• Welcome to BirdForum, the internet's largest birding community with thousands of members from all over the world. The forums are dedicated to wild birds, birding, binoculars and equipment and all that goes with it.

    Please register for an account to take part in the discussions in the forum, post your pictures in the gallery and more.
ZEISS DTI thermal imaging cameras. For more discoveries at night, and during the day.

Early April birding best bets (1 Viewer)

ialarmedalien

Well-known member
I have the first week of April off work; my previous plans fell through so I'm now planning a birding/wildlife-focused UK break instead. I'm near Newmarket in Suffolk/East Anglia so ideally I'd like to see some other parts of the country. I was thinking about a trip over to SW Wales and Skomer (although this won't be so fun if the weather isn't great). Does anyone have any recommendations for good places to visit for wildlife (including photography) at this time of year?
 
Last edited:
How about the West Country? You could target species tough to find in East Anglia (Chough down the end of Cornwall, Cirl Bunting in Devon on the way down). There's always stuff about, and in early April should be numbers of migrants arriving.

North Wales is another option, with Red & Black Grouse, Black Guillemot, Dipper and again Chough all realistic targets that will be relatively unfamiliar to anyone doing most of their birding in East Anglia.

Let us know what you decide and how you get on, and best of luck.
 
Thank you for the suggestions -- excellent ideas. Black guillemot and chough would definitely be ticks I'd love to get. :D

Both usually fairly straightforward around Holyhead early April. Time spent scanning the harbour (scope strongly recommended) should get the former, latter around South Stack.
 
If it helps, I'd suggest week 1 of April is a bit too early for Skomer.

Yeah -- I am aware it's early in the season, but unfortunately I was not able to change my time off work, and I thought I may as well do something more adventurous than a staycation in East Anglia. I am having a couple of nights on Skomer, and am currently working out a route and stopover points that will enable me to take in some other interesting birding sites (and birding sights!) as well.

I'm going up to the Farne islands at the beginning of June, so I won't be missing out on too much auk action by being at Skomer this early in the year. :)
 
Warning! This thread is more than 5 years ago old.
It's likely that no further discussion is required, in which case we recommend starting a new thread. If however you feel your response is required you can still do so.

Users who are viewing this thread

Back
Top