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 [...]

Spectacular visible migration

I have been birding for more than 4 decades but witnessing bird migration today made it one of my most impressive birding days ever. I had a few experiences in the past of watching arriving or departing birds but today's experience was another level. I started my line-transect eBirding just north of Northampton and shortly [...]

Local floods

Following the heavy raining in the last few days. the River Ouzel in Milton Keynes caused major flooding the Ouzel valley park. The otherwise passerine-filled valley with hedges and riverside bushes was transformed into a temporary wetland. While the access to my regular local patch routes was limited, I managed to get to different viewpoints [...]

The Brown Shrike got me 6 to Western Palearctic 500

The previous day's strong easterly winds pushed a few Leach's Storm-petrels close to the shore in East England. Being a potential life bird, I headed to the Minsmere RSPB Reserve with first lights. Finding a freshly killed Tawny Owl close to Minsmere seemed to be a bad omen for the day. Luckily, I saw a [...]

Multiple options for twitching Blyth’s Reed Warbler

In the last several weeks there have been increased number of reports of Blyth's Reed Warblers (Acrocephalus dumetorum) in the United Kingdom from Scilly, Cornwall to the Outer Hebrides and Shetland. While this is not a life bird for me, I wanted to see one with good views. I saw my first Blyth's Reed Warbler [...]