Time for overseas travel...

Just finished my last (I think) guided birding trip for this year in C & E Europe. Winter is upon us, and the best birding months over. So, what now ? Well, more birding, but in warmer, exotic, climes...
Watch this space!

Ural Owl nest-boxes

The weekend involved a great trip with friends into the hills to put up nest boxes for Ural Owls. These owls are large and the boxes big and heavy, and they have to be placed high up, so it was tough at times. But the weather was kind and we managed. Here is one in place. 

Good advice for birders!

I took this picture in a woodland in India. It is without question a very good idea, one all birders should take on board, especially when in woods and forests. Of course, everyone will say, but I am often surprised how it is not adhered to... 

Celebrating a woodpecker

Going through old neglected folders on the PC, having a clean up, and coming across things I had long forgotten about. For example, I came upon this this photo from Argentina, taken just after we (Simon, Yoav and Gerard) had seen our first Magellanic Woodpeckers, one of the world's most stunning picids and our main target on that trip.

A Gold Crest

Bird names often fail to make sense, but here you have a species that is very well named, the Goldcrest! (Photo taken in October 2014, Hungary, Gerard Gorman).

Well that was a lot of cranes... and owls

Just finished another trip, with 1000s and1000s of Cranes seen in eastern Hungary. And, of course, lots of other birds, too, including dozens of Long-eared Owls, here is one... 

Next birding trip !

Getting ready for another birding week in eastern Hungary. Main targets will include Great Bustards, Saker, Imperial Eagle and other raptors, geese arriving for the winter, the sight and sound of 1000s of Common Cranes and in the forests, up to 8 species of woodpecker. Autumn is a great birding time