Japan has been on my list of places to go for a very long time. What brought Japan to my attention from a birding point of view was the chance to see the biggest owl in the world, Blakiston’s Fishing owl, as well as one of the biggest eagles in the world, Steller’s sea eagle.
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The Outer Hebrides
My last blog post talked about all the sightings we had on a 1 day tour with Steve Duffield, the local wildlife guide for the Outer Hebrides. This post will talk about everything else I saw and did, as I was on the islands for a full week.
Read MoreWorld's End - Llangollen - Wales - Black Grouse
In recent years I have been making the annual trip up into the hills of North Wales to Worlds End and the legendary Black Grouse Lek that is there. I suppose, once you have seen it once then you have no real reason to return, but for a photographer, it’s different…
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Costa Rica 2019 - The Highlands
Continuing with my photo diary of our journey through Costa Rica, it was now day 8 and the next stop was the highlands of Costa Rica, and the beautiful valley of San Gerardo de Dota, with the main aim of seeing the Reslendent Quetzal, a very spectacular Trogon found in the could forests. On route we had 2 stops, one for this absolute beauty of a Northern Tamandua, which Jessy expertly spotted near the side of the road.
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View from Arenal
Costa Rica 2019 - Arenal Observatory Lodge
At the beginning of November I organised another tour of Costa Rica. This time it wasn’t strictly wildlife or birding, it also included adventure and a bit of general tourism, but as always with Costa Rica, it was jam packed with wildlife! There is no escaping nature in this country, there is something to see around every corner.
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A days birding with Steve Duffield on the Outer Hebrides
In late May I decided to go to an area of the country that I have never been to before, and one that keeps coming up in conversations as one of the best wildlife areas we have in the UK, The Outer Hebrides
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Turkey: Birding Cimikoy Meadows near Akseki
The next birding area I visited whilst in Turkey was Cimikoy Meadows, up in the mountains near the town of Akseki. This was a notably different environment; high altitude, colder, mountainous and a lot less people.
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Barred Warbler, Side Ancient Ruins
Turkey: Birding around Side Ancient Ruins, Antalya
If you have read my previous few blogs, I have been birding in Turkey recently, and we were staying around Side, near Manavgat in Antalya. I read a few trip reports online that were raving about ‘Side ancient ruins’, which is quite a large expanse of Roman ruins throughout the historic town centre of Side.
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Turkey: Birding around Manavgat, Antalya
My last blog post talks about finding the Brown Fish Owl in Turkey. This post will focus on everything else I saw whilst in Turkey, which was quite a lot! I didn’t even scratch the surface of birding in Turkey, and saw some pretty special birds. I mean, I bet I did’t even cover 0.5% of the land surface of Turkey.
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Turkey: Photographing the Rare Brown Fish Owl
After hearing from friends that one of the rarest owls in the Western Palearctic was relatively easy to see in Southern Turkey, I decided to plan a trip over there with my family. My girlfriend is not a birder and my baby definitely isn’t (yet), so I booked us into a nice resort in Side, Antalya, which is within reach of the location of the owls, and is a nice place for them to stay while I slope off in the early mornings.
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Non stop birding in The Gambia
Here is my photographic trip report for the recent birding trip to Gambia I did. The aim was to see as many birds as possible in a 10 day trip up the river Gambia. To keep the report interesting I will limit repeating birds that have already been mentioned, instead I will include a full list of what was seen at each site via my eBird checklist for each particular location.
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Black-tailed Godwit flock at the visitor centre at Frampton Marsh RSPB
Late Autumn in Norfolk, England
Norfolk is without doubt one of my favourite places for wildlife in the UK. I particularly enjoy it in the winter where you can see huge flocks of waders over The Wash at places like Snettisham, Frampton Marshes and Titchwell.
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