Hi all
Can anyone recommend a website that has short or one day birding tours in the UK.
Just need a starting point and I am not just birding so want something broader than for hard core birders.
I am planning my itinery now and plan to have two to three weeks in August.
Really want to see puffins.
Thanks to everyone who helped with advice for my New York trip
– fantastic birding in the Catskills and Adirondacks
– if anyone is going there I am happy to share what we learned.
Leonie Dufton
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Hi all, So many good suggestions. I’d like to add The Scottish Seabird Centre, on the Harbour in North Berwick, Firth of Forth, about 45 mins by train east, from Edinburgh.We went late June, and went out in a Zodiac to Craigleith Island for Puffin, Razorbill, Common Guillemot, Kittiwake, European Shag, and even Fulmar. Next on to the Bass Rock, covered in snow…??? No, – 1000’s of Atlantic Gannet. Easy to get to if your time is short, but, as others have said, August is too late for Puffins, etc. http://www.seabird.org
Cheers Peter Madvig
An easy place to see Puffins, and nesting Gannets also would be Bempton Cliffs RSPB reserve in Yorkshire. It has the advantage of being a mainland colony, and thus easily accessible.
Alec Gillespie
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Leonie is going to be in the UK. I don’t think it looks like she’ll be hopping on and off planes to other parts of Europe, and you don’t need to do that to see Puffins.
To answer her original question, there are probably a number of guides who could help with this sort of thing. It might be best to contact the RSPB in the UK to find someone who is nearby where she will be staying or planning to base herself.
Having said that, there is a wealth of information (for the UK, more than anywhere else) on where to watch birds, including books which she could obtain via Amazon etc.. and plan some birding a various spots around wherever she decides to watch Puffins, or wherever is near to her base, without needing a guide. But it sounds like she wants the companionship of a guide and the relaxation of not having to do all this groundwork.
If you are mainly around the south to middle of the country, the easiest place to access would be Bempton Cliffs, which is in East Yorkshire (still northern England, though). However, Puffins have been declining and I am not sure if the colony is still there (it used to be big).
The other things that worries me slightly is that Puffins (if I remember right) are early breeders, and this is pretty late in the year. They may or may not still be around, and once the young have fledged, they are very much maritime creatures and tend to stay quite far out to sea outside the breeding season.
Judith is also right about all those places if Leonie is willing to venture further afield, but that doesn’t seem to fit the bill of ‘short or one day birding trips’.
Cheers
Tim
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I have to add here, that if you want to see Puffins – thousands of them – in a non-crowded but gobsmackingly beautiful location, you can’t go past the island of Runde on the coast of Norway. You can fly in to Ålesund and hire a car from there.
On Thu, Feb 2, 2012 at 11:26 AM, Philip Jackson wrote: ===============================
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Leonie Another great spot to see Puffins and many other seabirds, is Skomer Island. The island is off the south-west Wales coast and there is a regular ferry. If you Google ‘Skomer Island’ you will find lots of relevant information. As Judith suggests, high season might be crowded and if I remember correctly, the number a visitors is restricted. A fantastic scenic spot with lots of Puffins and other goodies. Hope that this helps Philip Jackson
Hi Leonie,
Have been meaning to respond to your post for a couple of days. Rosemary gave some very good advice and info. I just wonder if you are absolutely bound to going over in August?? It is peak season in the UK so most places packed with tourists and, as Rosemary points out, quiet from a birding perspective. If there is any flexibility, best to go in May or early June (avoid bank holidays if poss).
My two favourite places for viewing puffins etc are a) the Farne Isles off the coast of Northumberland and b) the Isles of Lunga in the Inner Hebrides – reached from the Isle of Mull. I have seen non-breeding puffins on the Farne Isles in September.
The advantage of both the above spots are that they are scenically fabulous. The Northumbrian coast has beautiful isolated stretches of sandy beaches – many dominated by castle ruins. Bamburgh, Dunstanburgh and Lindisfarne castles just to name a few. The walk across the golf links from Embleton to Dunstanburgh is sublime, and from April through to July the birding is great. Just up the road, Budle Bay is a wonderful place for easy shorebird viewing.
Many of the Inner (and of course, the Outer) Hebrides have wonderful seabird colonies. What makes Lunga great is that you can go there with a whale research vessel from Mull and see Minke Whales on the way not to mention stacks of Artic Tern and Manx Shearwaters to name a few. If the weather is fine you can get to Fingles Cave on the way too – spectacular! Just off the end of Mull lies Iona. This sublime island is stuffed full of history and is the site where St Cuthbert settled. It is also the site of burial of many ofnthe Lords of the Isles. Birding on the Atlantic side / shore of the island is wonderful. Mull is also a stronghold for Golden Eagle, Diver spp and Otters.
Hope I have not ranted too much, but even without the birds they are great places. Again though I would try and avoid high season.
Kind regards
Judith
Judith Hoyle 0437549301
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Leonie,
Tricky – Puffins are mostly all gone from the breeding sites at the end of July with just a very few remaining into the first week of August (this is true for the Pembrokeshire Islands – it may be slightly different for other sites)
Second problem with Puffins is that they are along remote coasts and islands. Probably the most accessible ones are at Bempton Cliffs in North Yorkshire – this is an RSPB reserve and the website says they are there till mid-August so you might be lucky!! http://www.rspb.org.uk/wildlife/birdguide/name/p/puffin/index.aspx The Guillemots and Razorbills are also gone by August
I am struggling to think of short or one-day bird tours – most are a week long. And of course August is a particularly low point for birdwatching (not so bad for mammals) as breeding has finished and many small birds and ducks are in moult and very hard to see. One possibility would be Heatherlea in Scotland – they run various tours all through the summer and they do short breaks. http://www.heatherlea.co.uk/ (The large Scottish birds such as Eagle and Capercaillie are still visible in August!)
Companies like Naturetrek and Limosa also do short breaks but probably not at the right time of the year for you.
I just tried doing a web search on “birding short breaks UK” and I did get some hits – also “wildlife short breaks UK”. It would be worth using a UK search site such as http://uk.yahoo.com/ or http://isearch.avg.com/
For a day out you could try birdingpals http://birdingpal.org/.
Also have a look at Fatbirder – this is the England page but there is also one for Wales and Scotland. http://www.fatbirder.com/links_geo/europe/england.html
I can’t offhand think of a nice friendly forum like birding-aus which you could post your request on – I steer clear of UK birding sites as they are generally so acrimonious and competitive and very twitching oriented!!.
Can’t think of anything else to suggest at present!!
Rosemary
Rosemary Royle, Wales, UK