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Back from trip to UK
- To: carolinabirds@duke.edu
- Subject: Back from trip to UK
- From: stevep@receptor-biol.duke.edu (Stephen J. Perry)
- Date: Thu, 2 Aug 2001 12:33:40 -0400
- Sender: carolinabirds-owner@acpub.duke.edu
Hi folks,
I just got back from almost a month in my home country and decided to
give a very brief report to confirm that the UK countryside is indeed
open and the birding is fantastic. Despite all the concerns over foot
and mouth, most of Britain was not affected at all, and although the
occasional case is still cropping up, they are confined to small
pockets in Wales, Yorkshire and Cumbria. With the pound relatively
weak at the moment, a trip to the UK is also quite affordable. That's
enough of the English Tourist Board sales pitch, back to the birds.
I spent most of my time in the South East corner of England, in
Sussex and Suffolk, where I got to bird the classical English open
farmland (small pockets of woodland, hedgerows, ponds, small fields
of mixed arable and livestock) and also one of Britain's premier
marsh wetlands. The entire trip revealed over 80 species of birds.
The highlights in Sussex included green and great spotted
woodpeckers, 4 species of titmouse (great, blue, coal and
long-tailed), kestrels, sparrowhawks, yellowhammers, skylarks, the
endangered corn bunting, chiff chaffs, black caps, a little owl,
red-legged partridges, wrens (the winter variety), kingfisher,
great-crested grebes, European gold finches, green finches, linnets
and a goldcrest.
In Suffolk, I visited the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds'
reserve at Minsmere, famous for its breeding populations of avocet
and bittern. This place is incredible, with well maintained hides
(including a tree-top one and another that looks out directly over
the reed beds in which the bitterns nest) and a great mix of habitats
to view. This year they have had record numbers of marsh harriers
breeding, 9 out of 10 nests being successful. I wonder if this is due
to a 2 month closure in spring because of foot and mouth fears? Maybe
closures at the start of the breeding season could be good idea every
year?? Highlights here included over 200 avocets, arctic and little
terns, 20+ spotted redshanks (my only lifer on this trip),
oystercatchers, green sandpipers, a little egret, teal, wigeon,
shelduck, greenshank, redshanks, 4 marsh harriers (one came very
close to the hide), dunlin, black-tailed godwits in breeding plumage,
ruffs in breeding plumage, green plovers, ringed plovers, reed
warblers and lots of toads.
Coastal walks in Suffolk also gave me reed buntings, pied and yellow
wagtails, greylag geese, a cuckoo, sand and house martins and even
more toads! All told the trip was immensely enjoyable and got me
close to some species that I have only seen from afar. I suppose the
best part of a trip to the UK for a NC birder might be the
opportunity to see some of those rare vagrants/visitors that
haplessly end up on the NC coastline now and again (green plover,
European wigeon etc) in large numbers and close proximity so you have
a good chance to observe and learn them for the next time one flashes
up on a rare bird alert when you get home.
If anyone is planning a trip to the UK, please do not hesitate to
contact me for more details on the best places to go.
--
Steve Perry
Receptor Biology Lab, Duke Uni Med Center, Durham, NC
stevep@receptor-biol.duke.edu