Friday, October 2, 2009

Birdwatching in Britain: My Trip Back Home

Back in Thailand I have been going over my notes from my recent 5 week visit to England. It wasn’t really a birding trip, just a visit home, although I did go out birding a fair bit.

In total I saw 129 species. The best of which I suppose were Red-backed Shrike, Great Egret and Glossy Ibis in terms of their rarity in UK. For me though, the highlights were some of the more common British species that I only get to see when back home.

I always enjoy seeing Treecreepers and I only saw a few on this visit which made the sightings even nicer. I got great satisfaction out of a flock of 5 Corn Buntings near my home - birds which breed in that area but in late summer are hard to find. 3 Yellowhammer sightings, all within a short walk of home, were lovely and some summer visitors which I haven’t seen for years; Sedge Warbler, Reed Warbler, Lesser Whitethroat and Cuckoo were great too.

Visiting some locations that I used to visit regularly is always nice too and a few walks on my old local patch along the Darent Valley, in Kent, were very enjoyable and turned up some nice birds in Blackcap, Garden Warbler, Grey Wagtail, Hobby and the ever-increasing Ring-necked Parakeet.

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