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ZEISS DTI thermal imaging cameras. For more discoveries at night, and during the day.

Birding near London (1 Viewer)

Assuming you've no transport then www.travelinesoutheast.org.uk will give transport details
1 - New Forest - Beaulieu Road Station - heathland & woodland - 2 hour by train from Waterloo. Good walks & birds.
2 - Oare, Faversham, Kent - train to Faversham - bus to Oare (excellent pub food in three mariners) - walk along creek to Oare Marshes reserve - good waders etc
3 - Train to Sturry (east of Canterbury) - c1 hour using HS service. Bus towards Thanet - get off at Upstreet (c10 mins) - walk down to Grove Ferry Inn - circular walk round Stodmarsh Nature reserve - wetland species - Bittern, Bearded Tit, Garganey etc.
4 - Canterbury Ring Woods - train to Canterbury - bus/walk - Nightingale, Woodcock etc.
5 - Dungeness - train to Hythe then bus (see website above for details) - excellent for wetland birds etc.,
 
Hello:

I too plan to visit London for the first time ever this summer. My wife and I are birders, our two teenagers are not, but that is okay since they like to sleep all AM and we can go out for several hours without them!

We plan to be there roughly a week or so, mostly in the city, but would like to do a trip abroad in the country as well. Here's my question - if you could only go to one area outside of London (within, say, 4 hours by train) to bird, where would you go? I suppose my question is more along the lines of, where would I be likely to find the most species that are not in London?

If that same area has any castles nearby, that is even better (keeps the kids happy)

Areas I am thinking of... (1) The Birmingham area (Warwick castle not far) or (2) Southampton area.

Thanks in advance!

-Mike
 
4 hours by train from London can get you almost anywhere... Liverpool is only two hours, you could be in Scotland within 4!

I would go for a large coastal reserve with mixed habitat to make the most of your trip. Somewhere like Dungeness as mentioned above, or the Norfolk coast.
 
If you have only got an odd morning or so Hampstead Heath in the summer is pretty good although I have to admit I have not been there recently....Eddy
 
Thanks for the replies.

I've done a bit of research using the eBird Hotspot Explorer function set to the July time frame, and what it indicates is that taking a trip up to the Lothian/Edinburgh/Firth, Bass Islands area could pay some real dividends. I like that there is a SeaBird Center and the headquarters of the SOC there as well.

So I'm planning on ~4 nights in London (actually maybe the first night in Windsor), then two nights in Edinburgh, then perhaps come back down through Birmingham and get the kids to Warwick castle, maybe Stratford, maybe Stonehenge too. I think I will never hear the end of it if we do not go there.

Apologies if I have run afoul of the boundaries of this subforum. I'm only now getting my first real (self-taught) lessons in the geography of GB...
 
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