The original idea was for a Monday birding trip, to see the stunning White-tailed Lapwing which moved from Lincolnshire wintering grounds to Norfolk. Sadly, the bird disappeared overnight so we had to change plans. As a potential lifer has been reported daily on the north coast of Norfolk in the last two weeks, it was [...]
Urban birding with the first smells of Spring
Having a gorgeous weather in my city has been a rare event in the last couple of months so there was no excuse to stay home. I left home at 6 AM for my regular 7.6 miles-long urban birding route, mainly along the River Ouzel in the eastern part of Milton Keynes. The spring is [...]
Birding on the Isle of Sheppey
It's not often I go out birding with someone like-minded in the United Kingdom. Today I joined my new birding buddy, Hasan for a trip to north Kent in a hope to have a productive birding day and see some different birds and habitats. And what a fantastic day it turned to be. The original [...]
Pallas’s Leaf Warbler – a long-chased lifer
After several failed attempts in the past, I finally had a good chance to see a wintering Pallas's Leaf Warbler (Phylloscopus proregulus) in the relative neighbourhood. My local birding friend, Hasan, invited me to find this rarity in Oxfordshire, UK. A strip of woods, adjacent to the Abingdon sewage works, proved to be a very productive [...]
Shorebird survey for the Breeding Shorebird Atlas
A clutch of Northern Lapwing with 4 eggs on a pretty arid agricultural field. © Gyorgy Szimuly What else I could do on a glorious day like this? The best is doing the nesting shorebird survey as the season is full on. Earlier this year an ambitious and exciting new program was launched to map [...]
1 million views
When I started my bird photography adventure in 2005, I did not publish my photos anywhere apart from my birding blog and later on Facebook. In 2009 a new photo-sharing service was launched named 500px.com. I signed up in 2011 and ever since I am with them. I also have a Flickr account, but I [...]
How do I eBird?
Eurasian Skylark on the Pendle Hill, Lancashire. © Gyorgy Szimuly I have read and heard much feedback about how people use eBird and their everyday birding was adjusted to this exceptional tool. So I thought, I sum my experiences up with a little wishlist at the end. I'm sure I don't utilise the full power [...]
Migration-watch at the Tattenhoe Park local hotspot
It doesn't really matter where I go birding these days as migration can be witnessed anywhere. This morning I went to the local park at the edge of the city to count migrating Redwings and other passage birds. The Tattenhoe Valley Park is a long stretch of semi-natural wooden and bushland habitats, small pools and [...]
Another epic migration-watch
I raised the bar today and left home before 5 AM to have a full morning migration-watch at yesterday's spot (near Littlecote, Buckinghamshire, UK). I ended up birding for 9 hours and 15 minutes and it was epic, especially in the morning. I arrived at the watching spot still in complete darkness with conditions perfect [...]
Redwings are keep coming
Before the rain started pouring down in the afternoon, I spent a few hours birding outside Milton Keynes at my newly approved eBird hotspot, and it did not disappoint. The Littlecote Farm road is always a good place to watch birds. There must have been a lot more migrating Common Chaffinches as they flew over [...]