Birding Articles
Field notes, identification, migration and conservation in Britain, with emphasis on East Anglia.
Patch Birding: What Regular Visits Teach You
A birding patch is a place you return to regularly. Getting to know its birds helps you learn their calls, track their behaviour, and notice seasonal changes. Accurate lists and counts also build a dated record that can contribute to research and local conservation.
Fatbirder: Planning a Birding Trip at Home or Abroad
Fatbirder brings together destination guides, reserve links, checklists and trip reports. A practical introduction to planning a birding visit in Britain or abroad.
How to Use eBird: Recording Birds and Understanding Your Local Patch
How to record a birding visit in eBird, keep track of your local patch and make sense of seasonal reports, Targets and Alerts. With examples from Snettisham and the Norfolk overview, plus how Merlin connects to your records.
Do Robins Migrate?
Some UK robins migrate, while most stay close to home. Robins from northern and eastern Europe also arrive for winter.
Arctic waders: why conservation must follow the whole journey
A study of Siberian-breeding Knots found that conditions during their first Arctic summer could affect their ability to feed months later in West Africa. Sanderling research adds a vital qualification: the timing of a food peak matters less than how much food remains and for how long. Together, the studies explain why migratory bird conservation must follow the whole journey.
How to Use Xeno-canto for Bird Sound Identification
An editorial review of Xeno-Canto, the global open-access wildlife audio repository. Learn how active time-frequency spectrograms, precise subspecific geographic filtering, and background species annotations turn subjective listening into verifiable bioacoustic fieldcraft.
Whooper vs Bewick’s Swan: How to Tell Them Apart
Whooper or Bewick’s? Compare adult bill patterns, understand why young swans need a different approach, and learn how researchers recognise individual birds. A practical guide with clear photographs, illustrations and a short comparison with Mute Swan.
UK thrush identification: Song Thrush, Mistle Thrush, Redwing and Fieldfare
Song and Mistle Thrush can be difficult to separate; winter flocks add Redwing and Fieldfare to the comparison. This practical guide examines head patterns, spotting, proportions and calls, showing which features remain useful when a bird is distant or partly hidden.
Pink-footed Goose Migration in Britain: Arrival, Redistribution and Daily Flights
Pink-footed Geese reach Britain from September, but a passing skein need not have just crossed from Iceland. Follow their North Atlantic journey, changing winter distribution and daily feeding flights, with practical clues for interpreting what you see.
Early birds: Wonderchicken and the origins of modern birds
Wonderchicken brought the deep history of ducks and gamebirds into focus. New skulls, longer legs and Arctic hatchlings are changing the picture of early birds.
Photography as Field Evidence: Identifying a Young Spotted Flycatcher
A distant flycatcher appeared only briefly on a dark, rainy day. Three soft photographs taken in Auto mode preserved its crown, wing and tail well enough to test an initial Red-breasted Flycatcher impression and support identification as a young Spotted Flycatcher.
BirdNET Live Review: Professional Bioacoustics for Your Local Patch
BirdNET Live places continuous acoustic analysis, point counts, walking surveys, scheduled recording and research-compatible exports on a phone. This formal review examines how patch birders can use it for repeat monitoring, how its filters affect accuracy and where human checking remains essential.
Tree Sparrow vs House Sparrow: How to Tell Them Apart
Tree and House Sparrows are easiest to separate by the head. This evidence-led guide explains juvenile Tree Sparrows and female and juvenile House Sparrows, while showing why size and habitat should remain supporting clues. It also covers the rare male Spanish Sparrow.
Can You Trust Merlin Sound ID? How to Decide Which Identifications to Believe
Merlin Sound ID can alert you to a bird before you recognise its call, but the name on the screen is only a suggestion. This practical guide explains how to check the recording, judge unusual results and avoid letting the app shape what you think you are seeing.
North Norfolk Birding in Autumn: A Long Weekend on the Coast
Stay in Wells, Cromer, Hunstanton or one of the smaller coastal villages, make Cley or Titchwell the anchor, then let autumn bird reports, wind and tide shape the rest of the weekend.
The Close Pass: Why Swifts Fly at Nesting Walls
More than 30 Swifts gathered around an established nesting house, with young-looking birds repeatedly turning towards entrances and empty gaps. The close passes suggested prospecting, but also resembled the little-understood behaviour known as “banging”.
Why Blackcaps Now Spend Winter in Britain
Why do Blackcaps now spend winter in Britain instead of migrating to southern Europe? Discover how bird ringing, genetics and garden feeding have revealed one of the most remarkable examples of rapid evolution in a wild bird—and what it tells us about migration and climate change.
Why Do Birds Sing at Dawn?
Discover why birds sing at dawn and what the dawn chorus really means. Exploring the latest research on Reed Buntings, bird song, female choice and extra-pair mating, this evidence-based guide reveals how modern science is reshaping our understanding of one of nature's greatest spectacles.
Little Terns at Blakeney Point: How the Colony Is Protected
Blakeney Point held 142 pairs of Little Terns in 2025, which raised 120 fledglings—the site’s best result for several years. The breeding report shows why: wardening, closures, fencing, monitoring and predator control all matter, but none removes risk completely.
How Lakenheath Fen Was Created: From Farmland to Reedbed
Lakenheath Fen was designed as an inland refuge for Bitterns on drained arable peat. Its reedbeds, Cranes and new 120-hectare rewetting project show both the power of habitat creation and the continuing management it requires.