Swallow Birding

21/01/2025

WINTER BIRDING DAY - Sunday 19th January 2025

Our annual Winter Birding Day along with The Essex Birdwatching Society was a great success despite murky and cold conditions.

Our two guided walks were well attended with 45 on the first and 35 on the second. We saw some great birds as the tide came in and leaders Steve, Matt Turner, Mark Nowers and Jonathan Norgate shared their knowledge of wader identification.

Thanks to everyone at Fingringhoe Wick Nature Discovery Park - Essex Wildlife Trust who looked after us so well and supplied everyone with hot drinks and yummy cake!

18/01/2025

BIRDING DAY TO WALLASEA ISLAND
Wednesday 15th January 2025

A murky and still day spent on the Essex coast at Wallasea Island. We enjoyed some superb birding which included 6 BARNACLE GEESE, 2 SHORT-EARED OWL, BARN OWL, 3 HEN HARRIER, EURASIAN SPOONBILL, MERLIN, COMMON KINGFISHER, 2 PEREGRINE FALCON, SPOTTED REDSHANK, COMMON GREENSHANK plus thousands of waders and ducks and loads more.

17/01/2025

RAINHAM MARSHES RSPB RESERVE
Sunday 12th January 2025

I had the pleasure of co-leading the first field trip of 2025 for the Essex Birdwatching Society. A rather misty and icy start but the sun soon broke through and the 45+ participants all enjoyed some cracking winter birding.

Highlights of our walk round included WATER PIPIT, BEARDED REEDLINGS, 4+ WATER RAILS, stunning views of PEREGRINE FALCON, COMMON SNIPE, WESTERN MARSH HARRIERS, YELLOW-LEGGED GULL, EURASIAN ROCK PIPIT, COMMON CHIFFCHAFFS and good numbers of EUROPEAN STONECHAT.

We recorded 66 species which was very respectable given the weather.

16/01/2025

BIRDING DAY TO NORTH NORFOLK
Saturday 11th January 2025

It was -6 degrees when we started the day and although chilly there was no wind and clear blue skies, perfect for a day birding!

We kicked off the day at Holkham watching 8 SHORELARK and then a glance of the sea produced several thousand COMMON SCOTER plus a few RED-BREASTED MERGANSERS.

Down at Lady Ann's drive we relocated the drake GREEN-WINGED TEAL which hadn't been seen for 5 days and our group had some great views. More trickier to find was a LONG-BILLED DOWITCHER but eventually we had flight views and brief views on the ground.

The afternoon was spent at nearby Warham Greens where raptors were order of the day and during our time here we saw 3 HEN HARRIER, 14 MARSH HARRIER, 6 RED KITE, 4 COMMON BUZZARD, MERLIN, 2 BARN OWL and fab scope views of the female PALLID HARRIER that came into roost.

Two EURASIAN SPOONBILL were an added bonus as the light dropped and a great end to the day.

14/01/2025

Winter Birding Day with Swallow Birding & EBwS
Sunday 19th January 2025 from 10am

Our annual Winter Birding Day takes place on Sunday 19th January at Fingringhoe Wick Nature Discovery Park - Essex Wildlife Trust and everyone's invited!

Swallow Birding and EBwS will be there will stands full of books, merchandise, holidays, day trips and more. We'll have two guided walks around the reserve during the day where we'll be looking for wintering ducks, waders and passerines as well as a raptor or two if we're lucky. We'll meet in the visitor centre from 10am with the first walk due to start at 10:30 - refreshments and facilities are available on site along with free parking (postcode CO5 7DN).

We look forward to seeing you for what promises to be a great day's birding at this excellent reserve.

13/01/2025

Been a very busy and successful few days guiding both in North Norfolk and Rainham Marshes but couldn't resist a quick (4 hour) visit to Abberton this morning where I relocated the drake RING-NECKED DUCK plus had outstanding views of both BLACK-NECKED & SLAVONIAN GREBES (2 SLAV & 8 BN GREBES).

Other birds of note included 4 BEWICK'S SWANS, female RED-CRESTED POCHARD, BLACK-THROATED DIVER plus a hybrid RED-CRESTED POCHARD x COMMON POCHARD.

Here are a few pics.

10/01/2025

Annette and I spent a super morning yesterday at St. Peter's Church, Alresford where over 900 LINNET, 21 BRAMBLING, 150 CHAFFINCH, 60 GOLDFINCH, 9 CORN BUNTING, 7 YELLOWHAMMER & 15 REED BUNTING were seen. What a sight!

09/01/2025

BIRDING DAY TO ABBERTON RESERVOIR
Wednesday 8th January 2025

A fantastic day guiding at Abberton Reservoir with perfect weather conditions albeit rather chilly.

Our group enjoyed seeing some really good species including 8 BLACK-NECKED GREBES, 2 SLAVONIAN GREBES including 1 very showy individual that gave phenomenal views at close range, WESTERN BARN OWL, 8 GREATER SCAUP, drake SMEW, 4 BEWICK'S SWAN, EURASIAN SPOONBILL, 3+ WESTERN MARSH HARRIER, GREEN SANDPIPER, BLACK-THROATED DIVER, 17 GREAT EGRET plus hundreds of GREAT CRESTED GREBES, 18 GOOSANDER and lots more.

Here are some pics from the day...

07/01/2025

AUSTRALIA - December 2024

Second batch of pics from our visit to Australia showing some of the wonderful birds we encountered.

06/01/2025

BIRDING DAY TO WRABNESS EWT & MISTLEY WALLS
Friday 3rd January 2025

A fabulous frosty day with wall to wall sunshine from start to finish.

We kicked off the day at Wrabness EWT reserve where we watched several YELLOWHAMMERS from the carpark and then we found 2 roosting LITTLE OWLS snuggled up in the sun.

The Stour Estuary produced good numbers of NORTHERN PINTAIL, RED KNOT, COMMON RINGED PLOVERS, GREY PLOVER, EURASIAN TEAL and DUNLIN and then we did a circuit of the reserve where the highlight was a flyover HAWFINCH!

COMMON KESTRELS showed nicely but a EURASIAN BULLFINCH was only seen briefly before disappearing from view. We also had a nice view of a COMMON KINGFISHER. Whilst we had lunch back at the cars, a WESTERN MARSH HARRIER flew past and we found two COMMON SNIPE, EGYPTIAN GEESE and COMMON BUZZARDS.

The remainder of the day was spent between Manningtree and Mistley Quay where a female BLACK REDSTART was seen for a matter of seconds and wasn't seen again. Other bird of note included another COMMON KINGFISHER, hunting PEREGRINE FALCON, 800 RED KNOT, 3+ RED-BREASTED MERGANSERS, NORTHERN PINTAIL, 200 PIED AVOCET plus lots more.

A grand day out...

02/01/2025

Wednesday 1st & Thursday 2nd January 2025

Happy New Year!

Typically, the 1st is a day to kick off the new bird list but yesterday, the weather was diabolical but that didn't stop us.

We spent most of the day around the Abberton Reservoir Nature Discovery Park - Essex Wildlife Trust visitor centre where it was lovely and warm and dry! There were some good birds around including 8 BLACK-NECKED GREBES, SLAVONIAN GREBE, GREATER SCAUP, GREAT WHITE EGRETS, GOOSANDERS and more.

On Thursday morning, I headed down again and found EURASIAN SPOONBILL, BEWICK'S SWAN, a cracking pair of SMEW (pic below), EURASIAN ROCK PIPIT before the cold set in.

I have three places left on a day trip to Abberton on Wednesday 8th January 2025 if you want to experience the best of winter birding and see some of the great birds present.
https://swallowbirding.co.uk/day_trips/abberton-reservoir-winter-birding-at-its-best-4/

Contact us to book your place...

31/12/2024

Annette and I had a very enjoyable 2 week break in Australia just before Xmas and we managed to see some amazing birds including 17 new world species. Here are just a few of the new ones. Will post lots of other species in the coming days.

Happy New Year to everyone!

30/12/2024

We've had a great time leading tours in 2024 and below are just some of the highlights. We can't wait to kick it all off again in 2025!

24/12/2024

22/12/2024

BIRDING DAY IN THE BRECKS
Friday 20th December 2024

Our final birding day of the year was spent in The Brecks. The weather was pretty good and it only started to rain as we finished.

Birding highlights included a single HAWFINCH plus GREY WAGTAIL, COMMON KINGFISHER, WATER RAIL, EURASIAN SISKIN, EURASIAN NUTHATCH, MARSH TIT, EURASIAN BULLFINCH, EURASIAN TREECREEPER, EUROPEAN STONECHATS and lots more.

Many thanks to everyone who has joined us on our day trips this year and we still have some places on trips in 2025. https://swallowbirding.co.uk/day-trips/

19/12/2024

BIRDING DAY AT WALLASEA ISLAND RSPB RESERVE
Wednesday 18th December 2024

A mild but breezy day spent guiding at this amazing reserve in South Essex. Our group enjoyed fantastic views of a hunting HEN HARRIER for over an hour plus we also had brief sightings of a male.

Other highlights included 2 PEREGRINE FALCON, 5 BARNACLE GEESE, 15+ MARSH HARRIER, MERLIN, WESTERN BARN OWL, CORN BUNTINGS and thousands of waders making for a wonderful sight!

01/12/2024

BIRDING DAY WALK FROM HEYBRIDGE TO GOLDHANGER
Wednesday 27th November 2024

The heavy rain that was forecast ended almost immediately at the start of the walk and although a bit murky, we saw some great birds and enjoyed some good cake at the Wilkins Tearoom. Highlights from the day included PEREGRINE FALCON hunting waders, RED KITE, WESTERN MARSH HARRIER, COMMON GREENSHANKS, good numbers of NORTHERN PINTAIL, PIED AVOCETS, a brief COMMON KINGFISHER, up to five EURASIAN ROCK PIPITS plus really good numbers of other wildfowl and waders.

Here are some images from our day some taken with the Canon 200-800mm lens.

28/11/2024

MINSMERE RSPB & OLD HALL FARM, SUFFOLK
Tuesday 26th November 2024

Spent a lovely morning birding at Minsmere with Gerry Johnson, Matt Turner & Janet Avery where the light was fantastic and so were the birds. We saw 2 WHOOPER SWAN, WATER PIPIT, DARTFORD WARBLER, RED-THROATED DIVER, WESTERN MARSH HARRIERS, 2 COMMON KINGFISHERS, COMMON BUZZARD, EURASIAN SPARROWHAWK and lots more.

After lunch, we joined the team at Viking Optical & Zeiss Optics for a joint Essex Birdwatching Society afternoon at the brilliant Old Hall Farm near Southwold.

Zeiss representative Toby Carter took us on a guided walk where we could try out the latest Zeiss binoculars and thermal devices.

We also managed to see WESTERN BARN OWL, TAWNY OWL, COMMON KINGFISHER, BARNACLE GEESE, COMMON SNIPE plus a brilliant COMMON STARLING murmuration totalling over 150,000 birds!