Electric fences to protect nesting birds from people walking their dogs have been hailed a success, as popular beaches work to reduce damage from trampling. The beach at Holme-next-the-Sea in north Norfolk has breathtaking views, making it incredibly popular with visitors and dog-walkers. However, birdwatchers and conservationists have complained that its popularity has meant that […]
Tag: Kentish Plover
POLL: Should dogs be banned from beaches during the nesting season?
There is only one thing more terrifying for a nesting bird than a person walking nearby: when that two-legged beast is joined by a four-legged companion. A study of how ground-nesting birds are disturbed on beaches in Spain has revealed how they are almost always scared from their nests by passing off-lead dogs, but seem […]
Passage and Breeding Waders – Jubail
Wader numbers have started to increase again as passage of some species speeds up. Passage waders included good numbers of Wood Sandpiper and Ruff with smaller numbers of summer plumaged Curlew Sandpiper, Dunlin and Little Stint. Terek Sandpiper, Common Ringed Plover and a single Broad-billed Sandpiper were also seen. Regular breeders were seen in good […]
Birding with giants
This morning I had the pleasure and honour to bird with two ornithological giants – authors of e.g. the recently published Handbook of Western Palearctic Birds, Lars Svensson and Hadoram Shirihai. I know Hadoram well since my childhood, but it was the first time I birded with Lars. We met up at Ma’agan Michael with […]
South-east China – 27th April (Day 6)
Today was our only scheduled attempt for Chinese Crested Tern on Shanyutan Island to the north or Changle. Chinese Crested Tern is thought to have a total population of fewer than 100 birds. For many years it was only known from a few specimens collected prior to 1937, and a small number of, mainly unconfirmed, […]
Baby Coots at Dungeness
After a two hour search of Rye Harbour for the Terek Sandpiper we gave up and headed over to Dunge. Our reward for this 10 mile diversion was to connect with a smart little Kentish Plover from Dennis’s hide as it walked about on the shingle scrape in the company of Sanderling and Dunlin. I […]
South-East China – 24th April (Day 3)
Our first full birding day and we were raring to go, we were up at 05:00 and into the bus by 05:30 we were on site at the Dongtai seawall by 05:45 where we had breakfast of banana, Snicker’s bars and various bread with hot sweet coffee on the seawall. Scanning during our breakfast produced […]
The Levante winds of Spring – Spain 2017
I lead a tour group from the the US Audubon Naturalist Society in April to southern Spain. We had a great time apart from the awful windy weather. The famous Levante wind just would not stop for almost the whole eight days. We did however have a great time, saw lots of birds and other […]