Welsh Peregrine
Well-known member
The earlier you get to North Wales, the more chance there is of a few Pink-footed Geese being around on the Dee Estuary; happy to try to help if you find yourself around here (Wirral)
I can very much empathise with you here, because in many ways your trip mirrors a road trip I undertook in April this year to the Eastern USA with non-birding family, so I wish you the very best of luck. I had a fair few more targets though (34) and 4 rather than 3 weeks, but a bigger area to cover (Florida to NYC).I can't say that birding is incidental to the trip, but it won't be overwhelmingly dominant. Patricia doesn't mind visiting the odd wastewater treatment lagoon, but too many and she may not be happy. I don't even know you visit such places there.
EBird gives me these world life targets (species followed by frequency of appearance in checklists):
Stock Dove - Columba oenas 21.79%
Mandarin Duck = Aix galericulata 2.80%
Great Bittern - Botaurus stellaris 2.32%
Common Grasshopper Warbler - Locustella naevia 2.16%
Bearded Reedling - Panurus biarmicus 1.71%
Willow Ptarmigan - Lagopus lagopus 0.78%
Pink-footed Goose - Anser brachyrhynchus 0.72%
Eurasian Woodcock - Scolopax rusticola 0.42%
Eurasian Nightjar - Caprimulgus europaeus 0.36%
Jack Snipe - Lymnocryptes minimus 0.18%
Eurasian Dotterel - Eudromias morinellus 0.16%
Caspian Gull - Larus cachinnans 0.14%
Arctic Loon - Gavia arctica 0.12%
Savi's Warbler - Locustella luscinioides 0.10%
Velvet Scoter - Melanitta fusca 0.09%
Black Grouse - Lyrurus tetrix 0.08%
Roseate Tern - Sterna dougallii 0.07%
Twite - Linaria flavirostris 0.05%
Red-breasted Goose - Branta ruficollis 0.05%
Great Gray Shrike - Lanius excubitor 0.05%
I'll be really happy seeing just some of them.
My general goal is to tick 100 species in a new country.
For Velvet Scoter, the sea wall at Musselburgh is far better than Aberlady/Gullane, it is also more accessible by bus and a flatter, shorter walk but is unarguably less scenic. The birds are likely to be closer. In April there are usually some Pink-footed Geese and, sometimes, a few Barnacle Geese still around in East Lothian and the seabirds are easily seen from the Seabird Centre at North Berwick. There are still Purple Sandpipers around in April too.Extending your trip northwards to include NE England and SE Scotland would give you a better chance of some of your targets.
Black Grouse (along with the abundant Red) can be almost guaranteed in Teesdale, Co. Durham, while the only place in England you can realistically be sure of Roseate Tern in England is Coquet Island off the Northumberland coast (although in April, arriving birds may be on coastal sites such as Newbiggin-by-the-Sea). April is also a good month to see Common Grasshopper Warbler - Druridge Bay gets quite a few records. Twite overwinter here and at a number of other coastal sites, but you may be pushing it with timing to see both this species and the arriving summer visitors.
With the possible exception of Newbiggin, none of these sites involve any hardship for your wife - they're beautiful coastal / upland sites.
In SE Scotland, the excellent coastal walk between Aberlady Bay and Gullane will almost certainly deliver Velvet Scoter off Gullane Point - they stick around into May, so timing isn't an issue. You might get lucky with Arctic Loon off either this coast or Northumberland, but Red-throated is overwhelmingly more likely.
In terms of other attractions, there are gardens at Wallington Hall and Cragside in Northumberland, and a small but attractive dried flower garden at Melrose in the Scottish Borders which your wife would appreciate.
It is difficult if you don't want to drive, but I believe there is a birding / wildlife tour company in NE England who could put an itinerary together for you, while the Aberlady / Gullane area is accessible by bus from Edinburgh or North Berwick (and Edinburgh itself has a good botanical garden...). There are buses to all the Northumberland sites I've mentioned, and the new train line from Newcastle to Ashington should be open then, speeding up access by bus to Newbiggin, Amble (for Coquet Island), and Widdrington Village or Cresswell (for Druridge Bay). Inland sites like Teesdale are a different matter though, and a tour company may be the best option here.
I was thinking of the scenic aspect for the OPs wife! Appreciate it's likely better in all other respects though.For Velvet Scoter, the sea wall at Musselburgh is far better than Aberlady/Gullane, it is also more accessible by bus and a flatter, shorter walk but is unarguably less scenic. The birds are likely to be closer. In April there are usually some Pink-footed Geese and, sometimes, a few Barnacle Geese still around in East Lothian and the seabirds are easily seen from the Seabird Centre at North Berwick. There are still Purple Sandpipers around in April too.
However, it's not in England.
David
If Scitland ends up happening, the Strejneger's Scoter will probably still be around if the OP is after that one tooI was thinking of the scenic aspect for the OPs wife! Appreciate it's likely better in all other respects though.
I know it's not in England , but the thread's suggestions have already strayed into Wales, and some of the targets (like Velvet Scoter) really require a trip to Scotland.
Patricia and I are still thinking of three weeks, possibly with a week in Wales, and another week northeast of London, like Minsmere and Norfolk.
The Cotswolds sounds just the place for you really. I don't know them well enough to point you to an exact spot really, but I'm sure someone here will. Perhaps round Cotswold Water Park?Now that I think of it, Patricia and I have enjoyed a few times when we've spent a few days or more in one place. Perhaps you folks could think of such a place, where we could park in a small hotel in the countryside or small town, enjoy pre-breakfast walks in woods or countryside, coffee on the veranda first thing, with the spring dawn chorus going on? Pleasant cafes, friendly pubs, perhaps the odd museum, garden, or stately manor to visit?
As an example, in April 2019, we had an extra week in Colombia, so we took an Uber from Cali to El Queremal, a lovely small town in the Western Andes. We spent a couple days in an ecolodge near town, but for the rest we were in a small hotel, and enjoyed walks from there, or short mototaxi (tuk-tuk) drives here and there. We had dinner in the square, enjoying the ambiance of small town life. Later that same year, we had extra time on a trip to Medellin, so we rented a car and drove to Jardin, another small town to spend a week. We hired a local guide to take us further afield a few times, but mostly enjoyed birding, walking about town, and out into the outskirts. Just hanging out in the central square was a pleasure.
I know you all don't have hummingbirds or cotingas, but some place with reedlings and bitterns not far out of town? Where we might hear nighjars or snipe winnowing as we sit on the veranda with a beverage in the evening?
Actually, we find ourselves with time this fall, and are thinking a two-week holiday in Scotland might help. We're thinking about Edinburgh, Glasgow area and Aberdeenshire, late September and early October. But I should probably start another thread for that.When traveling, we generally have the attitude that a given trip won't be our last, so we don't try to cover everything. Scotland is really high on my list of places to visit eventually, and I'm confident we'll get to it. Our ideas could certainly change, but for now I think we'll keep the geographic parameters of this trip constrained. I would rather find odd corners that aren't on any must-see list.