Wintering European Golden Plovers at the Otmoor RSPB Reserve

Another storm, this time it was named Dennis, arrived for the weekend again, making birding almost impossible. As I'm on the recovery from my knee problems, I didn't really mind, but I felt the desperation of going out all Sunday. European Stonechats perched and Cetti's Warblers and European Robins sang along this trail. © Gyorgy [...]

Bird diversity on dung-heaps

After seeing the Eastern Yellow Wagtail on a dung-heap in Norfolk, I visited two of the local dung depot around Milton Keynes. I know about two dung-heaps near Leckhampstead, Buckinghamshire and both proved to be a survival spot for wintering songbirds. Steaming live-stock dung deposit on a harvested crop-field. © Gyorgy Szimuly The heat, this [...]

New Year, New Paragraph… Old Traditions

So we kicked off a new year and a new decade with the traditional 'First Day of the Year Birding' with mixed emotions and a little bit of confusion. What this new decade will bring, we will only know in 10 years time? Anyway, birding never disappoints in distracting my disturbed mind and giving it [...]

A last-minute lifer of 2019

After a ridiculous realisation that the recently discovered Black-throated Thrush at the Whipsnade Zoo in Bedfordshire would be a life bird, I finally had a chance to have a 'family' day out. The bird has been seen daily since it was first photographed on 11 December, but I only checked my life list a few days ago [...]

The Red-eyed Vireo dip

Just after I left Spurn two weeks ago, another incredible American rarity turned up in the nearby Easington village on 12 October. It was one of the multiple Red-eyed Vireos in Great Britain this autumn. The Sporn Red-eyed Vireo was well seen by many birders while stayed in Easington. This photo was kindly offered by [...]

Flitting flutters: a landfall of Yellow-browed Warblers

Many of my birding friends have been saying the very same phrase: "Spurn never disappoints!" Following my second ever visit to Spurn, I cannot agree more with this. The unique coastal habitat complex with a stunning geographic feature makes the Spurn National Nature Reserve one of the most exciting migration watching destinations Western Palearctic. Together [...]

What binocular brand(s) do you use?

Leica Noctivid 10x42 For a forthcoming project on binoculars, I have been running a single question survey aiming to see what binocular brands are birdwatchers and wildlife lovers are using. The results will be used for the projects and will widely be published online. Your input and sharing this post would be greatly appreciated.

Biggest surprises at the British BirdFair

I have been attending the British BirdFair for many years now but I have never experienced such a strong competition in the optics market like this year. Today I spent the whole morning in the optics marquee to explore great quality binoculars and the surprise wasn't all about the big brands like Zeiss, Swarovski or [...]

My 267th species in the UK is a shorebird

I needed a little break from the uniformed weekdays, and as Norfolk is the closest coastal area, I jumped in my car for a short trip to one of my favourite regions of England. The Titchwell RSPB Reserve is always an excellent destination. It's a fantastic reserve with all sort of habitats and a close [...]

Back to the roots – revisiting my home local patch

It's been a while since I did a proper birding around the lakes of my former local patch, the Ferencmajor fishponds. Prior to my east Austrian birding trip, I visited the fishponds with my friends in a gloomy and rainy morning. It's not an exaggeration to say that 10 seconds after entering the site I [...]