Taking Mike Passant's sage words and delightful story as my inspiration, rather than picking out a reserve or a county or whatever, I will mention a place that I have known since I was a child, Broadsands Beach in Paignton, Devon. I've been there hundreds of times over the years, with a bucket and spade and sandy sandwiches as a little kid, on cross-country runs in PE, swimming after school in the summer, and then with cider and ideas as a teenager on a Saturday night.
When I started birding properly, I went home to see the folks and I went down there early one morning expecting to see... what? I didn't really know. The only birds I remembered from days gone by were the Gulls, Oystercatchers and Cormorants, or were they Shags, I didn't know because I couldn't tell the difference! This was my first day of coastal birding.
So on the beach were 2 waders. I frantically leafed through my field guide and realised they were Redshanks. Redshanks on Broadsands Beach. I should point out this isn't a remote windswept idyll, it has a big concrete prom, a hideous 2 storey café and toilet block and a line of beachhuts, behind which is a patch of grass about the size of a football pitch and a car park for about 200 cars. At one end is a path up to a small headland where the Council run a 9 hole Pitch and Putt course, which my Dad won't go near anymore since I started beating him...
So running through the birds on the shoreline, I picked out Great Black-backed, Herring and Black-headed Gulls (I would have missed some Commons too I expect), Oystercatcher, Carrion Crow and Pied Wagtail. A small farm operates on a hill running away behind the car park. There were Woodpigeons and a Pheasant in the fields, and the usual songbirds about. Some Cormorants were on the water. So with the likes of Chaffinch and whatnot I probably had a daylist of 20. I couldn't really believe the variety at the time, not that any of them were greatly exciting birds in hindsight.
But by my next visit I had discovered that there were some really decent birds down there. I had read online about a population of Cirl Buntings, and Divers and Grebes on the water. At Christmas time I was down and headed out in the wintry wind and rain. I ticked Great Northern Diver, Fulmar and Gannet from another spot a mile or so away, but on the 27th I ticked these 5 birds at Broadsands: Black-necked Grebe Black-throated Diver Water Rail Razorbill Red-necked Grebe
I got the location of the Water Rail from a birder I met called Mike Langman, who is a local legend in Torbay birding, and he spotted the Red-necked Grebe in his scope. But I spotted the Razorbill, Diver and 2 BN Grebes myself, there were also at least 25 Gannets diving for fish a couple of hundred yards off the headland and 3 Great Northern Divers on the water a similar distance out. I heard one call. Quite a sound, if you go on Xeno-Canto try the 5th clip. A dozen Cirl Buntings in the car park completed the picture.
When I went back last autumn, as I posted, I bagged a Yellow-browed Warbler showing stupidly well behind the beach (found by Mike) and I ticked Kittiwake and Med Gull from the headland.
So I guess the point is that I thought I loved the beach already, but now my passion for birding has been ignited my home town has ended up being able to produce some of my best sightings and has revealed another dimension altogether as a result. Standing on the hill watching 2 Black-necked Grebes bobbing on the waves diving and resurfacing again and again, with the Gannets diving in around them and realising they were there every winter all the while, has connected me to my upbringing all over again. It's the same place it's always been but now I go there wondering what birds I'll see rather than just whether the ice cream stand will be open or if the sea will be too cold!
"Birding" as such covers a multiplicity of activities, so there is surely no satisfactory answer to the question as put?
Consider these: Seawatching, twitching vagrants, visiting migrant hotspots (Scilly, Fair Isle, Spurn Point, etc. at appropriate times in hope of finding the "big one"), day listing, year listing, site listing, county listing, ringing, or simply a "nice day out" with creature comforts thrown in. I've personally indulged in all these and honestly have no idea how to rate them in terms of "best" as one cannot really compare "like with like." Speaking of my own experience with Leighton Moss (to pick a popular location convenient for Manchester, as an example), the following tale is true and might raise a smile or two:
In 1968, one weekend morning I had a sudden rush of blood to the head and set off in my little mini from Little Lever, where I then lived, to visit Leighton Moss. This was undertaken purely out of curiosity to see what this "birdwatching thing" was all about. Upon arrival, I parked on a grass verge, jumped over a fence, and waded out directly to a distant hide. Inside were some binoculars chained to the wall, so I set about scanning the pools. After about 15 minutes somebody entered the hide and expressed surprise at finding me there. Did the warden know that I was here? How had I got here? I lamely pointed over towards the road and admitted that I'd simply walked across the pools directly, and no, the warden didn't know that I was here. The man advised that I should "report to the warden" so I dutifully and rather nervously followed his directions to the centre where a really nice chap (called Ray) lent me some binoculars and I had a great morning touring all the hides. People showed me a Wood Sandpiper, some Black-tailed Godwits, Tree Pipits, and of course many waterfowl. The upshot was that I was hooked for life, and am eternally grateful to Ray (whoever he was) and although I have visited Leighton Moss perhaps ten or a dozen times since in the intervening 48 years, (the last time to twitch the White-tailed Plover), nothing about the place compares with my first rather adventurous visit!
Happy Days! Mike P.
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Oh, and you didn't respond to the thread's raison d'etre, David!
-- Edited by John Doherty on Sunday 15th of February 2015 10:17:28 AM
Some good replies, definitely the flavour of what I expected! In my humble opinion Leighton Moss and Burton Mere (obv. local RSPB reserves) raise the game for me in terms of aura. If we take the criteria as being coziness then who could argue five star coziness at Lillian's? And I'm glad that kind of reserve exists and love birding there, as I do at Pennington Flash and Moore NR and Rixton Clay Pits, which aren't luxury as such but still provide a je nais se quoi... just as there's places where I don't like birding as such... I get a spiritual connection to a place - I think that it's then engendered properly through repeat visits and familiarity - and it becomes a part of the psyche. It is obviously about right time, right place, when it comes to rarities. I am a bit of an adrenaline junkie when it comes to that. I've never really felt the claustrophobia and the nausea which I feel in the inner city and suburbia alike in the country - one of the the many reasons why I took up birdwatching.
One of the best things about the hobby per se is that you can combine it with loves - the love of camping, the love of moths, the love of sunsets behind power stations... next stop, Dunwich/Minsmere!
Surely one of the best places for birding in Britain is Fair Isle and Shetland, not so easily accessible, but well worth the visit. We have been to the magical isle about 20 times in the last 28 years and we have loved every minute, including almost every ditch having a Bluethroat (1994), walking a few yards to a different rarity when there was a dozen or so on the isle, absolutely brilliant!
Not really a Leighton Moss fan. A bit too cosy. In fact most reserves are a bit restrictive except where they have 'corners' where you can get away from the noise and distraction of people. In this respect Minsmere and Titchwell are streets ahead of Leighton. If you want a wider appreciation of the best birding area, I guess I'd say the east coast of England. There's always the feel that you might see anything at the right times of year and I think it has the wilderness factor sadly missing from much of the west coast. The North sea just looks like its going to swallow you up at any moment, which of course is what is happening! I've never really bothered totting up, but I must be close to having seen a similar number of species in Norfolk in the few weeks I've spent there as I have living all my life in Grt. M/c. In my opinion it's an open air birding school and everyone should spend some of their formative birding years there (well not years, but you know what I mean)!
Interesting topic. I love reading what and why others feel they love certain areas. My personal contribution? Well i've been up as far as Thurso and as far south as Suffolk but, only one place sticks out for me as the best and that's Leighton moss. It never ceases to amaze me as it has a nice variety of habitats and especially in spring, it usually has a wide variety of birds (my record number in a day is 72 species from March 2012) and there is plenty of interest in the cafe too (apple pie with custard will do me). Other birders are usually very helpful and friendly too. This is also backed up by my freind who said he too thinks Leighton moss is the best place to bird.
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Last year, my friend Tom and I visited Dumfries, and in particular Caerlaverock and Mersehead. Whilst walking a track at Mersehead, we encountered three people in a car - one RSPB volunteer, one local WEBS counter and their friend. "Now lads, what's been seen ?" the counter asked in an accent farther south than where we were standing. After sightings and general chitchat, he asked from where we had travelled, where was our patch ? It turned out that he had once lived near Chorley, and that our offspring had attended the same Winstanley College. "We took a party down to your place last year, and when we had returned, it was unanimously agreed that Pennington was the best place they had ever visited". Not only was the site pleasing on the eye and foot, there was a wide variety of birds, but the friendliness and enthusiasm of the people there, was ultimately the deciding factor. Folks at Penni stand saluted ! - and that's why it's my pick, as well .
... never set foot in Norfolk, the birthplace of my own grandmother, nor have I braved North Seas and hangovers on Lerwick ferries :D - that is, I need to get my proverbial in gear, and I'm sure when I do I'll have more to say...
I can obviously point to the North West, the excellent reserves and abundance and diversity of coastal habitat and just diversity of geography in general (where hill top reservoirs and mosslands, which we're blessed to have, go hand in hand with Peak and Lake districts and coniferous forests....all of which provide the array of birds which we can access and enjoy with varying degrees of ease... most of us Manc birders know the major, maybe minor sites. I guess this asks of my own question: define 'best?' but of course everyone will have their own view of that.
I know that it's subjective, but where IS in your opinions the best birding to be found in these isles of noises??????! Myself and my brother were chatting about it...
They'll be the few obvious candidates, but or you where is it and why?
