Coming back

Well that was easy. The Germany post I mean. I bashed it out in under an hour, added a few photos, made a map, did a list, done. It may have helped that I find myself seriously in arrears again. Equally it could simply be that the ability to string two sentences together has returned , albeit for an unknown amount of time. I hope it does stick because I have a lot to get through, a reasonably quiet summer was followed by a frenetic autumn that only really concluded last weekend. Fair warning, there will not be much about Wanstead and it looks like I will be posting my lowest annual total here for six years. On the plus side I saw 1000 species globally, many of them much more interesting than the annual Common Tern I spent zero time trying to see on Heronry. 

Germany was actually in the wrong order, for whatever reason I decided I would go with Latvia first, but now that this is out of the way I can get back to chronological. I know, I know. I'm aware that my various trips are not what many people want to read about. Generally the readership (such that it is) would prefer tales of local slogging, of toil and woe, and of schadenfreude and minor injuries. Misery in other words. Well there's a fair amount that in my life too, typically from Monday to Friday, but I can't write about it. And frankly if you thought trip reports were bad..... So without any wish to stick what no doubt feels like an extravagant travel schedule down people's throats, galivanting it is. See, here I am apologising for my lifestyle again. I should not need to do this. My life is essentially joy or bust. A few extreme highs of me living my best life and then long deep troughs. Islands of joy surrounded by oceans and weeks of relentless slogging my guts out that even if I were permitted to talk about it would still not see the light of day. You will have to trust me on this.

So in October I went to the Caribbean. It was of course completely horrible and I cannot in good conscience recommend it to anyone.

A day in Germany

Back in late August I went birding in Germany somewhat on a whim. I just picked somewhere I had never been before that had decent flight timings and went for it. That somewhere turned out to be Hannover, and so late on Friday night after work I pitched up at Heathrow and off I went. I did of course undertake a small amount of research and determined that the most birdy area close to Hamburg was the Steinhuder Meer, a lake about 20 miles west of the city. To get there required getting a train to a smaller provincial town which would then connect with a [very infrequent] bus which would drop me within striking distance of the lake. Wunderbar.

My flight was so late arriving that public transport had all but ceased by the time I arrived. I think I got to my hotel near the Hauptbahnhof (GCSEs came flooding back) at around 1am, which for someone used to going to bed before 9pm was sub-optimal. Especially with a train the next morning at 6am or thereabouts so that I could make the one-a-morning bus. I made if of course, and this being Deutschland everything was running perfectly to schedule, including the elusive bus from Wunstorf to Winzlar. It stopped to take on passengers for all of about thirty seconds before continuing, blink and you would have missed it. But I didn't, and so just after sunrise on a beautiful and misty Saturday morning I was deposited in the small village of Winzlar. If I walked north-east down a residential strasse I should pick up a footpath which would take me to the lake, just over a mile away.

This is where it started to go wrong, albeit that this wasn't clear to me at this stage. There was indeed a footpath, more like a farm track that one could have driven down, indeed it went past a small-holding with some cattle at one point, but it gradually got narrower and narrower before eventually petering out completely. Surely this wasn't right? I looked at my map again but I was  exactly on a path that continued in the same direction. At this point I had walked probably three quarters of the distance so I did not feel like retracing my steps. And anyway the birding was excellent despite the mist, with loads of Geese calling overhead, Snipe and Wood Sandpiper everywhere, a Spotted Redshank calling, Marsh Harriers, Red-backed Shrike, Yellow Wagtails and so on. Nonetheless I should have turned back. But I didn't, I was within touching distance of the shore so ploughed on, returning and trying another path would have meant a two mile round trip. Onwards then, under a couple of fences that mysteriously crossed what on my map was a path, through deep stands of wet grass and sedge, over a ditch, over another fence, more sedge and then finally a proper footpath. Very wet grass.... I was soaked to the skin from the waist down, and in particular my shoes were full of water. I pondered my next move but there was no alternative but to take pretty much everything off, wring it out, and then squelch down the path. As soon as I put shoes back on my socks absorbed another quart of water, and so this process had to be repeated a number of times, but even when my socks were merely extremely damp rather than mostly liquid it was clear that walking was going to be highly unpleasant. Still, things could only get better. 

And get better they did. Gradually I dried out as I walked along, and birding helped take my mind off my bedraggled condition. Willow Tits! Ravens! A couple of pairs of Crane, some Greenshank, more Snipe, a Cuckoo. Simply loads of birds, the full list from this section is here. I walked north initially, the lake still out of sight, finding a hide from where I added White-tailed Eagle, Bullfinch, loads of hirundines, a Whinchat, Stonechats and lots more. Still missing a lake, I turned back and walked past where I had emerged an hour or so previously. In better light and with the mist having cleared it was clear that there was no path whatsoever, despite what the map had suggested. I had passed an actual path, but it had a no-entry sign on it. It seemed that the only way to access where I now was was from the direction I was now walking - broadly south. I kept adding birds, including a Lesser Spotted Woodpecker in a hedge of all places, as well as Marsh Warbler, lots of Herons and Egrets on a marshy bit, a flock of Lapwing, and lots of House Martin, Sand Martin and Swallow. Still no lake, but after about a mile a clear path deviated east towards what had to be the water. Through woodland initially, where I picked out Spotted Flycatcher and Short-toed Treecreeper (does not sound like a Treecreeper at all), then onto a lethally slippery boardwalk and finally to a tower hide. 

Wow, what a view! Flat calm, like a mirror, and much larger than I had anticipated, with birds all the way across. There was even a small island with some buildings on it and some tourists, the Insel Wilhelmstein. And there were hundreds if not thousands of birds - Greylag Geese and Mallard probably the most numerous, but lots of Mute Swan, Gadwall, Great Crested Grebe and various other species. I couldn't really linger on account of there being just two buses back to Wunstorf - I was already going to miss the first one and couldn't afford to miss the final one in a couple of hours. This next section as I walked back down the south-west track towards the village was probably the best. A marsh on my right hand side had over 100 Lapwing, Ringed and Little Ringed Plover, Redshank and a Little Stint. Meanwhile a field on the other side had 30 Great White Egret dotted around in it. Overhead were multiple Buzzards, a trio of Red Kite, and then quite remarkably a Black Woodpecker flew through my binoculars and into the woodland I had just left, calling very stridently as it landed somewhere in the trees.

As I still had a fair amount of time, rather than go back to the village I turned back into the habitat tracking back towards where I was sure I had likely started. Sure enough I found my initial 'path'. It was clearly a well-trodden path - perhaps to the paddocks - but I also found a "no access" sign that I had somehow missed earlier. Ooops. A bit further on I found the bottom of the next path with the same sign, but had I chosen this one at least I would have made it to the top without getting totally soaked. Hindsight is a wonderful thing. I carried on birding past this point, picking up Hobby, more Raven, several more Red Kite, a Sparrowhawk and a Yellowhammer. Dampness aside it had been a great morning, I had walked five miles and seen 85 species. 

I trudged back to the village and found my bus stop. I had about half an hour so I removed my shoes and socks and dried them a bit more on a fence. I suspected that they would not be especially fragrant and felt a little sorry for any passengers in my vicinity on my return flight. Here was my bus, right on time back to Winzlar, from where I caught a train back to the city.

It was now mid-afternoon and part two of my day could begin - a city break. Much as I enjoy birding I also really enjoy walking around European cities. I had a well deserved spot of lunch and then had a bit of wander. Unfortunately the cathedral was covered in scaffolding - this happens to me so often, the main attraction undergoing some kind of vital restoration work right at the time of my visit - but I enjoyed the paved streets, elegant old buildings and watching people. A small river flows around the edge of the old town and at one point there were some surfers who could basically stay in exactly the same spot on a weir whilst "surfing" the strong current.

My meandering took me to the magnificent Neues Rathaus (more GCSE flashbacks) and the Maschpark where I added Egyptian Goose, but I was nearly out of time and needed to head back to the airport. I could barely walk at this stage, it had been a long day with many miles covered. In particular my feet were in a questionable state having been encased in wet shoes for most of the day. Still it had been a great a little trip, very enjoyable. I nipped into a supermarket to buy a few German comestibles and that was that. And the best thing about it was that when I woke up at home the next day it was still the weekend. These micro-trips are not for everyone, and there are naturally some ardent detractors (i.e. I travelled in a plane), but I am a big fan of what can be done in 24 hours.

Latvia - Trip List

Slightly on the meagre side but numbers don't tell the whole story. I got to see a new country, one that harbours promise and I look forward to a spring visit to top it up. The habitat looks great, a weekend in May could be epic.

Latvia - Trip Report

I landed at about 1pm and started birding straight away, I was very excited to Latvia in daylight. I think the first bird was a Hooded Crow on the veritable trek from the terminal building to the car rental car park where I found my vehicle. As I drove out I added a Jay, a Buzzard, a few House Sparrow and a Herring Gull. I'd not been on the road long before I was forced to stop for an Egret that turned out to be a Great White, at this stage I did not realise that this would be pretty regular, ditto the White-tailed Eagle that flew over the car.

My first real stop was at Lake Kanieris where I walked out to an observation tower that overlooked the marsh. There were tons of people around, people jumping out of cars and rushing down the track, I couldn't figure it out. None of them looked especially like birders or nature lovers, my assumption was that there was some kind of treasure hunt or the like going on, bearing in mind this was only just outside Riga.

Lake Kanieris

I made it through the throngs to the tower and climbed to the top from where the view was fantastic. Setting up my scope, for I was in full birding mode, I started scanning the far reaches. There were surprisingly few birds in evidence, but what there was was pretty good. For instance the only Terns were Caspian Terns, and you can't really argue with that. White-tailed Eagles crossed the landscape, treating me to many more ducks than had initially been visible. I was surprised to see a group of Red-crested Pochard arrive from the north and settle with some regular Pochard, Coot and Goosander. A few Goldeneye were about, but by far the most numerous birds were Mute Swans - I nearly got to 100. Small birds were almost entirely absent, I got a Robin and a Chaffinch in the woods, but these were trumped by Bearded Tits in the reeds immediately below the tower. Perhaps this was because of the increasing wind? I hadn't been especially aware of it at the airport or whilst driving, but at the top of a tower attempting to use a scope it began to get a little tricky. Hmm, was this to be a bit of a problem?

Most of Latvia looks like this

In short the answer was yes, and as I progressed up the coast via various stops to Kolka the conditions deteriorated. At Berzciems a quick tootle out to the shoreline revealed hundreds of Mallard and Wigeon, smaller numbers of Teal, and then a handful of Pintail in with them. At Kolka itself it was raging, and the wondrously tall tower there was essentially unusable as it actually sticks out above the treeline. Birding conditions were far better at ground level, especially on the shoreline where the pine belt provided a level of protection. But of course the sea was being whipped up considerably, and keeping on the birds was very hard. There appeared to be hundreds of Common Scoter relatively close inshore, and then hundreds of Gulls hunkered down on the beach itself, doing pretty much the same as me. In the trees I found three species of Tit, Goldcrest, and a Raven flew over. As dusk fell I crossed my fingers that the weather would pass through overnight and I would have clear day the following morning. My accomodation was about 30 minutes away and as I drove there it just got worse and worse. Oh dear.

The beach at Cape Kolka

The less said about my accomodation the better, I should have paid more money to stay up at Kolka. But I survived it, managed to cook a meal even, and was out at first light. The weather was better than I expected, still very windy but far less wet. Wind I can cope with, but I loathe getting wet when birding, it just takes all the fun out of it. I drove back up to Kolka and started birding around the end of the village. Clouds of Fieldfare swirled aound in the choppy skies and a Black Redstart was on the roof of a barn. Crossbill flew between stands of pine, but some of them didn't sound quite right - Merlin picked up both Common Crossbill and Parrot Crossbill but I couldn't find any of them in the trees, the tops of which were taking a right battering. 

I walked up the beach towards the Cape seeing very little, but turning the corner and thus gaining some shelter from the pine belt birding was immediately better and I set up my scope and pointed it at the sea. There were Scoter at all ranges and as far as the eye could see. Had I continued down the beach I probably would have counted thousands but just in my limited view there were around 420 Common Scoter and 150 Velvet Scoter. A much tighter flock of Greater Scaup numbered well over 200. Long-tailed Ducks flew west to east and around the corner, as did several Red-throated Diver and a single Black-throated Diver, and amongst the Scoter a few Great Crested Grebes were to be found. The beach itself had a lot of Gulls on it, and a few Sandwich Tern resting up.

Heading back towards the village by the road I was stopped in my tracks by an unfamiliar call that I felt I knew. Willow Tit! When is the last time I saw a Willow Tit in the UK? Well the magic of eBird says that it was in 2010 at Fairburn Ings, and that all subsequent records have been in Northern Europe, most recently in Germany this summer and before that in Holland whilst twitching the Spectacled Eider (it's back btw). Looking up at these lovelies some caudatus Long-tailed Tits came into view, a group of around eight then crossing the road in front of me, and some more Crossbills flew over that again sounded a bit odd. Goldcrests were everywhere.

Tundra Bean Geese at Kolka

Birding around the chuches and nearby houses I found at least half a dozen Black Redstart, and was suprised to also find three Tundra Bean Geese near the campsite. Near where I had left the car I realised that some odd songs I had heard earlier but could not find the bird were in fact coming from a tape. This I established when the ringer emerged from the bushes and went over to his car to eat a pickle. I went over for a chat but his english was limited so instead we conversed in latin. It had apparently been a slow morning ringing-wise, a Chaffinch, but I did learn that both species of Crossbill were indeed present, and that an Amur Stonechat, a first for Latvia, had been present a few days ago but had now gone - we went to look for it together with no success. Whilst walking to where it had been he rang his son, Edgars, also a birder and a practioner of both latin and english, and passed me the phone. Thus I was able to get load of very useful gen on the area and what to try in the difficult conditions. For instance I learned that there were some Slavonian Grebes on the sea, and also that a Surf Scoter was present and that sometimes waders could be found on such and such section of beach. 

Back at the beach I had a more focussed scan of the sea and managed to pull out a Slavonian Grebe close-in in the swell, as well as a Bar-tailed Godwit, but the conditions were too difficult for the Scoter, and in any event it might have been a mile west of me as the Scoters extended at least that far. I also met a couple of Spanish birders who were enjoying the weather as much as I was. 

One of the churches at Kolka

I felt I was now done with Kolka and needed some new habitat to explore, so started making my way back south stopping along the way. I added Siskin and a few other bits, but the best impromptu stop was at Krievragciems where I managed to find a spot that had a small view of the lake which otherwise I couldn't find any way to get near. Within this tiny opening I added a pair of Whooper Swan, and behind me in the gardens were Marsh Tit, Goldfinch, Tree Sparrow, and best of all a Great Grey Shrike. Whilst failing to find a way to the water's edge I stopped for a Rough-legged Buzzard, and added Woodpigeon and Yellowhammer to my fledgling Latvia list.

As I continued south the weater got nicer to the extent that the sun came out, and with the wind having dropped it all became rather pleasant. Another stop at the sea added another Slav Grebe and loads more Scoter of both species. Given I was now about 100km from Kolka was this just a random flock or in fact are there Scoter wintering along the entire coastline?

I finished the day at the Kemeri Bog Trail to the west of Riga. I wished had arrived earlier as I not anticipated having to walk for a good 20 minutes through the forest to even arrive at the bog. Said forest did contain Great Spotted Woodpecker, more Willow Tit and also Crested Tit though. When I got to the start of the bog part a long wooden boardwalk stretched out ahead and I realised two things. One, I would run out of useable light long before I reached the end. Two, it would be much better in spring. So I'll come back another day.

The start of the Bog Trail

Anyway, with dusk approaching that was the end of birding and I made my way back to the airport and home. It had been harder work that I had thought and the trip count was only 71 - I had expected to do better, at least numerically, and my camera had barely seen the light of day. But it had still been a nice introduction to the country which seems very unspoiled. Outside of the city you feel as if you have gone back in time. Lots of very old wooden houses exude an air of self-sufficiency and permanence, and on the outskirts of villages crumbling soviet era apartment blocks stand a sombre monuments to the country's past, their year of construction often emblazoned on their now disintegrating walls. Whilst I didn't find many places to eat or get a much-needed coffee, Citro supermarkets of varying sizes were everywhere and it was easy to get by. As I said, a spring visit feels as if it would be very productive.

Latvia Weekend

Latvia, October 4th-5th 2025

I have been to Latvia before but only at night. Birds, zero, and I had been meaning to sort this out for a while. A trip planned for May fell through so when I found a cheap flight in October I decided to go for it even though I felt spring would have been rather better. Indeed it likely would have been as my visit coincided with some awkward weather which made birding very hard. But I made the best of it and still came away with a reasonable list of birds seen. Once you leave Riga you are very quickly into wonderful rural habitat, low intervention agriculture, if any, and a lot of lovely forest and wild coastline. With only a day and a half, and with migration in mind, I concentrated my efforts on Cape Kolka at the very tip of the westernmost part of the country. What could I see?

Logistics

• A weekend trip in early October.

• Flights: from Heathrow to Riga on British Airways on Saturday morning. This gets you in just after lunch so there was sufficient time to bird my way up the coast to Cape Kolka. On Sunday the flight home left at 9pm so I had the whole day.

• Car Hire: A semi decent car from Avis did not cost a great deal on top of the flight. I think all in it was about £200 for the flight + car.

• Driving: Simple and straightforward, although some roads are a bit knackered and once you get off the beaten track they are largely unpaved.

• Weather: A right pain in the backside! A southerly gale complete with copious rain made birding virtually impossible in all but the most sheltered spots for a large part of Saturday afternoon and Sunday morning, whilst also killing migration as birds presumably waited in Estonia instead of crossing the Gulf of Riga.

• Accommodation: An absurdly rustic and bizarre place in Dundaga, about half an hour south of Kolka . I would have stayed at the Cape but by the time I had decided where I would be going there was nowhere left that was reasonably priced. It was awkwardly cash only (I didn't have any) and for various reasons is hard to recommend! Rather than a kitchen it had a simple camp stove and electrics that would make any qualified person in the UK shudder. It made me, wholly unqualified, very nervous, but I had to deal with it as I could not find anywhere to eat out. Luckily the village had a good supermarket otherwise I would have been really stuck.

• Food: There seem to be small supermarkets everywhere, but restaurants in the countryside are few and far between.

• Optics: Scope and tripod for looking out to sea at Cape Kolka. I did take my camera but I barely used it due to the conditions.
• Literature: eBird of course.

Itinerary

Saturday: A tolerably early flight from London arrived early afternoon after which I birded north towards Kolka. Stops made at Lake Kanieris and Mesrags before getting to Kolka at about 6pm. Overnight at Dundaga which is about 30 minutes from Kolka.
Sunday: Early start to get back to Kolka at first light, but the seawatch and birding in general was rather trying in the blustery conditions. I came away by early afternoon and birded my way back to Riga along the coast.

Song Thrushes

I have no idea if I have ever been aware of this before - probably - but each autumn there seems to be a period when Song Thrushes dramatically increase in number before they seem to melt away again. In late winter I become aware of their presence again as they start to sing at dusk and in the early mornings, but for large parts of the year there just aren't any. Or at least not that I see.

From Scilly over 16 years ago!

One morning this week I counted 21 from the Vizmig point, including two flocks of six. Flocks! Normally I see single birds, so I had first assumed they had to be Redwing, but when one or two of the group called I worked it out. I still couldn't quite believe I had seen over 20 before I headed off for work though - amazing. Later on Bob reported that his overnight nocmig recording had 64 Song Thrush calls on it which is extraordinary. 

This has been the pattern for most of the week, albeit not the numbers of Tuesday. I missed all the Ring Ouzels, a minumum of six on the Flats on Monday, but on Wednesday I finally added Fieldfare for the year after a lacklustre approach earlier in the year. They're now around in small numbers, or at least moving through, and there are many more Redwings arriving.

I like this time of year. It's not about rarities, it's just about enjoying the spectacle of migration. I counted over 170 Jackdaw today, and Finches are moving in larger numbers now, mostly Chaffinch or that annoyingly silent Finch sp., but also smaller numbers of Redpoll, Goldfinch, Greenfinch and Linnet. I've missed a few Brambling too, and a Short-eared Owl, but my early start this morning was repaid by a tootling Woodlark over the Flats. Lovely, and all right on my doorstep.

And just like that....

And just like that I stopped writing. I always find it strange how it happens, as if there is magic switch that has been flipped. One I don't have access to. I'm fine, pootling along, working a lot, seeing very few birds. Two exciting things happened since I last stopped by here. 

One, I went to Latvia. You may or may not remember a post from last year about Latvia and how I'd seen no birds there and wanted to put that right. In that post I mentioned I was going to Latvia in April. I didn't, it got cancelled. The airline mucked about with flight times so much that I think it ended up being a four hour trip. So instead I went last weekend. The weather was a bit pants, other than one brief period of sunshire just after I arrived on Saturday afternoon it then turned excessively windy and quite wet which is not ideal for birding. But I still managed to see a fair bit in my quick visit, and have got a bit of a feel for it. A write up will follow in due course, I don't have the capacity just now.

Two, I took a day off work to go and taste wine. I would normally never take time off to go drinking, but this was too good to miss. My name was drawn out of hat to attend The Wine Society's autumn press tasting. As the name suggests this is where their new list for the second half of the year is presented to wine journalists, critics, writers, bloggers, influencers and.....me. I attended not in any of these capacities but as a lucky member of TWS (as it is known). I got to chat to wine buyers and members of the organisation, something that in retrospect I wish I'd done more of, and generally just immerse myself in a side of the wine and spirits business that I would never normally see. And, if I so chose, to taste through 120 different wines. I saw this a challenge.

Spot the famous wine journo...

I taste wine all the time, as in I drink it all the time. I go to wine-themed dinners, I go to small tasting events based around a grape variety or a country, or even a vintage. I have been known to travel to wine regions and visit producers. But this was the first professional tasting I'd been to and I had no idea what to expect. One thing I did know was that I wanted to taste as many as possible, all of them if I could. To see if I could manage it, to see if this is something I enjoyed, to try and see things from a different point of view to how I normally interact with wine.

It does not take a genius to work out that even a tiny sip of 120 wines will get you absolutely sozzled. I spat everything out and walked out stone cold sober - that's what the professionals will do and that's what I did too - an iron will is needed. An iron palate is also needed, it is amazing what swilling so much wine around your mouth does to your taste buds. It destroys them is what it does, or in my case it made me extraordinarily sensitive to sweetness, such that by the end even dry red wines felt ridiculously sweet. But I did manage to taste everything, and I also managed to write notes on every single one that actually made sense the next day when I started typing them up. I won't subject you to them, it ended up being a 5000 word piece, the length of a mini dissertation. 

Overall a very educational day indeed, I have no ideas how the pros do it, it was exhausting. A marathon - four hours means two minutes per wine. Think about that the next time you read something from Jancis in the FT!