds most likely to be seen in each one.  https://www.rspb.org.uk/reserves-and-events/reserves-a-z/

I think once you have decided where you are flying into and how far you are willing to drive it will help with deciding locations.  As Dave said, is this trip purely for birds or are you sightseeing as well?  Once you have narrowed it down a bit we can help a lot more.  If you do make your way 'up north', we would be more than happy to meet up with you if possible.

 

 

[Galago]

Hi @KitsafariWell, as a Londoner, I can say it has a lot more to offer than some might suggest!  A favourite area for me is East Anglia, most especially Suffolk. The RSPB's flagship reserve, Minsmere, is there and, after over 40 years visiting it, I never get tired of it. But there are loads of other good places around there. You may want to look at suffolkbirding.co.uk  It's run by two top birders (in my opinion, the best in the area), Steve Piotrowski and John Grant. They offer various trips in terms of area and length but, what might be really good for you would be a one day tour as you really can do a lot in a day there. 

 

As @Zim Girl says, you may need to decide on priorities so that you're not spending too much time travelling. This may be a small island but the roads are horribly congested and, consequently, getting from A to B is both time-consuming and stressful. Anyway, if I can help more, let me know. I'm not sure of my whereabouts at the time because we're hoping to move house but, keep in touch either here or on Messenger and, if we can, we'll make a plan. If I'm still in London, there's always a bed here if you want to do some London stuff.

[Kitsafari]

Hi @AndrewB @Dave Williams @TonyQ @Zim Girl @Galago  thanks for the suggestions and invitations to meet up. we're taking notes and will check out the places that you've all mentioned. We've been to the UK several times before and we'd done the most of scenic places already. This time, when we do come over it'll be mainly for the birds (sceneries along the winding A roads) and make time for a bit of good food too. 

  we also don't want to make long  journeys around the country. we drove from Sheffield to London which was doable in one day but we don't want to rush around too. 

THanks for the offer of a spot to sleep over Annie!

we are slowly making plans for the year - kenya in january, japan (sightseeing) for me in March, then exploring one spot in Indonesia hopefully sometime in the year, and hopefully the UK as well, although we may not rule out Oz too.  

 

 

[TonyQ]

Hi @Kitsafari

 

Another place you might consider is North Norfolk coast. We have been 3 times at different times of year. We probably saw most birds in our April 2018 trip.

Norfolk is not far from Suffolk (as mentioned above for Minsmere). It is very flat.

It has some particularly good reserves. RSPB Titchwelli s particularly good. It has a number of pools with ducks and waders and access to a beach with waders. It also has a visitor centre with feeders where you can get close views of some of our common garden/woodland birds such as Great Tit, Blue Tit, Coal Tit and Chaffinch.

https://www.rspb.org.uk/reserves-and-events/reserves-a-z/titchwell-marsh/

a map of the site

https://www.rspb.org.uk/globalassets/downloads/documents/reserves/titchwell-map-2018---pdf.pdf

 

There are a number of good sites close to this one. About 20 mins to the east is Holkham with some woodland, and Holkham Hall with a good pond. There should still be some geese around

A further 25 mins to the east is Cley Marshes (Owned by Norfolk Wildlife Trust) - marshes and open pools. We have seen Bearded Tits there on 2 out of our 3 visits. There will be Sedge Warblers and Reed Warblers at this time of year I think

https://www.norfolkwildlifetrust.org.uk/wildlife-in-norfolk/nature-reserves/reserves/cley-and-salthouse-marshes#TabsReserveTabs_TabOverview

 

There are other smaller places to bird, and other places on the coast.

There are also a number of bird guides who operate in the area (we haven't used one so can't recommend one) - google would show some

 

When we visit we stay in Wells-next-the Sea which is inbetween Titchwell and Cley, but there are a number of nice places to stay in the area.

 

Google maps suggests about 2hrs 15 from Minsmere to Titchwell for example

 

My Big Year 2018 shows the birds we saw in Norfolk during our april visit ( other than all those already seen elsewhere earlier in the year)   they are from Bird Number 245 (UK 68) to 271   (UK 102)

 

It can of course rain at any time in the UK! so be prepared.

We visited Poole Harbour last October (so a differnt time of year). We found many of the birds quite distant - but we find understanding tides quite difficult being from the centre of the country!

There are many good reseves in the North of England as well as @Zim Girlsuggests,

Wherever you are it is also worth considering parks, as the birds are often used to people.  Some of the London parks will give give close views of our common birds such as ducks, Great Tit, Blue Tit etc. @lmSA84lives in London I believe and might be able to offer some suggestions in the area.

@Tdgravesand @Soukouslive in the east of England I believe (Cambridgeshire, Suffolk) I believe and may be able to offer suggestions about the east.

 

 

[kittykat23uk]

Hi @Kitsafariif you decide on Norfolk, let me know as I live in Norwich. If you're coming in March or April then Norfolk Coast is a good option for spring and migratory birds. A bit later and you could focus on the breeding seabirds further north in Northumberland (puffins etc) or Bempton Cliffs (fewer puffins, but lots of gannets) or you could consider the Scottish Highlands or Islands for some of the rarer birds.. 

[inyathi]

@Kitsafari

 

I confess to my shame, that I haven’t done a lot of serious birding in the UK, this led me to think that I can’t offer a whole lot of advice, but then I thought about it and thought actually perhaps I could post something. Since Poole Harbour and Arne was mentioned, I would suggest if you do decide to go there, including a trip across to Brownsea Island, this is the largest island in the harbour. The island is owned by the National Trust but the larger part of it is managed by the Dorset Wildlife Trust as a nature reserve, besides being not bad for birding and a beautiful place, it has one of the last populations of Red Squirrels in the south of England and you should likely see them on a visit. It’s a long time since I have been there or to Arne, one thing that has changed since I was last down there, is the start a few years ago of the Poole Harbour Osprey Project and slightly more recently the Isle of Wight Sea Eagle Project, these two reintroduction projects, mean that it is now possible to see both of these species in the harbour, if you are there at the right time and are lucky. You’ve probably seen enough Ospreys on your travels, but they’re still nice to see, a birding boat trip in the harbour could offer both Ospreys and eagles, along with plenty of other birds, I think the eagles are seen fairly regularly, if you’ve not seen White-tailed Eagles trying to see them in Poole Harbour would save a trip up to Scotland, though you might have better and more guaranteed sightings up there if you went to Mull. RSPB Arne which is on the south side of Poole Harbour is probably the best place in the UK to see Dartford Warblers and the harbour now boasts the largest population of Eurasian Spoonbills in the UK, but you need to be there in Autumn to see large numbers of them, I don’t know how many might be still around in spring. Of course another option for Ospreys if that is an interest is Rutland Water, there’s now a good population in that area and a local trout farm there, have an Osprey hide for photographers wanting to get shots of them fishing, all of their other ponds are netted to keep them out, I guess the money from bird photographers more than pays for the fish, the Ospreys take from the one pond, they can fish in.    

 

Horn Mill Trout Farm

 

 

Thinking about reintroductions, something I’ve not done yet even if it’s in my backyard is visit the Great Bustard Project, the Great Bustard became extinct in the UK in the late 19^th century, but the Great Bustard Group have successfully reintroduced them at several locations in South Wiltshire starting in 2004, there are now around 100 wild bustards. You can book a visit to one of their hides to see the birds, I’ve not done this, so I don’t know what the experience is like, as far as I can see their hides are open every day except Sundays. They breed in March so you’d likely have to visit then to see them lekking, that would be the best time, but I presume you’d still see the birds at other times. I’ve seen Great Bustards in Spain, so I haven’t been in a rush to go and see them, but if you’ve never seen one, a visit could be worth considering, I think their main hide is near Amesbury, it should fit in if you were considering visiting the Poole Harbour/New Forest area. You could then always pay a visit to Salisbury, avoiding any dodgy Russian tourists, to see the cathedral's famous 123 metre spire and see if you can spot the Peregrines that nest on it.

 

Great Bustard Project

 

Common Cranes are a species that recolonised naturally, but the population has been reinforced with reintroduced birds, they can be seen in the wild in Norfolk, the birds were reintroduced in Somerset, but the project was carried out by the Wildfowl and Wetland Trust and their HQ at Slimbridge in Gloucestershire, is actually perhaps the best place to see wild cranes outside Norfolk. Slimbridge has a substantial collection of captive wildfowl, but is also a great place for birding at least in autumn/winter, I don’t know how worth visiting it is in spring, but on their website, they do list cranes as one of their star species in spring, otherwise I think Cranes are best seen October to March. If you do decide to visit Norfolk, then I probably wouldn’t suggest visiting Slimbridge as well, as it’s the opposite side of the country. WWT have a small number of other reserves around the country, that could be worth visiting depending on which parts of the country you opt to focus on.   

 

The Cranes were released on the Somerset Levels and the RSPB has some great nature reserves there, for wetland birds, although winter is perhaps the best time to be there for all the flocks of ducks, but there should still be some waders and other good wetland birds to be seen in spring. As has been mentioned before you can find out about their reserves on their website

 

As others have mentioned for seabirds you need to visit the Welsh coast or head north to Northumberland or up into Scotland.

 

Cornwall now has a small handful of Choughs (Red-billed) that can be seen fairly easily and if you are going that way, on the south Devon coast you can see the UK’s only Cirl Buntings, the RSPB has information on where to find them. Wales of course, has rather more choughs and is one of the best places to see Redstarts and now has a small Osprey population. Somewhere in North Wales could make for a good base.  

 

All of this is just more food for thought, you can’t fit it all in and don’t want to be doing too many long drives.

 

It just occurred to me as I was about to post this, that the website Cloud Birders has lots of UK trip reports that might prove helpful

Edited November 25, 2022 by inyathi

[lmSA84]

@Kitsafari- when and if you do get to the UK I hope you have an excellent time!

 

Around London / the South-East I would really recommend considering the following:

 

1. The London Wetland Centre if you're staying on the West side of city

2. RSPB Rainham Marshes and Elmley Nature Reserve - these are about an hour apart and could both be done in a day

3. RSPB Minsmere - it's arguably the RSBP's flagship reserve and it's on the same side of the coast as Rainham and Elmey so you visit them, you could stay a night in Suffolk and continue onto Minsmere and then Norfolk

 

If you choose to go West of London, I would highly recommend WWT Slimbridge and then you could continue on to the Gower & Pembrokeshire coastline (both very beautiful) and a visit to Skomer Island for Auks, Gannets and Shearwaters. 

 

[Soukous]

On 11/22/2022 at 4:36 PM, TonyQ said:

@Tdgravesand @Soukouslive in the east of England I believe (Cambridgeshire, Suffolk) I believe and may be able to offer suggestions about the east.

 

Sorry to be a bit tardy here.

If you are visiting East Anglia please do get in touch.

Also, it is worth thinking about timing your visit to see the Snettisham Spectacular.  https://www.rspb.org.uk/contentassets/1851537184e94d6fb27c12b217209247/snettisham-spectaculars-2023.pdf

[Galana]

Coming in even later with the comment that United Kingdom is three countries not just 'England' and yet only Jo has mentioned north of the border.

Due to population pressures I personally would cross off everywhere south of Birmingham to the Wash and for a comfortable bird packed trip with little relocating time fly into Glasgow and head for The inner and Outer Hebrides. Mull jumps out as a hotspot. Two species of Eagle and raptors galore. Otters and Deer. Seabirds with a must do trip to the seabird paradise isle of Lunga with the friendliest Puffins I have met. Chance of Dolphins too.

Then a hop to Skye and over to the Outer Hebrides for Divers which I doubt you have seen.

It really is down to what you want to see but north of the border will probably have it and some cultural sites too if you have never been that way.

[Dave Williams]

3 minutes ago, Galana said:

Coming in even later with the comment that United Kingdom is three countries not just 'England' and yet only Jo has mentioned north of the border.

Due to population pressures I personally would cross off everywhere south of Birmingham to the Wash and for a comfortable bird packed trip with little relocating time fly into Glasgow and head for The inner and Outer Hebrides. Mull jumps out as a hotspot. Two species of Eagle and raptors galore. Otters and Deer. Seabirds with a must do trip to the seabird paradise isle of Lunga with the friendliest Puffins I have met. Chance of Dolphins too.

Then a hop to Skye and over to the Outer Hebrides for Divers which I doubt you have seen.

It really is down to what you want to see but north of the border will probably have it and some cultural sites too if you have never been that way.

 

Excuse me Fred...I did offer a guided tour of N.Wales and N.W.England!

 

[Towlersonsafari]

it does of course depend on what birds you want to see and how much time but can I vote for mull- the best place to see eagles and other birds of prey such as hen harriers, but if time and distance is more limited then dorset- as @inyathimentioned Poole harbour is now good for white tailed Eagles and ospreys as well as waders, rspb Arne is beautiful with dartford warbler and a host of heath and woodland birds and very good for reptiles, and the new forest is close by.Brownsea island also gets a vote from me.

and rutland is good for osprey red kite waders and  if you are up that way very happy to demostrate by lack of knoweldge 111

[Galana]

4 hours ago, Dave Williams said:

Excuse me Fred...I did offer a guided tour of N.Wales and N.W.England!

Of course you did Dai bach and I saw it but as little Ernie would have said 'Wot I wrote' was that only Jo had mentioned north of the border (with @inyathicoming close behind.) 

[Kitsafari]

Apologies for going off-grid and for this delayed reply. Work was heavy in November and December. 

 

Thanks to everyone who shared their suggestions - all excellent and we will need to first pin down where we are going this year. 

At this point of time, we are juggling a few potential trips - the UK trip, perhaps a trip to Sulawesi, and a potential trip to Christmas Island. Much as I want to go on all of these trips, my annual leave from work is limited, and these trips (plus one to Kenya in January and one to Japan in end-March) will soak up quite a few days.

But i think UK is more than likely to happen. it's been nearly 10 years since we were last there.

 

Next, we will have to decide on timing - at this moment - a vague late May, and then our flights - whether to fly direct to London or Manchester (assuming there's a direct flight) which will then decide which areas of the UK to cover. 

The majority of birds in the UK will be new to us, although some species have been seen in Spain already (common cranes and osprey). I will report back once we have pinned down the timing and the areas we hope to cover! 

 

 

 

 

 

[Galana]

I don't think there are direct flights to UK from Singapore other than to the dreadul LHR.

But all is not lost. Many flights to other UK airports (Glasgow, Edinburgh, Manchester etc..,) with say Emirates, Qatar and European carriers such as KLM via their European hubs. Cuts out London and a lot of driving if you do plan to go into the provinces mentioned.

Often cheaper too.

 

[kittykat23uk]

In the past I would have recommended klm to fly directly to Norwich if you were planning on coming to Norfolk but they were shockingly bad where Ecuador was concerned. 

[Galana]

If you were to come to /scotland there is a good route I know that would hit a lot of birds and some culture from Glasgow or Edinburgh.

Loch Lomond, Oban, Mull both Eagles and others plus the friendly Puffins of Lunga, Mallaig-Skye- Uist, Sky Ealean Donna Castle, Glenfinnan monument and Viaduct (Harry Potters bridge, Inverness, Speyside for Whisky and Cairngorm, Royal Deeside, and Edinburgh. Something for everything.

[TonyQ]

@GalanaI love all of the areas you mention. I would however offer some caution in relation to ferries. A certain degree of unreliability which may be a worry if you need to connect to international flights.

Our ferries to and from Uist caused us a bit of stress - although they did work for us they were cancelled the day before we went and for some other days. Maintenance problems and weather. I think your ferry from Lewis also caused some problems with cancellations.

I think Mull is less of a problem because there are a a number of possible routes, and Skye of course has the bridge

[Galana]

43 minutes ago, TonyQ said:

I would however offer some caution in relation to ferries.

True enough but that is why I stuck with Mull and Uig/Lochmaddy (which is nice but not vital to the trip).

My hiatus was boat related and had Calmac advised me promptly would not have been a problem.

 

I am confident enough to have already booked again for this year, via Coll, Barra and Lochmaddy, on the basis that lightening rarely strikes twice. (My local ferry almost cancelled on me in November too.)

[Kitsafari]

@TonyQ  @AndrewB  @Zim Girl  @Galago  @Galana @Dave Williams @kittykat23uk  @inyathi   @lmSA84  @Soukous  @Towlersonsafari  

 

Thank you for all the brilliant suggestions. We have booked our flights! Emirates to London for May 25-June 4. We finally decided to arrive in London as there is a personal matter to work on in the city, and I'm planning to visit my sister's grave near Wembley. 

 

So with London as the starting point, we'll take a rented car and drive straight out to Suffolk where we plan to stay 2-3 nights at Dunwich. We are likely to use a guide (we're talking to one) for Minsmere and the surrounding areas. Then it's off to Titchwell for a day before heading to Bempton Cliffs for puffins! (we hope) and loads of gannets (and hopefully the blackbrowed albatross if we are ever so lucky) and surrounding Yorkshire areas. We're looking to stay at Bridlington.

After that we'll head straight back into London to do our stuff, and maybe spend a bit of time at the Kensington/Hyde park for perhaps, the Little Owl!!

We are very happy to see even the ordinary birds of the UK as they'll still be new to us. but cross fingers we will also see the non-breeding migratory birds we get in Asia in breeding plumage when we are in the UK.

 

If there is anyone living close to these areas, and have time to spare for a dinner or a quick drink, just give us a yell here or on the message box! it'll be wonderful to meet any of you after talking on this forum for years. 

[Soukous]

7 hours ago, Kitsafari said:

If there is anyone living close to these areas, and have time to spare for a dinner or a quick drink, just give us a yell here or on the message box! it'll be wonderful to meet any of you after talking on this forum for years. 

 

Kit, as you know, I live in Suffolk, just 30 minutes from Minsmere & Dunwich and would love to meet up and show you some highlights. However, we are heading up to Scotland on 14th May and do not get back to Suffolk until 27th May. 

 

If you are in Dunwich before we get back, then I would recommend a walk along the beach from Dunwich to Walberswick. It's a lovely walk and the area of pools and marshes (Dingle Marshes) between Dunwich & Walberswick is pretty good for birding. 

 

Titchwell Marsh can be great on some days and hopeless on others. I would recommend a backup destination in case you hit it on one of the poor days. Lots of good spots on the North Norfolk Coast.

Carlton Marshes, managed by Suffolk Wildlife Trust is a terrific place to visit.

 

If you need a recommendation for accommodation in Bridlington then check out South Lodge it comes highly recommended.

Edited March 5, 2023 by Soukous

[Galana]

8 hours ago, Kitsafari said:

nd have time to spare for a dinner or a quick drink, just give us a yell here or on the message box!

Dash it. We will be up in the Hebrides from 28th May. Never was shy of an invite to Dine or drink but will have to pass on this. Closest we get would be 25-26 when in Gatehouse of Fleet at 427 miles (7 hours drive)

Have a great trip and see lots.