Trip reports
 | Saturday, 19 January 2019 Spotting winter visitors in Beckenham's green lung More... |
 | Sunday, 9 December 2018 New members Indra and Jim reflect on our coach trip to Dungeness - one of the RSPB's flagship reserves. It's a unique place and a haven for winter birds. More... |
 | Saturday, 1 December 2018 Come rain or shine, Hawkwood is surprisingly rural, despite being only a few minutes walk from Chislehurst train station, and is rich in wildlife. More... |
 | Sunday, 25 November 2018 Oare Gunpowder Works Country Park and Oare Marshes, Kent A double bill in Kent's last great wilderness - the North Kent Marshes More... |
 | Thursday, 1 November 2018 Wet but wonderful. Winter waterbirds galore in one of Bromley's biodiversity hotspots. More... |
 | Sunday, 21 October 2018 RSPB Pulborough Brooks, Sussex A red letter day in the sunny Sussex Downs. More... |
 | Wednesday, 3 October 2018 A rainbow of colourful fungi and a host of woodland birds were the stars of the show on our autumn wander through Scadbury Park. More... |
 | Thursday, 6 September 2018 Discover the stunning wildlife in Bromley's autumnal countryside. More... |
 | Saturday, 25 August 2018 Bat walk in Mote Park, Maidstone A superb introduction to Kent's bats by ecologist Simon Ginnaw. More... |
 | Saturday, 28 July 2018 Butterfly walk in White Hill, Kent A delightful stroll through the meadows of White Hill, which abound with butterflies. More... |
 | Sunday, 1 July 2018 Visiting Minsmere for the first time is an unforgettable experience, as one of our wildlife watchers discovers. More... |
 | Saturday, 16 June 2018 Old Lodge, Ashdown Forest, Sussex Searching for mysterious creatures of the twilight in the heart of the Ashdown Forest More... |
 | Sunday, 3 June 2018 We encountered a host of star birds, including spotted flycatcher and tree pipit, along with a dazzling array of dragonflies and damselflies on our Group's first visit to this new heathland reserve. We look forward to returning! More... |
 | Monday, 7 May 2018 Leybourne Lakes Country Park, Kent Our first National Nightingale Festival event of 2018 and what a start! A chorus of these celebrated, but now declining, songbirds accompanied us around the park and we also had fantastic views of hobbies and a garden warbler. More... |
 | Sunday, 6 May 2018 Dawn chorus walk in High Elms Country Park, Orpington Celebrating International Dawn Chorus Day in the lush North Downs woods. More... |
 | Sunday, 29 April 2018 This wetland oasis teems with special wildlife. The stars of the show were cranes, bitterns and cuckoos but there was lots of other wildlife to see as well, including some surprises. More... |
 | Saturday, 21 April 2018 A spring walk in glorious weather around Bromley's best kept wildlife secret More... |
 | Friday, 13 April 2018 Sevenoaks Wildlife Reserve, Kent This early Spring visit to one of our nearest Kent Trust Reserves produced a splendid, even remarkable morning's birding! A party of black necked grebes, resplendent in full breeding plumage was a wonderful and very rare sighting for the Reserve. How could you possibly top that? Well a singing firecrest comes pretty close! More... |
 | Sunday, 25 March 2018 Cliffe Pools is an RSPB reserve on the Hoo Peninsula and an approximate 40 minute drive from Bromley. It is a large and open landscape with several walking trails and features both saline lagoons and shallow brackish pools which were created by clay extraction for the cement industry. The reserve also has grassland, saltmarsh, mud-flat and scrub habitat so supports a wide variety of birds and other wildlife. More... |
 | Thursday, 8 March 2018 Selsdon Wood Local Nature Reserve, Croydon After a week of snow and Arctic weather caused by the "Beast from the East" the day dawned dry and bright with the weather looking promising for my second visit to Selsdon Wood with Bromley Local Group. The area, saved from development in 1920/30's, is owned by The National Trust and maintained by The Friends of Selsdon Wood working with Croydon Council to ensure that the original aims of the people who purchased the Woods are fulfilled. More... |
 | Sunday, 18 February 2018 Lymington and Keyhaven Marshes, Hampshire This ambitious new coach trip produced an absolute feast of birds, including dream kingfisher views, for those lucky enough to be there. More... |
 | Saturday, 10 February 2018 A visit to this pocket of ancient woodland close to West Wickham, produced a rare sighting of a marsh tit as a major highlight! More... |
 | Sunday, 14 January 2018 Hayes Parks and Commons, Bromley This well supported walk, taking a gentle route through small suburban parks and common land produced a good variety of birds. A brutal fight between two coal tits, fortunately with a happy ending, was a highlight! More... |
 | Sunday, 17 December 2017 This annual coach trip is always rewarding and this year was no exception. The RSPB Dungeness reserve provides a variety of habitats and many water birds, while the scrub around the lighthouse, and the opportunity for sea watching add a possibility of yet more species More... |
 | Thursday, 14 December 2017 Jubilee Country Park, Petts Wood Jubilee Country Park is part of a wildlife corridor linking to open countryside via Petts Wood and Scadbury Park along the London Loop. The area is a 62-acre public park, a Local Nature Reserve and a Site of Metropolitan Importance for Nature Conservation. It was purchased by Bromley Council to celebrate the Silver Jubilee of Queen Elizabeth II in 1977, and opened as a park in 1981 and is now managed by idVerde. More... |
 | Sunday, 19 November 2017 Carol, Lucy and Conner have sent in their reflections on our day's birdwatching at a very sunny Walthamstow Wetlands. For all three this was their first trip with the RSPB Bromley Local Group. Lucy and Conner also sent in a list of the birds we encountered and some fantastic photos. Visit our Facebook page for more photos: www.facebook.com/rspbbromley More... |
 | Thursday, 9 November 2017 The weather was dull, drizzle was threatening and the forecast was poor, so for the Bird Walk in Kelsey Park scheduled for 9th November I thought I would have a small turnout, and that I might even finish early! Clearly, local birdwatchers are not to be put off by a little rain, and in the event there was an excellent turnout, with 27 enthusiastic people turning up, including four from our Kelsey Park Bird Group. More... |
 | Sunday, 15 October 2017 Pagham Harbour is a natural harbour or inlet in West Sussex, England. It is south of the city of Chichester and near the towns of Pagham and Selsey. The Reserve covers 1,500 acres, about half of which is salt marsh and mudflats, while the rest comprises farmland, copses, lagoons, reed beds and shingle beaches.Our coach trip gave us some close views of a good variety of waders as well as an interesting moth, plenty of butterflies and a chance for coffee or ice cream to finish a very pleasant day. More... |
 | Thursday, 12 October 2017 The countryside around Cudham is some of the best in the borough for declining farmland birds like skylark and yellowhammer. Both of these birds plus a variety of other birds and Autumn fungi were seen on this productive walk. The sighting of a stonechat is noteworthy as this is a bird that is now very hard to find in the borough and the Mace farm area of Cudham is a traditional Wintering site. More... |
 | Wednesday, 27 September 2017 On a mild, autumnal morning 10 people assembled in the car park at Footscray Meadows, ready to explore the land which once belonged to North Cray Place and where Capability Brown was employed in the late 18th Century to design the grounds, where he reshaped the River Cray to create a ribbon like lake and the Five Arch Bridge. More... |
 | Sunday, 24 September 2017 We were very lucky with the weather for our car trip to Rainham Marshes this month, as there was plenty of warm sunshine and we had blue skies for the whole visit. It was a particularly good day for birds of prey. We got a good sighting of a sparrowhawk, several hovering kestrels during the day, a close look at a juvenile marsh harrier with the yellow facial marking showing well, a couple of hobbies and spectacular views of a peregrine disturbing a flock of lapwing. There were also some buzzards wheeling overhead at times. More... |
 | Sunday, 2 July 2017 Sun, scrapes and some stupendous seldom-seen shorebirds (try saying that quickly)! More... |
 | Saturday, 17 June 2017 This was a very enjoyable walk which provided a total of 21 bird species and 8 butterfly species. The most noticeable thing about the walk on this warm day was the absence of the tits, woodpeckers, nuthatch, blackbird and other common birds. Perhaps they were busy raising chicks or it was too hot to fly around! More... |
 | Sunday, 14 May 2017 Spring is surely the best time of year and there is no better place to enjoy the natural wonders of the season than at the Essex Wildlife Trust's Fingringhoe Wick reserve. More... |
 | Thursday, 11 May 2017 One of the joys of local walks is the chance to discover hidden pockets of scenic beauty and biodiversity within the Borough - Birthday Wood certainly lived up to this expectation. The venue was a strip of woodland along a chalk ridge capped with clay running parallel with Rushmore Hill, Pratts Bottom. More... |
 | Sunday, 7 May 2017 Dawn chorus walk in Chelsfield Green, Orpington You had to be up with the larks (quite literally) to join this walk! A group of us met at Chelsfield Green at 6am to take part in the worldwide celebration of birdsong that is International Dawn Chorus Day. More... |
 | Sunday, 30 April 2017 RSPB Pulborough Brooks, Sussex The star of ta brilliant day's birding was undoubtedly a singing nightingale that performed its extraordinary repertoire to us at close quarters. No other bird has been so celebrated in literature and it's easy to see why. The song is incredibly powerful and once heard is instantly recognisable. More... |
 | Tuesday, 18 April 2017 South Norwood Country Park, Croydon An unusually dry visit to this typically rather muddy venue, produced some nice birds including at last the oh so elusive bullfinch! More... |
 | Sunday, 12 March 2017 An enjoyable visit to this reserve North of London produced a good range of birds, with kingfisher and bittern living up to their reputation of elusiveness. More... |
 | Thursday, 9 March 2017 An early Spring day produced a fine variety of birds and insect life on this attractive and varied walk. More... |
 | Sunday, 12 February 2017 This reservoir in Essex is renowned for its exceptional Winter duck variety and numbers, and so it proved for our lucky group. More... |
 | Thursday, 9 February 2017 A cold day produced some handsome ducks, as well as goldcrests and redwings in this well kept suburban park. More... |
 | Sunday, 22 January 2017 Hayes Common and Parks, Bromley A cold but fine day produced some ice skating moorhens and a good selection of local birds. An excellent turnout for an enjoyable walk. More... |
 | Sunday, 15 January 2017 A chilly, and slightly damp visit to Cliffe Pools produced some good Winter ducks, a variety of waders and on the way home, thanks to a tip off, a bonus flock of waxwings! More... |
 | Sunday, 18 December 2016 The usual pre-Christmas Dungeness coach extravaganza was blessed with good, mild weather. Perhaps too good and too mild to get the best spectrum of Winter visitors. Nonetheless a good variety of ducks and other birds were seen. The highlight for most was a roosting Long Eared Owl, uncharacteristically in an easily visible location! More... |
 | Thursday, 15 December 2016 Selsdon Wood Local Nature Reserve, Croydon On an unseasonably mild December morning a party of twelve set off to explore Selsdon Wood Local Nature Reserve. The Wood, also known as "The Bird Sanctuary", has been owned by The National Trust since 1936 and managed by Croydon Council with The Friends of Selsdon Wood volunteers ensuring the Wood is maintained for the benefit of the flora and fauna and enjoyment of the public. More... |
 | Thursday, 1 December 2016 Members car trip --- RSPB Rainham Marshes -- Sunday 13th November Good weather, birthday celebrations and a good variety of birds all contributed to a brilliant day's birding! More... |
 | Tuesday, 25 October 2016 Members car trip --- Oare Marshes -- Sunday 16th October A brilliant day's birding at Oare Marshes produced a feast of eleven species of wader and bonus spoonbill. More... |
 | Monday, 26 September 2016 Members car trip --- Rye Harbour -- Sept. 18th 2016 A pleasant sunny day produced migrant wheatears and a variety of Autumn waders. More... |
 | Sunday, 26 June 2016 Members car trip --- Thursley Common --- 12th June 2016 Despite a pessimistic weather forecast, an excellent day was had at this beautiful reserve with a family of Dartford warblers amongst the highlights. More... |
 | Friday, 22 April 2016 Members Local Walk -- Tuesday 19th April 2016 -- Footscay Meadows This local walk along the river Cray and surrounding woodland produced Spring Warblers in plenty including confiding blackcaps, a kestrel and a flyby kingfisher. More... |
 | Friday, 22 April 2016 Members Car Trip -- Rainham Marshes RSPB Reserve - 17/04/16 This fine new RSPB reserve produced some exciting Spring birds, including the song of the grasshopper warbler and Dartford warble, as well as numerous whitethroats and sedge warblers. More... |
 | Monday, 11 April 2016 Report on Kelsey Park Heron Watch 3rd April 2016 Report on this year's successful heron watch. More... |
 | Friday, 5 February 2016 Members Car Trip -- Cliffe Pools RSPB - 17/01/16 A day that started with a flurry of snow ended with some fine Winter birding. Highlights included a hunting barn owl, displaying goldeneye and corn buntings. More... |
 | Wednesday, 16 December 2015 Members Car Trip -- Dungeness -- 13-12-2015 An unusually calm and mild day for this annual trip produced a bittern and plenty of duck, a frustrating long eared owl and an excellent lunch! More... |
 | Saturday, 28 November 2015 Members Car Trip -- Sevenoaks and Bough Beech -- 15-11-15 A dry , if rather cold and windy day at Sevenoaks Kent Trust Reserve and Bough Beech Reservoir produced a good variety of birds including snipe and the first fieldfares of the season. More... |
 | Saturday, 31 October 2015 Members Car Trip -- Ruxley Gravel Pits -- 15-10-2015 A visit to this former gravel pit Kent Trust reserve give lucky members who attended some great views of the normally elusive kingfishers. More... |
 | Saturday, 31 October 2015 Members Car Trip -- Riverside Country Park -- 13-09-2015 Despite a warning of rain. Those members who made this trip enjoyed some good views of waders, some still moulting from their summer plumage, and departing swallows. More... |
 | Friday, 23 October 2015 Members Car Trip -- Oare Marshes --18th October 2015 A misty start at this polular reserve turned into a sunny day with no wind. Perfect for bearded reedlings to be showing off! More... |
 | Monday, 27 July 2015 Coach Trip --Pagham Harbour -- 21st June 2015 -- A Twitch in Time! Pagham Harbour - Twitching in Sussex 21st June 2015.Our coach trip to Pagham produced sightings of a very rare wader, but not the one we 'expected'. More... |
 | Sunday, 7 June 2015 Members Car Trip -- Stodmarsh -- 15th May 2015 A bright sunny day at Stodmarsh produced a feast of (or should that be for) hobbies! More... |
 | Sunday, 31 May 2015 Members Local Walk -- Sydenham Hill Woods -- Lead by Bob Francis -- 21st May 2015 Nine members assembled outside the Dulwich Wood House pub on a bright sunny day to walk through an area of ancient woodland not five miles from Charing Cross; Sydenham Hill Woods are as near to our native wildwood as you are likely to get! More... |
 | Monday, 11 May 2015 Members Car Trip -- Rye Harbour 12-04-15 A fine sunny day attracted a large enthusiastic group to the Rye Harbour reserve. Many breeding birds of all sorts were seen, but the highlight was perhaps a beautiful purple sandpiper. An unusual bird in Spring, and in fine plumage. More... |
 | Saturday, 11 April 2015 Members Local Walk -- Footscray Meadows -- Lead by Anne Peck -- 27-03-15 A walk that started in drizzle and ended in the sun produced the usual selection of woodland and waterside birds. More... |
 | Saturday, 11 April 2015 Members Local Walk -- Cudham -- Led by Derek McWalter -- 9-04-2015 A beautiful morning at Cudham produced a host of farmland birds and signs of impending Summer, including the first swallows of the year. More... |
 | Thursday, 19 March 2015 Members Car Trip -- Elmley NNR -- 15-03-15 A members car trip to Elmley and Sheppey produced plenty of duck and waders as well as a close view of a hare, something of an Elmley specialty. More... |
 | Saturday, 14 March 2015 Local Walk in Jubilee Park, February 2015 A dry overcast day at this popular local country park produced a good flock of redwings, but not the hoped for bullfinch. More... |
 | Monday, 16 February 2015 Sunshine at Sevenoaks! - 15/02/15 A bright day at Sevenoaks Kent Trust Reserve produced an odd ibis, several goosanders and a close encounter with snipe. More... |
 | Wednesday, 17 December 2014 Pre-Christmas Dungeness Coach Trip 14th Dec. 2014 The traditional pre-Christmas coach outing to Dungeness produced a pair of cattle egrets as well as their Great White cousins, a good selection of ducks all served up with the usual excellent fish and chip lunch. More... |
 | Friday, 21 November 2014 Members Local Walk -- Spring Park woods -- lead by Dick Eddoes 1-11-14 A pleasant Autumn walk around Spring park woods with its interesting rare trees and sweet chesnut coppice. Birding highlight was a pair of bullfinches. More... |
 | Tuesday, 14 October 2014 A productive walk around Cliffe Pools -- 12th Oct. 2014 Once again the weather proved to be on our side for the visit to Cliffe Pools RSPB. Nine of us turned out for what proved to be a very productive walk. More... |
 | Tuesday, 30 September 2014 Members car trip to Riverside Country Park, Rochester, 14th September 2014 A rather windy but enjoyable day at Riverside country park with plenty of waders. More... |
 | Tuesday, 17 June 2014 Thursley Common Members Car Trip -- 15th June 2014 This trip may not have produced a huge species list, but amply made up for it with gems like redstart, crossbill and tree pipit, as well as drumming snipe, and exciting plants. More... |
 | Sunday, 15 June 2014 Kelsey Park Members Walk -- 12th June 2014 A beautiful sunny day produced a rare and exciting sighting of a kingfisher as well as an opportunity to see the park's Mandarin ducks in different plumage stages. More... |
 | Tuesday, 27 May 2014 Coach Trip to RSPB Minsmere 13th April 2014 A bright and sunny early Spring day at Minsmere produced birding highlights of stone curlew, spoonbill and jumping (well bobbing at least) jack snipe! Oh --- and I think some cake was eaten too. More... |
 | Sunday, 25 May 2014 Car Trip to Rye Harbour - 18th May A beautiful sunny day produced some excellent birdwatching for the group that made the trip. More... |
 | Saturday, 22 March 2014 Car Trip to Oare Marshes 16th March 2014 --- Shock and Oare! Despite high water levels in the scrape, a good variety of waders and small birds were seen. More... |
 | Monday, 10 March 2014 A Bit Late but Remember that December Dungeness Trip? Our traditional pre-Christmas bash, involving birds, fish and chips, beer (optional!), Christmas shoping and more birds in and around Dungeness RSPB. More... |
 | Monday, 17 February 2014 A Sunny, Calm day on Sheppey! - Sunday 16th February A welcome break from the terrible weather produced a great day of raptors, waders and wildfowl on the Isle of Sheppey. More... |
 | Monday, 13 January 2014 No Rain at Rainham! - Members Car Trip January 12th 2014 A bright and astonishingly rain-free day at RSPB Rainham Marsh produced a good selection of wildfowl and waders. More... |
 | Tuesday, 19 November 2013 Cliffe Pools RSPB - 17/11/13 - Waders, wildfowl, and the one that got away? Report of the November members car trip to Cliffe Pools RSPB reserve More... |
 | Wednesday, 16 October 2013 Horrid Weather on Horrid Hill! - Sunday 13th October 2013 Car trip to Riverside Country Park - Sunday 13th October. More... |
 | Friday, 4 May 2012 Jubilee Park Local Walk April 12th 2012 A chilly but fine day produced some Spring visitors and a welcome pair of bullfinches. More... |
 | Thursday, 16 February 2012 Kelsey Park Local Walk 9th Feb. 2012 A chilly day in Kelsey Park with snow on the ground, but well attended with over 20 Mandarin Ducks on view. More... |
 | Monday, 14 November 2011 Local Walk Cudham -- 9th November 2011 This walk in mild unseasonal weather produced exceptional numbers of skylarks as well as buzzard and yellowhammer. This area is one of the best in the borough for farmland birds. More... |
 | Thursday, 13 October 2011 Scadbury Park Local Walk --- Thursday 13th October A pleasant Autumn walk records some early Winter visitors. More... |
 | Friday, 10 June 2011 Scadbury Park Local Walk 9th June 2011 A pleasant walk in a local country park produces 37 bird species More... |
 | Saturday, 7 May 2011 Local walk - Downe Scouting Activity Centre 7th May 2011 A Spring walk around pleasant Downe woods and fields More... |
 | Sunday, 2 May 2010 Volunteering for the RSPB at Lake Vyrnwy Stuart was keen to show me better views of the honey buzzards and potentially goshawks as well! More... |
 | Thursday, 11 March 2010 Coolings Nature Trail-Local Walk 11th March The main objective Coolings had in establishing the Nature Trail is to manage the area to benefit and encourage as many different forms of native wildlife as possible More... |
 | Tuesday, 2 March 2010 Volunteering for the RSPB at Blacktoft Sands As soon as I arrived, I stopped on the flood bank that runs along the length of the reserve to check out the reserve's feeders and a friendly tree sparrow came and perched on a fence post about six feet away from me. More... |
 | Saturday, 13 February 2010 Pulborough Brooks is about to embark on an ambitious scheme of conifer clearance and heathland restoration to attract species such as nightjar and woodlark More... |
 | Sunday, 1 June 2008 A hunting barn owl early in the day gets things off to an exciting start. More... |
 | Thursday, 10 January 2008 Foraging in the long grass redwings and fieldfares were seen often in close proximity so that the size and plumage differences could be compared. More... |
 | Thursday, 10 May 2007 Sydenham Hill Woods: Local Walk Dulwich Wood and Sydenham Hill Woods both lie just inside the London Borough of Southwark. Once inside the woods you can sense the peaceful atmosphere with shafts of sunlight peering through the treetop canopy. More... |
 | Saturday, 14 April 2007 Ruxley Gravel Pits : Local Walk Our annual local outing continues to be as popular as ever and represents one of the few opportunities for Bromley residents to gain access to the reserve. More... |
 | Friday, 16 March 2007 South Norwood Country Park : Local Walk 2007 After the war part of the site had become a tip for war damage rubble and the sewage farm had gone into decline so Croydon Council drew up plans to redevelop the site to provide leisure and wildlife facilities . More... |