Swallow Birding

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Swallow Birding

Swallow Birding & Wildlife offer a great range of birding & wildlife holidays in the UK and beyond All our air holidays are bonded through the CAA.

Swallow Birding & Wildlife offer a great range of birding & wildlife holidays from 3 night breaks to 14 night holidays in the UK, Europe, Africa, Central America and India
Founded 2006

Our motto is 'GREAT VALUE - GREAT FUN - GREAT WILDLIFE'

Visit www.swallowbirding.co.uk for more information. ATOL number 9831.

01/06/2026

PORTUGAL - IBERIAN SPECIALITIES & SPRING MIGRATION
Saturday 16th - Saturday 23rd May 2026

We left inner Portugal and spent the remainder of the tour on the coast where birding was totally different. GREATER FLAMINGOS, GULL-BILLED, CASPIAN & LITTLE TERNS were noted and we saw a few waders including BLACK-WINGED STILTS, KENTISH PLOVERS, SANDERLING, LITTLE RINGED & COMMON RINGED PLOVERS, and PIED AVOCETS.

Other highlights included PURPLE HERON, LITTLE BITTERN, FERRUGINOUS DUCKS, AUDOUIN’S GULLS, WOODCHAT & IBERIAN GREY SHRIKES, RED-CRESTED POCHARDS, SPOTLESS STARLINGS, EURASIAN CRAG MARTIN and BLACK-HEADED WEAVERS, again another introduced species.

26/05/2026

PORTUGAL - IBERIAN SPECIALITIES & SPRING MIGRATION
Saturday 16th - Saturday 23rd May 2026

It was great to be back in Portugal after several years and once again we were based in two areas that would deliver the best of birds and wildlife.

Our first five days were spent in the rolling hills of the Alentejo where the wildlife didn’t disappoint. Our group managed views of both GREAT and LITTLE BUSTARDS plus lots of MONTAGU’S HARRIERS, LESSER KESTREL, CINEREOUS & GRIFFON VULTURES, BONELLI’S EAGLE, BLACK-BELLIED SANDGROUSE, WHITE-RUMPED SWIFT, BOOTED & SHORT-TOED SNAKE EAGLE and EUROPEAN ROLLERS and EUROPEAN BEE-EATERS among others.

There was an excellent supporting cast of WESTERN BLACK-EARED WHEATEAR, COLLARED PRATINCOLE, RED-RUMPED SWALLOW, BLUE ROCK THRUSH, IBERIAN MAGPIES, WHITE & BLACK STORKS and both COMMON WAXBILL & YELLOW-CROWNED BISHOP, the latter two species both introduced to the area.

Here are some pics from the area...

25/05/2026

BIRDING DAY TO LAKENHEATH FEN - Wednesday 6th May 2026

A windy and showery day at Lakenheath but we avoided the worse of the rain showers and had a cracking day!

Highlights of our visit included 6+ EURASIAN HOBBY, up to five EURASIAN BITTERN, COMMON KINGFISHER, COMMON CUCKOO'S, a pair of GARGANEY, lots of warblers and when the sunshine came out, we found god numbers of insects.

Here are a few pics...

14/05/2026

BEDFORDSHIRE & HERTFORDSHIRE - Friday 8th May 2026

A wonderful day out with friends and thanks to Paula Moore for the Water Vole tip-off! Have wanted to photograph these for a long time and we saw 6 of the beauties.

Lots of other interesting wildlife to be seen, photo's below:

12/05/2026

Essex Birdwatching Society Field Trip to Rye Harbour, East Sussex
Sunday 10th May 2026

A wild and blustery day guiding the EBwS field trip to the wonderful Rye Harbour reserve. Despite gale force winds and it being cold, the group recorded 91 species including BLACK-WINGED STILT, drake GARGANEY, summer plumage LITTLE STINT, EURASIAN WHIMBREL, RED KNOT, WESTERN CATTLE EGRETS, GREAT EGRET, LITTLE TERNS and a host of other great birds.

Here are a few pics...

11/05/2026

DAWN CHORUS & BIRDING DAY at Fingringhoe Wick Nature Discovery Park - EWT - Saturday 9th May 2026

A wonderful day at the excellent Fingringhoe Wick nature reserve where I kicked the day off by leading a Dawn Chorus walk for the EWT before heading back to the centre for a much needed hot drink and breakfast.

Our route took us through a variety of habitats and we heard lots of NIGHTINGALES and had a few glimpses plus we saw three EUROPEAN TURTLE DOVES, a flyover EURASIAN SPOONBILL, heard three COMMON CUCKOOS and heard a wide variety of warblers including CETTI'S, GARDEN, EURASIAN BLACKCAP, LESSER & COMMON WHITETHROATS, SEDGE, REED & CHIFFCHAFF.

After the walk had finished, I led a day trip around and again, we had great views of EUROPEAN TURTLE DOVE plus other goodies including WESTERN BARN OWL, EURASIAN WHIMBREL, DUNLIN, BAR-TAILED GODWITS, WESTERN MARSH HARRIER, GREY PLOVER and lots more.

Here are some pics from the day...

08/05/2026

BIRDING DAY TO OLD HALL MARSHES RSPB & ABBERTON RESERVOIR
Wednesday 6th May 2026

A cracking day guiding in the morning at Old Hall Marshes RSPB reserve & Abberton Reservoir in the afternoon.

Lots of great birds were enjoyed by our clients including an AMERICAN GOLDEN PLOVER in summer plumage plus WOOD SANDPIPER, 6 RUFF, SPOTTED REDSHANK, EURASIAN HOBBIES, BEARDED REEDLINGS, LITTLE RINGED PLOVERS and many more species.

At Abberton, we had some nice views of up to 10 EURASIAN SPOONBILLS, 5 WESTERN CATTLE EGRETS, WESTERN YELLOW WAGTAILS and more.

Here are a few photos...

06/05/2026

SPEYSIDE, SCOTLAND - HIGHLAND FLING
Saturday 25th April - Saturday 2nd May 2026

It was great to be back in Scotland for our annual tour of the Highlands. The weather from start to finish was amazing with lots of blue skies and warm sunshine!

The birding matched the weather and we visited the vast Caledonian Pine Forests where EUROPEAN CRESTED T**S were seen well and we heard and saw WILLOW WARBLER, COMMON REDSTART, COMMON CUCKOO and TREE PIPIT.

Raptors were well represented with GOLDEN & WHITE-TAILED EAGLES, HEN HARRIER, RED KITE, MERLIN, COMMON BUZZARD and the enigmatic OSPREY were just some of the species encountered.

RED & BLACK GROUSE showed well and on the high tops we had great views of RING OUZEL and NORTHERN WHEATEAR.

Several visits to the coast were made where YELLOW-BILLED LOON, COMMON LOON plus BLACK-THROATED & RED-THROATED LOONS were seen plus hundreds of GREATER SCAUP and smaller numbers of LONG-TAILED DUCK. Other seabirds included BLACK GUILLEMOT, NORTHERN GANNETS, GREAT SKUA, RAZORBILL, COMMON GUILLEMOT, BLACK-LEGGED KITTIWAKE & NORTHERN FULMAR which showed well for the group.

Other special birds included WHITE-THROATED DIPPER, HORNED GREBE, PINK-FOOTED GEESE, COMMON EIDER, EURASIAN TREE SPARROW, HOODED CROW, ROCK DOVES and lots more.

The standout mammal was a WALRUS that turned up in a small harbour plus we had brilliant views of PINE MARTEN, BOTTLENOSE DOLPHIN and EURASIAN BADGER!

We look forward to returning in 2027…

03/05/2026

Just got home from a great tour to Speyside, Scotland where just one of the many highlights was this WALRUS that turned up in Findochty Harbour. Luckily, we were just 5 minutes away when the news broke!

Lots of pics from the tour to come...

24/04/2026

Essex Birdwatching Society Field trip to CARLTON MARSHES SWT reserve - Sunday 12th April 2026

A great day out co-leading the coach trip to the excellent Carlton Marshes reserve in Suffolk.

It was a tad breezy but the birds were good including 2 RING OUZEL, YELLOW-LEGGED GULL, EURASIAN BITTER, WESTERN CATTLE & GREAT EGRETS plus SAND & HOUSE MARTIN, BARN SWALLOW, SEDGE WARBLER and good numbers of WESTERN MARSH HARRIER.

Here are a few pics from our day...

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Stanway
Colchester

Website

http://www.swallowbirding.co.uk/

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