Over the last few years I have noticed that quite a few of members like to go birdwatching I wonder what reserves they visit or what locations do you go to. I love going to Egleton and Lyndon reserves (Rutland Water UK), Then I have Titchwell Marsh RSPB (Norfolk UK), Starr Gate beach (near Blackpool UK) my local reserves are Sandwell Valley RSPB (West Midlands UK) and Upton Warren Nature Reserve (Worcestershire UK) All wonderful birding locations with many species to be seen on each visit from great birds like the Great White Egret to small birds like Firecrest, So which locations do you visit and do you collect badges from these locations as I do and if so do you have any you no longer want as I would be willing to purchase them from you.
Being from Northern Ireland, there is far less choice when it comes to reserves and locations to go birdwatching. My favourite place at the moment would have to be Belfast Window on Wildlife. There is no where else in N.I that lets you get such great views of so many different species. Everytime time I drive up (its a 90 minute drive) I always happen to see a rare species, for example, last week I seen a roseate tern. I also often go to RSPB Portmore and Oxford Island, which are both along Lough Neagh. I did go to Castle Espie early in the year. I am from Fermanagh, so I often go birdwatching along upper and lower Lough Erne. Unfortunately, despite their being two RSPB reserves in Fermanagh, there are no bird hides or facilities.
For me considering that the sounds cranes make are my favorite bird calls, here in Arizona my favorite bird watching spot is Whitewater Draw State Wildlife Area which is located just outside of McNeal, Cochise County, Arizona. I have never seen so many Lesser sandhill cranes (Grus canadensis canadensis) or so many cranes in general in one spot in my life as I have there. Here is some video footage of Whitewater Draw State Wildlife Area. My other favorite bird watching spots in the state are Madera Canyon just outside of Green Valley, Pima County, Arizona and the Chiricahua Wilderness just outside of Portal, Cochise County, Arizona both are a part of the Coronado National Forest.
My favorite spot here in Wisconsin is Horicon Marsh. It is the largest cattail marsh in North America and it is filled with birds all times of year. During migration there are thousands of waterbirds of all kinds (I think I remember hearing that almost a quarter of migratory Canada Geese in North America stop at Horicon). It is also the only breeding site in the Midwest for Glossy Ibis, Black-necked Stilt, and a few others, and is one of the only breeding sites in the world for Whooping Cranes. An average day at Horicon April-October usually gets at least 70 bird species, usually many more.
Locally - Burton Mere on the Dee Estuary, recently with Cattle Egrets, Great White Egrets, Spotted Crakes, Marsh Harriers, etc. Nationally, Titchwell, Minsmere, Spurn, and various Sea bird colonies in season. Globally, my favourite site is Tikal in Guatemala; the ability to be surrounded by Mayan ruins while watching Ocellated Turkey, Bat Falcon, oropendolas, toucans, parrots, howler and spider monkeys is fantastic; oxbow lakes in Manu, Peru Coming a close second with Giant Otter, Squirrel Monkey, Hoatzin, Sungrebe, Donacobius and parrot salt-licks, and tree platforms.
Probably my local patch here in Naples (the seaside and the nearby park), in which I saw Italian sparrows, black redstarts, blackbirds, both yellow-legged and balck-headed gulls, sandwich terns, cormorants and hooded crows (also kingfishers, grebes, common and mediterranean gulls have been seen here, but not by me). Vendicari Natural Reserve also was a great spot, with lots of crested terns, flamingoes, herons and slender-billed gulls.
I have to say, most of my favourite birding spots are either within walking distance or a ten-fifteen minute drive from my house. Birding the fields, riverbank and copses in the countryside near my house is more personal and, to my mind, more rewarding. Seeing a rare or unusual species on my local patch feels more special than it does on an actual nature reserve, possibly because you don't have the comfort of a visitor centre with all the species recorded in a book or labelled on a map and have to find them with a combination of personal knowledge of the landscape, logical assumptions about where and when a bird may appear and a healthy dose of luck. If I were to drive anywhere to bird, it would have to be a combination of the gravel pits at Heybride Basin and Essex Wildlife Trust's Chigborough Lakes reserve. Two very different habitats with very different birds. Being able to look at freshwater gravel pit on one side and the Blackwater Estuary on the other side of the footpath means all sorts of birds are possible at Heybridge Basin - breeding avocets, oystercatchers and pochards, passage ospreys, wintering great grey shrike, short-eared owl and both pink-footed and bean goose and a vagrant serin are some highlights from there. At Chigborough Lakes, while the birds are slightly more pedestrian woodland/wetland species (although cattle egrets bred in the mixed-species heronry last year and it remains the only place I have seen willow warblers in my local area), the atmosphere is spectacular - at times the dense vegetation and boggy ground in the summer months makes it feel more like a jungle than somewhere in the British countryside.
For today, my own home garden has been the best place for birdwatching. Woke up to a Tawny Owl hooting,came walking home thru a neighbouring park to see a Kestrel quartering, had a Sparrowhawk attempt to catch a woodpigeon in the garden. Spent the rest of the afternoon relaxing in the garden to see a pair of Peregrine falcons performing close acrobatics overhead, then a Red Kite flying barely above the rooftops low enough to see its gleaming slate grey head in the sun. All in west London
