Birding near Lake Garda (1 Viewer)

I have just returned from a week's holiday by Lake Garda. We were staying on the eastern side, in the village of Garda. I had contacted Maurizio Sighele at www.veronabirdwatching.org in advance to arrange a day's guided birding. Maurizio had got back to me to say that he would not be in the area when were there, but his son Giacomo would be and could take us.

This is just to let visitors to the area know that I would strongly recommend organising birding with these guys. Even though we had poor weather due to low cloud limiting the prospects of soaring raptors over the mountains, we had an excellent day in and around Lessinia. Highlights were standing just 20 metres away from a trip of 9 Dotterel right next to road; two Nutcrackers; and several Red Footed Falcons and Lesser Kestrels. We missed out on Black Woodpecker, which Giacomo tells me he saw a few days later. Mid September is not a great time to bird the area - most of the summer visitors have gone, the winter ones have not yet arrived - and restricted visibility won't have encouraged migration, but we were really pleased with what we saw.

As an added bonus, if you like mammals, the hills are alive with the sound and sight of marmots!

Matt Evans

Thank you for your words.

Best wishes to you and Gavin