Bird ID and song course

My bird ID and bird song course offers an introduction to bird identification through visual observation and voice recognition and is suitable for complete beginners as well as experienced birdwatchers wishing to improve their song identification skills. The scheduling is timed to offer full exposure to the trials and tribulations of the breeding season and the mounting drama that ensues as the season progresses on a pair of Surrey nature reserves rich in resident and migrant birdlife. In the early sessions, we’ll take advantage of the lack of leaf cover to identify the common resident species by eye and by ear so that their calls and songs become embedded before the migrants arrive and the trees start to leaf up in mid-April. By the end of the course, we’ll have a good understanding of how bird migration unfolds in a Southern British lowland environment and be able to identify a good number of species by appearance and by song. This course is spread across two venues; Molesey Heath local nature reserve is an interesting mix of scrub, grassland, woodland, and riparian habitats and has a particularly diverse assemblage of warblers whilst Molesey reservoirs is a private wetland reserve with good numbers of wildfowl and waders. The dates are at the top of the page.

Participants can do as many or as few sessions as they like, additional sessions can be arranged by request or a bespoke itinerary can be devised to work around your schedule.

Bring binoculars, notepad and recording device if possible and please dress appropriately for the weather conditions.