Trip Reports

We were based in the village of Giões, roughly an hour’s-drive from Faro Airport. It is an ideal birding location being relatively close to the bird-rich coastal saltpans and close to huge expanses of Montados, an area of Mediterranean woodland of Holm and Cork Oak.

This would be the first WBC trip of the year, and we picked a great day to do it. Although the Beast from the East was just around the corner, bringing Siberian winter to the east coast, Sunday 18th February…

Waveney Bird Club’s tour of Kazakhstan 23rd May to 1st June 2017 This was to be WBC’s 10th international tour and the first outside of the Western Palearctic. On previous tours, we have employed our own ground agents and organised the…

Despite a virtual deluge throughout the day, as promised by Kathy the weather cleared for our guided tour across Carlton Marshes, although the sky was threatening the rain held off. The evening started with Steve Piotrowski donating a well received…

Introduction – Steve P This was to be the club’s second expedition to Bulgaria following Waveney Bird Club’s tour in 2013.  It was perhaps to be a little overshadowed by the club’s forthcoming, more eye-catching and exotic trip to Kazakhstan,…

Although the events planning committee tries to vary the programme by at least a third year-on-year, this trip is one of the ‘gotta-be’s’ in the WBC calendar. The Brecks represent a major change of diet for those of us who…

The usual trek round Outney Common in Bungay on a Spring evening before a couple of beers at the Green Dragon received a promotion this year, with its own, whole day billing. A little earlier in the season than usual,…

In 2016, the Hollesley/Boyton WBC trip featured a wind that could remove vital organs, blowing over river walls, making eyes run and dropping tears on optics. But we still had a right good time and some good birds at these…

Introduction (Steve Piotrowski) This was to be Waveney Bird Club’s eighth foreign tour and undoubtedly our most adventurous yetvbearing in mind that we were charting unknown territory and visiting two former Soviet-bloc countries that no one in the party had…

So the calendar comes round to the first ‘official’ event of the WBC outdoor events programme (not counting the NYD Lizardland Challenge, of course), and once again, we returned to the fantastic Ditchingham Hall Estate on Good Friday. Easter seemed…

It is the policy of the small group that plans the WBC calendar of events to change around a third of them annually. This trip was one of the new ones and – from a subjective point of view –…

Waveney Bird Club’s year-starting birding trip has for years centred on Lowestoft and Lothingland; an area offering a range of environmental choices at this time of the year. Since 2015 though, this has evolved into a co-operation with the Lowestoft…

Hortobagy – flatter than the Fens! (PS) If you’ve never been there, or thought about it much, Hungary is likely to be a bit a surprise. Firstly, it’s flat – very flat. Think of the Fens on a national scale,…

Portland Intro: Between July 30th and Aug. 2nd, a group of WBC regulars took a trip to the Portland Bird Observatory in Dorset, going via a few good sites in the New Forest. The aim was principally damselflies, dragonflies and butterflies,…

WBC Farnes trip, 5-7 June 2015 Friday For those who don’t know, the Farne Islands are a long way from Suffolk. A very long way. But, if you ain’t out there, you won’t see it, as the birding saying goes.…

Ah, Minsmere! The Suffolk coastal birder’s spiritual home! I still can’t remember if this or Cley was the first reserve I was thrown off. These days you’re more likely to be greeted by an affable character in an RSPB fleece…

Whether you’re a Christian, or whether you’re a birder, or whether you’re both….. there’s no doubt that the time around Easter is a signal for a period of transformation. Whether it actually happens or not on that particular weekend is…

Goshawks over Santon Downham Driving from my house in Long Stratton en-route to Andrew’s near New Buckenham, I came across two Barn Owls hunting in the early morning light which was very pleasing and I wondered if this might be…

There are few better places to be on a winter’s day than the Suffolk coast – even if you’re trudging shingle with a north-west wind blowing across you. Big sky country, definitely. So to Dunwich and Blythburgh for the plucky…

  A new day and a new year – but who to believe on the weather? For those who behaved themselves on New Year’s Eve, there was a bit of a split. The BBC radio news had given a brief…

Well, the programme announced a ‘weekend in North Norfolk, where the migration will be far from over….’ However, after Kathy wheeled and dealed accommodation that could hold 15, and got the place for a week, it suddenly became necessary to…

Is there an adjective you couldn’t use for Orfordness? It’s one of those areas that can be everything, and sometimes all on the same day – in bright sunshine, the fantastic skyscapes can rival anything in the UK; with grey,…

September 7th 2014 Only a handful of WBC trip stalwarts made the almost transcontinental journey down to Bawdsey Hall on Sunday 7th September; perhaps the 8am start influenced others, but they missed a treat. Imagine you could go back to being…

23rd April to 4th May 2014 Introduction This eagerly awaited 12-day tour of the mountains and deserts of Morocco was to be Waveney Bird Club’s sixth foreign trip. Our party consisted of 15 members and was led by Steve Piotrowski…

The welcome arrival of the Springwatch team to Suffolk and Minsmere in particular this year added an extra interest to the day’s proceedings for the club.

Report of trip to The Brecks on Good Friday, 2014 to see some of the specialities of the heaths and forests.

A two part trip, first to Outney Common, the Lows, Bath Hills and Earsham and later to Carlton Marshes.

Trip to Bulgaria where a fantastic range of birds (and other wildlife) was seen in a most enjoyable holiday.