High Wycombe area (1 Viewer)

[Allan Hobbs]

Hi,
my son has just started university in High Wycombe. Are there any good birding sites near there that I can go to when I visit him?
Thanks
Allan

 

[gindog]

I live not far from Hi Wycombe. Lots of good sites nearby.

Spade Oak Gravel Pits in Marlow. http://www.streetmap.co.uk/map.srf?...N&tl=~&ar=y&bi=~&mapp=map.srf&searchp=ids.srf = how to get there.

Nearby is the Thames flood relief river, starting at Taplow, running through to Windsor.

Otmoor (RSPB) is nearby. Bit quiet at the moment.

WWT Barnes is an hour away.

How far are you willing to travel?

obm

 

[Allan Hobbs]

Hi OBM,
thanks for the info.

Marlow sounds good for a start as it is on our way.
We live near Guildford so not a long journey, but if we visit the errant one for lunch, or when we are taking him to and from Uni, then it will be good to visit somewhere for an hour or two.

What could we reasonably expect to see?

Allan

 

[davercox]

I was brought up in High Wycombe and the answer then was no, there aren't.
Marlow GP, OK, but not wonderful.
But what you do get now is Red Kites, hundreds of 'em, just to the west.

 

[gindog]

Marlow GP, on the best days I have seen Kingfisher x 4, Hobby, Sparrowhawk, Green woodpecker, GS Woodpecker, Snipe, Little Ringed Plover, Lapwing, Terns, Tufted Duck, Egyptian Goose, Barnacle Goose, Shovellers, Water Rail, Long Tailed Tits, Shelduck, GC Grebe and chicks, and many many more.

For updates see the Bucks Bird Club Site,

http://www.bucksbirdclub.co.uk/menu.htm

and check latest sightings here

http://www.goingbirding.co.uk/bucks/birdnews.asp?date_search=8&date=2010-09-22&sort=7&status_id=8

On not so good days, Geese, Herons and Cormorants. Like any place dependent on thoughtless birds with no idea of their responsibility to provide a spectacle for us to view there may be nothing except a pleasant riverside or lakeside walk. I go at least once a week.

If you want to see Kites, lots of Kites, head to Stokenchurch up the M40 and pull off at J5. Dozens of Red Kite in that part of the sky all day every day.

Good luck.

obm

 

[Andrew Whitehouse]

I used to regularly go to the Wycombe area as a kid to visit my gran and I never used to see anything much! I once saw a Tree Pipit in a clearing in the beech woods and that was the best of it. It was sometimes good for butterflies in summer, with Marbled White and Chalkhill Blue locally.

 

[Allan Hobbs]

Thanks for all the replies everyone, very much appreciated.

Allan