Welcome to my personal website. As you can see, I have been hooked by the desire to travel and find new birds, a victim of an obsession for birding. Like most addictions it has its dangers, some of which I have fallen foul of, but it has given me much pleasure and purpose to life. I have had two principles in my travels, firstly to ensure reports are written to help others benefit from my experience, and until recently not to participate in trips run by tour companies (except for the few I’ve led myself). Not that I have anything against tour companies – they do an excellent job and are the best option for many people, but I prefer to have more control over what I do.

 

This website was produced by my wife Syndy and as well as being attractive, it is so easy to update that even I can do it. 

Since 1994 my trip reports have been written and stored on computer, and so I am able to present them here under the region of the world visited. Some of the reports don’t yet include species lists because these are in xcel files that can’t be uploaded. I will transfer these into tables and upload when time permits. Earlier reports are available only as hard copy. See below for full list of reports.

 I want to thank the many friends and acquaintances who have helped me to gain so much from birding over the years. I would like to encourage birders to put something back as I have tried to do, be it by participating in survey work or research projects, writing up significant sightings, or supporting conservation efforts, all of which I hope to continue to do. It is easy to become depressed at the state of our planet, what with massive deforestation and over-exploitation of resources, “reclamation” of wetlands and mudflats, global warming, etc, but there are still many opportunities to make a positive contribution and to ENJOY the wonders of the natural world.                                                                                                                                                                                

 Much of my early youth was spent looking for birds nests, newts and butterflies on Bramcote Hills (now covered in houses) and in Wollaton Park on the outskirts of Nottingham. A particular memory was a magnificent Sparrowhawk knocking itself out by hitting the kitchen window before flying off after a few minutes of recovery. I moved to train-spotting and made weekly visits on my bike to Toton sheds and Derby Works, before travelling further afield to the meccas of Crewe and Doncaster. A memorable outing by train was to Cambridge with the school train-spotters club, “organized” by one Ken Clarke: we ended up at Grantham at midnight with no prospect of getting home unless parents could be persuaded to collect us – perhaps a foretaste of why the Conservative party is disorganised at times. Steam engines became an obsession and I cycled all over the country to accumulate a big list. However, the discovery of girls put a stop to this and I changed to the more sedentary interests of art, films, modern jazz and card-playing.

I read metallurgy at university, for no good reason, and tried to get a job in TV, the only way into the film industry, my main interest at that time. This was difficult as there were very few TV companies then – I was short-listed for the BBC but a rather obnoxious fellow-college acquaintance pipped me by getting a job with Granada. John Birt subsequently lost his Liverpool accent, became Director General of the BBC and a Blair crony. I was offered the opportunity of doing a PhD but a young wife and baby meant money was a higher priority so I took a job with the United Steel Company at Stocksbridge near Sheffield. No sooner had I joined when I discovered the generosity of the steel industry as Mr Peach, the Chairman of the company, visited Stocksbridge to present all employees, a surprising number, who had worked for more than 50 years with a gold-coloured pencil!

My interest in birds was reawakened by a family camping holiday on the Yorkshire coast in 1970. I “discovered” Bempton Cliffs and was fascinated by the breeding seabirds, especially the Gannets. I counted 6 nests, a far cry from the 10,000 of today. I then set about trying to learn bird identification, initially by myself but soon with the help of Dave Herringshaw, ably assisted by the young Dave Gosney. They introduced me to the delights of moorland and reservoir birding and their enthusiasm for raptors proved highly contagious. I joined the Sorby Natural History Society and became a founder member of the Sheffield Bird Study Group in Dec 1972.  In the mid 1970s I was based in Rotherham and sometimes visited Thrybergh Banks during my lunch break. On 3rd Jan 1977 I noted a predominantly dark grey bird with a pale bill in a flock of House Sparrows of the same size. I presumed it to be an escape and did not realize it was a Dark-eyed Junco until a year or two later, whereupon I wrote to Mike Rogers, Secretary of the Rarities committee, to ask if it could be a wild bird. Some months later I was surprised to receive a card congratulating me on having had the record accepted as the first ever wintering Junco in the country!

I threw myself into survey work, especially the Waterways Bird Survey which the Group pioneered in 1973 and became a national BTO survey the following year. At first I surveyed the River Don near Deepcar and then the Sheaf in Millhouses where I lived, but wanting a more interesting stretch, I tried the Noe from Bamford to the start of Edale, in 1976. This I continued to monitor for the next 20 years and found very rewarding. I also spent a not inconsiderable time on other surveys and studying a few of my favourite birds, such as Moorhens, Kingfishers, Great Grey Shrikes and Hen Harriers, the last two being more regular winter visitors then than the scarcities they are today. In retrospect I spent too much time on birding, to the detriment of my family, and would urge anyone in a similar position not to make my mistake. Nowadays I have adopted the philosophy “There’s more to life than birding…..”

In 1977 I was invited to become Hon Sec of the SBSG, a post I held till 1984. I served as Chairman from 1985 to 1989 and joint annual Report editor from 1983 to 1992. One day I was delighted to receive a phone call from Dr Tim Sharrock, then Editor of British Birds, informing me we had won the “Best Annual Bird Report” award for our 1991 report, a tribute to the efforts of many people, especially co-editor Simon Roddis. By then the Group had embarked on a variety of surveys, including Sheffield Parks, garden birds, Kestrels, Rookeries and Starling roosts, and most ambitiously, a successful tetrad breeding bird survey during the period 1975-1980, all under the able leadership of Dave Herringshaw. This was largely possible due to the efforts of a team of keen youngsters, the like of which has never been seen since; Keith Clarkson, Ian Francis, Dave Gosney, Paul Leonard, David Marshall, Clive McKay and Simon Roddis being particularly active. The two Daves then embarked upon the considerable task of writing up the results, with the aid of a few like myself. They decided to broaden the publication to a complete avifauna of the Sheffield region but after a couple of years ran out of steam. I then volunteered to take DG’s place and oversee the project to conclusion, little realizing how much time this would take, given that this was before the home computer age so that the breeding bird maps, for example, had to be prepared by hand.

We finally went to press in 1985, by which time my main interest locally was in protection of Peregrines and monitoring of Merlins. Together with Trevor Grimshaw and Peter Johnson of the DOS, I organized the Alport Castles Peregrine nest protection scheme, a 24 hour watch which resulted in several years of successful breeding where there had been none before. On one memorable occasion, 11th May 1985, I stopped on my way to Alport to check the moorland near Burbage for Dotterel as I believed this to be a possible stop-over site. To my delight I found a trip of 27, still the largest number ever recorded in the Sheffield area.  By then Merlins were starting to reappear on the moors in spring, having become virtually extinct as breeders in 1960, due to pesticides. Along with a few other Merlin enthusiasts, I spent a lot of time on our moors in the late 80s and early 90s looking for and monitoring nests, under licence. I took up bird ringing with the Sorby Breck Ringing Group in 1988, another time-consuming activity, and so was able to ring a number of young Merlins from the expanding population. Several were subsequently found dead, near both the west coast and the east coast, with one travelling as far as Biarritz near the Spanish border – a great surprise to me although not unprecedented nationally.

By the early 90s, my main birding interest had become international and I largely bowed out of local activity apart from some ringing and survey work. The seeds for this were sown back in 1971 when I had won a United Steels Compamy travel award to study the special steel industry in Japan. This became a 3 month world tour starting in New York in Feb 1971. The sight of a stunning red Cardinal perched in a leafless tree in Central Park, followed by a hummingbird in Golden Gate Park, San Francisco, converted me to world-birding. It was a poor time of year for birds in the parts of Japan I was able to visit, so I did not see much there, but I was intrigued to hear a Wren singing, exactly the same as at home 8000 or more miles away. India was my last port of call; I landed at Calcutta at night and was amazed to see many 1000s of people asleep on the pavements as I drove into town. It was the time of the war between east and west Pakistan, which drove millions to flee across the border before the country of Bangladesh became a reality. A few hours later I was back at the airport for a flight to Assam to visit Kaziranga National Park to see the Indian Rhino. An afternoon drive on the only road into the park got me off to a good start with the sight of a hunting tiger near a herd of deer- my only tiger sighting despite many months in India until I finally visited tiger reserves in 2008. The following day I spent 7 hours on elephant back, in two sessions, just a mahout and me, exploring the huge swampland with its birds and mammals including very approachable rhinos – not another tourist in sight, a far cry from today’s situation.

Apart from a job-related week in Nigeria in 1976, I did not travel beyond Europe again until I became a Customer Liaison Metallurgist in 1998. My first foreign business trip was to India and Pakistan with Assistant Sales Manager, Greg Atkinson. Greg told me about his brother Rowan who was just starting a career as a comic actor and had been booked to do a short piece on TV! This was a very eventful trip, including as it did a hi-jacking of our flight in Pakistan which could easily have ended in disaster, a meeting with Salim Ali, the much-loved grand old man of Indian ornithology, and for Greg, a parasite infection which took months to cure. The sight of so many new and colourful birds made me a tropical birding addict for life. I was able to combine some overseas birding, mainly in the Orient and North America, with work and eventually used part of my meagre holiday allowance for overseas birding trips, starting with California and Arizona with Roy Frost and Mike Archer in 1985. This was followed by Costa Rica and two pioneering trips to Indonesia with Mike and Simon Roddis, excellent companions, to Sulawesi in 1988 and Irian Jaya in 1991.

I had the opportunity to take early retirement with a modest pension in Nov 1993. The next day I flew to Ecuador for six weeks. I never did get the promised retirement dinner! I spent a lot of time in South America over the next 6 years, especially in Bolivia where I participated annually as one of the staff on a conservation research project, funded by Earthwatch and ably led by Robin Brace. I was responsible for catching and ringing birds, which was very rewarding, as I caught 190 species including one new to Bolivia. I have also undertaken similar but shorter ventures in other countries, notably Peru, Ecuador, Papua New Guinea, India and the Philippines. I have birded in sub-Saharan Africa fairly comprehensively but in recent years have concentrated on southeast Asia and Australasia, with tour-leading in Papua New Guinea, the Philippines and Peru. With my love of travelling to new countries, helping in conservation projects and seeing new birds, I have made many friends and accumulated a big world list, although it has never been my aim to see more than anybody else. I now want to spend more time at home, with my wife Syndy and ringing at my local patch, Barbrook Plantation, but the call of the wild is very strong….

 

Interview for the Sheffield Birdstudy Group: Pete Mella, July 2013

We’re in the none-too-glamorous heart of Sheffield’s post-industrial East End. Although much tidied up in recent years, with new offices and apartments ever more prevalent, some scars of the decline of the steel industry remain, with old, abandoned factories and warehouses still in evidence. It is here I meet Sheffield-based birder Jon Hornbuckle, who’s exploring the area looking for evidence of Black Redstart, a species that benefited from the city’s industrial downfall, moving in to breed in the nooks and crannies among the dereliction. Since redevelopment, these rubbly places have largely been lost, and with them the redstarts, but enough potential habitat remains for Jon to search for any lingering on. With Jon’s local knowledge, and desire to spend his Sunday morning scouring Sheffield’s backstreets, it’s perhaps hard to imagine he’s one of the most well-travelled birders alive, and has seen more birds than virtually any other person on earth, with a total tally (at the time of writing) of 8,979, currently second in the ranking of world listers behind one who’s list includes heard birds. “I just like seeing new birds, and travelling and so on,” says Jon.“So as I hadn’t seen all that many when I started travelling a lot, and I just kept one list, my world list, and it kept growing.”

Originally from Nottingham, and moving to Sheffield in the 1960s to work in the steel industry, Jon was highly active in local birding, being a founding member of the Sheffield Bird Study Group, and co-editing the group’s first breeding atlas in the 1980s. He also had some success finding rare birds in the region, including the area’s first Common Crane, and most notably a Dark-eyed Junco during his lunch hour while working in Rotherham. “That was a pure fluke and I didn’t even know what it was,” says Jon. “There was a flock of House Sparrows, and I suddenly noticed there was an all-black one with what looked like a pink bill, and I assumed it was some kind of escaped bird so I didn’t bother any more about it. It was only two or three years later when I got more interested in foreign birds that I realised what it was, so I sent a note to the secretary of the Rare Birds Committee, saying I saw this bird, and just wanted to know if they thought it was a genuine wild bird or just an escape. And about two months later I got a card back saying congratulations on seeing this wild American bird, which turned out to be the first ever UK record in the winter period!”

Remarkably his world listing only started properly around twenty years ago, when he took early retirement from the then-declining steel industry, and immediately went to Ecuador for six weeks. Jon says he doesn’t list competitively, and that numbers don’t really mean that much. “The big problem is with taxonomy and all that sort of stuff, it’s really very difficult to define how many you’ve seen,” he explains. “I want to get to 9,000 now, because I never thought I’d get to 5,000. I’m actually over that on one of the taxonomies, so it’s a bit meaningless on absolute numbers.” He does realise that in the listings there are others snapping at his heels. “A friend of mine in America is really keen,” he says, “and doesn’t seem to be interested in anything but seeing new birds. He’ll overtake me, because he’s twenty years younger than me, but I don’t mind that because he is a younger guy.”

Taxonomic changes also mean he ends up with a few “armchair” ticks when subspecies are elevated to species rank, although this can also cause frustrations, citing a pitta split in Borneo as a particular example. “I’d seen it elsewhere so hadn’t really tried too hard to see it in Borneo,” he says, “and I wasn’t planning on going there again, but I might have to go now for that, because any pitta is a special bird!” And of course there are a few birds that got away, with one in particular springing to mind. “One of the main reasons for going to northern Peru was to see a bird called the Long-whiskered Owlet,” he says, “a very small owl. Nobody had ever seen it in the field but a few Americans had caught it in mist nets”. “I failed on that, and nobody else found it until a few years ago when the Americans went back to Abra Patricia, caught one or two and recorded its calls, and that led to other people to go and tape it out. So now it’s a bird that anyone that goes to the right place is almost guaranteed to see. So it’s a bit annoying that I haven’t seen that!”

Jon has seen a huge percentage of all the world’s birds, so how does he go about finding ones that he hasn’t yet seen? “I think it would be fair to say that virtually everywhere I go now I have a list of what I want to see,” he says. “Mostly it’s something like twenty species in three or four weeks, and I’m happy if I see fifteen. That’s how it works. I could get more in South America. When I retired I’d never been to South America, so the next ten years I spent a lot of time there, but then I sort of went off it and spent most time elsewhere, so I haven’t done much there in recent years. I most like southeast Asia and that part of the world, that’s where I’ve been going to places where I’ve only got a dozen or so new birds, whereas in South America I could get 20 or 30 in that period.”

When I meet Jon he’d just come back from a trip to Africa, visiting Ghana and Burkina Faso, where a dozen or so new birds such as Yellow-throated Cuckoo, Black-throated Coucal and Capuchin Babbler had been added to the list. “I saw a few new birds in Ghana, but the two best birds I’d seen before,” he says, “Picathartes, that’s a really neat bird, and Egyptian Plover.”

Jon’s travels haven’t all been about seeing new birds. A great deal of time has been taken up with conservation, carrying out ringing and survey work in the countries he visits, including six summers spent ringing birds in Bolivia. 

“Another project I particularly enjoyed was in northern Peru,” he says. “I went on a trip there with a few friends, and we found a very nice area that was just opening up because a new road had recently been made there. People were moving in and chopping the forest down, and I thought blimey, this is going to get wrecked if we’re not careful. So I did then put some effort in to get some funding, and local people involved, then went back for three weeks by myself, joined by Jeremy Flanagan, a great guy who lived in Scunthorpe originally but settled in northern Peru. We did some bird good survey work there, and got a lot of support from people saying, ‘what a good idea to conserve the area’. “Eventually after about five years, some of the Americans got stuck in and they’ve now built a lodge and made a reserve out of it and so on. So it seems completely changed. But I like to think to some extent it’s because I originally put in the effort in the past.”

 Jon’s seen a lot of changes to the world since he started travelling, and admits to finding the destruction of the world’s habitats depressing. Apart from well-known areas such as the Amazon, he’s seen vast logging activities in the forests of some of his favourite countries, including the Philippines and Papua New Guinea. “Undoubtedly the same thing is happening in central Africa,” he says, “because nobody gives a toss about it there. The only good thing about it I suppose is it’s pretty difficult for loggers to get stuff out, if it was made easier the whole place would be flattened. I find that very depressing I must admit.”

Is there anywhere left Jon hasn’t explored? He expresses regret he probably won’t ever be able to visit Mali, a country he’s always wanted to see, due to the political situation there, and says he has his sights on Polynesia, and the Karakoram region of Pakistan. He was also preparing to embark on a trip to China when we met. Another future plan is to write a book chronicling his travels, but only when - in his own words - he’s too “crocked up” to travel further. As well as the birds he’s seen he’s got many stories to tell, including a plane hijacking over Pakistan, and being inches away from treading on one of Papua New Guinea’s most venomous snakes, which would have killed him within three hours. Ironically for one of the world’s most well-travelled birders, Jon rarely travels within the UK, and doesn’t twitch birds in Britain, with most of his time in Britain spent walking and photographing birds locally in the Sheffield area. “People think I’m barmy because I won’ t go to the coast, for example,” he reflects. “It’s only because I can’t be bothered to drive that far, which does seem a bit odd!”

We never do find a Black Redstart during our morning in the decidedly non-exotic South Yorkshire streets, but this time spent in the city centre illustrates a remarkable birder - a man who has seen a staggeringly high percentage of the ornithological wonders the world has to offer, and continues to seek out new birds in far flung corners of the globe, but is still content putting less glamorous hours in contributing to the knowledge of his local area. A great birder, with a fascinating birdwatching career.

Pete Mella, July 2013

 

BIRDING TRIPS  1980–2015        Jon Hornbuckle

1980

Nov 13 – 23                              Nepal

 

1981

May 18 – 26                              East Poland

May 27 – 31                              East Austria

Sept 6 – 13                               Greece

Nov 26 – 28                              Sri Lanka

Nov 29 – Dec 7                         India including Bharatpur

 

1982

March 7 – 17                             India inc. Lake Chilka

March 19 – 22                           Hokkaido,  Japan

March 26 - 28                            Suchow & Hangchow, China

March 28 – 29                           Mai Po, Hong Kong

July 30 – Aug 10                       East USA

Sept 1 – 5                                 India inc. Bharatpur

Oct 31 – Nov 13                        South Spain

 

1983

Jan 25 – Feb 1                          NE USA & South Florida

May 4 – 10                                NE USA

Oct 18 – 22                               NE USA

Nov 3 – Dec 2                           Sikkim & Rajastan, India

 

1984

Jan 4 – 11                                 NE USA

May 3 – 4                                  S Florida, USA

May 5 – 6                                  Isla Mujeres, Yucatan, Mexico

May 7 – 10                                E  USA

May 11 – 13                              Point Pelee, Canada

May 31 – June 5                        Poland

July 8 – 9                                  Delphi, Greece

August 12 – 24                          Mallorca

Sept 14 – 16                             Illmitz, E  Austria

Oct 8 – 13                                 E  India

 

1985

Feb 16 – 24                               Texas & Mass, USA

July 25 – August 18                   SouthWest USA

Aug 22 – 26                              Poland

 

1986

April 3 – 5                                 Sweden

April 26 – 29                              Yucatan, Mexico

May 24 – June 15                      Japan

 

1987

March 1 – 22                             Costa Rica & Panama Canal Zone

May 25 – June 3                        South Canada

 

1988

 March 18 – April 11                   Sulawesi, Java, Bali, Sumatra, Indonesia

May 26 - 29                               Churchill, Canada

July 26 – August 9                     Canary Islands

 

1989

March 9 – 15                             Israel

May 26 – 28                              Cayman Islands

May 29 – 30                              Jamaica

July 24 – Aug 14                       Peru & Bogota, Colombia

 

1990

April 5 – 12                               Madeira

May 25 – 29                              Dominican Republic

July 27 – Aug 2                         Rwanda

Aug 3 – 18                                Kenya

 

1991

May 25 – June 2                        East Poland

June 14 – 16                             North Colorado, USA

July 19 – Aug 11                       Irian Jaya

 

1992

May 15 – 17                              Texas, USA

May 25 – 29                              Acapulco, Mexico

 

1993

April 2 - 13                                Guatemala

May 21 - 23                               Arizona, USA

July 23 – Aug 2                         Switzerland

Nov 15 – Dec 23                       Ecuador

 

1994

January 13 - March 1                 Philippines 164

May 14 - May 29                        British tour

July 20 -  September 20             Bolivia (Earthwatch)

October 31 - Nov 25                  Namibia & Cape Town

 

1995

Jan 15 - March 5                        Brazil

March 5 - 15                              E Venezuela

May 13 - 28                               British tour

June 5 - July 25                         E Australia & PNG

July 27 - September 5                Beni, Bolivia

October 20 Dec 1                      Madagascar & the Comoros

 

1996

Feb 5 – 19                                Japan  

Feb 20 – 22                               South Korea

Feb 23 - March 31                     Philippines

April 3 - 27                                Bolivia - Noel Kempff Mercado NP 

July 14 - 20                               Iguazu

July 22 - Sept 2                         Beni, Bolivia

Sept 3 - October 1                     NW Ecuador & Galapagos        

October 23 - Nov 18                  Ethiopia

 

1997

Feb 2 - March14                        Malawi, Zimbabwe & east S Africa

March 20 - April 14                    Cameroon

July 13 - Sept 16                       Beni, Bolivia + N Ecuador

Oct 7 – Nov 4                            Colombia

Nov 11 – 14                              UAE

Nov 14 - Dec 11                        Panay, Philippines

 

1998

Feb 17 – March 21                     NE India

March 24 – April 14                    Vietnam

July 11 – Aug 18                       Bolivia 

Aug 18 - Sept 14                       N Peru

Nov ?                                       N Peru - Abra Patricia   

 

1999 – 8 trips

Jan 16 – 25                               Cuba

Jan 27 – Feb 22                        Mexico

May 4 –July1                             Solomons, New Britain, New Ireland, Manus

Aug 1 – 31                                Bolivia – EBB & Tunquini

Sept 1 – 10                               Peru - Abancay

Nov 8 – 28                                New Zealand

Nov 28 – Dec 21                       SE Aus

Dec 14 – 17                              New Caledonia

 

 

2000 - 3

March 1 – April 14                     Malaysia & S Thailand 149 

May 21 – July 16                       China – Sichuan & Qinghai 102

Oct 7 – Nov 26                          Chile & Argentina 135   

 

2001 - 5

Jan 19 – Feb 23                        Venezuela 75

Feb 23 – March 27                     Costa Rica 33

June 3 – 10                               Hungary 2

July 25 – Sept 17                      Uganda, Kenya & Tanzania 86

Oct 5 – Nov 17                          Indonesia – Sulawesi + Sangihe, Lesser Sundas

               

2002 - 9

Feb 9 – March 5                        S India & Sri Lanka

March 7-31                                Yunnan, China

April 1- 8                                   Sri Lanka

May                                          N Thailand

June10-27                                 Alaska

July 24 -Aug 11                         Peru (Naturetrek)

September 13-30                       PNG (Naturetrek)          

Oct 9-26                                    Peru (Naturetrek)

Oct 30-Nov 19                           Antarctic pelagic from Cape Town

 

2003 - 9

Jan 14 – 30                   Philippines – Negros survey Jan 19-24

Jan 30 - Feb 4             Taiwan solo

March 15 – 26               Peru (Naturetrek)

May 14-24                     Hawaii

May 24 – June 11          Uzbekistan & Kazakhstan

June 15-July 1               Peru (Naturetrek)

Aug 17-Sept 9 ?            PNG (Naturetrek)

Oct 11- Nov 29              Zambia, Gabon, Sao Tome and Principe 

 

2004 - 10

Jan 25 – Feb 9              Dominican Republic, Lesser Antilles using Britannia charter £139

Feb 18 – March 22         Philippines - N Luzon

March 29 - April 15        Kenya

May 18 – 25                  Taiwan with Fillip V

May 25 – June 2            Philippines - Palawan

June 3 – 27                   PNG

June 27 – July 11          Aus – Qld and NT

July 12 – 22                  Philippines - Palawan

September 1 – 23          Halmahera, W Papua & Tanimbars, Indonesia (25)  Palawan

Oct  23-29                     Phils – N Luzon with Irma

November 13 – 28         Seychelles, Mauritius, Reunion, Rodrigues (25)

Nov 28 – Dec 17           Kenya – Lamu & ringing (Dec 6 – 13)

 

2005 - 9

Jan 30 – March 7           Phils – Samar (Feb 5-11), Zamboanga, Negros survey (Feb 25-28)

March   8-11                  Khao Yai, Thailand for pittas

March   11-30                Borneo

June     6-14                  KK, Thailand for pittas

June     15-25                Phils -

June     26- July15         Indonesia – Sum + Jav

July      27 – Aug 13      Peru - Naturetrek

Aug      14-29                PNG - Naturetrek

Aug      29 - Sept 22      PNG private tour

Oct       2-22                  Borneo

Nov 16 – Dec 6             Phils – Davao, Camiguin, Cebu

 

2006 - 9

Jan 21-30                      Cambodia

Feb 6 – March 7            Vietnam

March 8 – April 9           Phils - Mindanao, Bicol

April 26 – May 9            Morocco

July 2 – 24                    Phils -

July 24 – Aug 29           PNG

Sept 24 – Oct 10           PNG

Oct 10 – Nov 1              Phils –

Dec 1 - 19                     Sierra Leone

 

2007 - 10

Jan 13 – 25                   Yemen & Socotra

March 10 - 25                Phils -

March 25 – April 15        Bhutan

April 16 - 23                  Andamans

June 17 – 23                 Hong Kong

June 23 – July 1            Phils -

July 2 – 24                    PNG

July 24 – Aug 1             Aus – Perth and SW

Aug 2 – 18                    Fiji, W Samoa

Aug 19                          Brisbane

Sept 7 – 16                   Corsica

Oct 2 – 4                       N Aus

Oct 5 – 22                     S Aus and outback

 

2008 - 7

Jan 4 – Feb 5                NW India – Gujarat, Bandhavgarh, Naini Tal, Bund Baretha

March 13                       Singapore

March 14 – April 2         NE India – Assam, Eaglenest

April 2 – 3                     Singapore

April 3 – 29                   Phils tour

Jul 12 – Aug 18             PNG

Jul 19                           Singapore

Jul 20 – Sep 5               Halmahera & NE Sulawesi, Indonesia

Sep                              Phils - Lake Sebu

Nov 6 – 8                      Arizona, USA

Nov 10 – 20                  NW Mexico

 

2009 - 9

Jan 14 - Feb14              Ecuador

March 3 – 25                 Argentina to Antarctic to Cape Town

March 27 – April 6         Jordan

May 8 – 11                    Iceland (non-birding)

June 11 – Aug 6:-         

June 11 – 18                 Philippines - Tablas

June 19 – 20                 Aus - S Qld

June 21 – July 17          PNG tour including N Solomons Jul 10 - 17

July 18 – Aug 6             Indonesia - Tanimbar, Kai, Ambon & Seram

Oct 12 – 25                   Phils - Dalton Pass

Oct 26 – Nov 8              Laos (non-birding)

 

2010 - 8

Jan 4 – 25                     Micronesia

Feb 16 – March 13         Colombia

March 26 – April 26        Phils tour + Palawan

Jul 13 – Aug 26             PNG

Sept  5 - 18                   Mont Blanc – Zermatt, trekking

Oct  13 - 23                   Angola

Oct  24 – 25                  South Africa

Oct 25 – Nov 1              Phils - Mindoro

Nov 18 – Dec 6             Guyana

 

2011 – only 1 (due to relationship issues)

Oct 26 – Nov 30            Brazil

 

2012 - 4

Feb 23 – March 7          Burma

April 25 – May 28          China

May 8 – 17                    Mongolia

Sept 25 – Oct 26           E Indonesia

 

2013 - 6

Jan 19 – 23                   Fuerteventura (Canary Is)

Feb 18 – March 6          Ghana

March 7 – 13                 Burkina Faso

May 10 – June 9            China

Aug 3 –  25                   West Papua

Aug 26 – Sept 3                        Sulawesi, Indonesia

Nov 9 - Dec 3               Subantarctic Islands (and New Zealand) 

 

2014 - 4

March  14 - April 5       Peru

May 20 – June 12          Costa Rica

July  17 – 31                 Turkey (non-birding)

Nov  4 – 15                   Colombia

 

2015

Jan  20 – Feb 12           Ecuador

March  21 – 25              Iceland (Northern Lights)

April  12 – 28                 Panama

June 25 – July 19          Colombia

 Sept 22 -  Oct 26          Brazil

 

2016

Feb 18 – March 7          Mexico

April  20 – May 13         Cyprus, Macedonia, Albania

July  7 - 24                              PNG

Sept  5 – 12                            Lanzarote