Author Archives: Simon Tonkin

Unless there’s a moth trap or a night out with the Next Generation Birders involved, there’s normally only one 5 o’clock in our day! But this morning we had a great reason to haul ourselves out before daybreak. We were to spend it helping out our friends at Fundacion Migres surveying Balearic Shearwaters as theyContinue reading “Very Important Puffinus”

There’s so much to see here in the Straits of Gibraltar it’s sometimes hard to know where to start!  Every day is different and that’s what makes it so special – for every group or person we show around there are special birding moments we get to share with them.  Here’s a selection from theContinue reading “6 Mega Moments that will have you booking the next flight to the Straits!”

This morning was the last day of the trip we were guiding for our Honeyguides group, so a good opportunity to meet Lola and Alijandro at Fundacion Migres, our conservation partners and the organisation benefitting from a donation from the trip’s proceeds. En route to our meeting we treated the group to a swift detour to visit aContinue reading “Meet Fundacion Migres, Bartolo the Eagle Owl and a whole lotta vultures”

Our tour group had fallen in love with the blue buildings and dramatic backdrop of the town of Chefchaouen.  But today it was time to follow the birds north and return to Europe.  From our location high in the Rif mountains, we followed the route of the Oued Lauou river all the way down fromContinue reading “Birding the Oued Lauou river”

Our tour group from Honeyguides had enjoyed their sample of urban birding in Spain, now it was time to hit ’em with the hard stuff!  As we set out for breakfast in downtown Larache, they were in for another urban birding treat.  The café, under the arches of the promenades surrounding the town square, was rightContinue reading “Urban birding in Morocco!”

As our boat arrived at Ceuta harbour on the coast of North Africa, we admired a statue of Hercules parting the twin pillars of the Rock of Gibraltar and the Jebel Musa mountain in Morocco.  For the ancient European civilisations, these two landmark rocky monoliths represented the gateway out of the Mediterranean and into theContinue reading “A Herculean day’s birding!”

On Day Three of their trip, we took our lovely Honeyguides group to the huge plain of La Janda, formerly a vast wetland which was mostly drained for agriculture in the 19th Century.  Fragments of wetland remain amongst the low-intensity farming, and we spent the morning finding a host of wetland and farmland treasures.   As the breedingContinue reading “Big day out La Janda”

How we love waking up to find the wind has dropped!  Strong winds stop migrating raptors in their tracks, so when a stiller day follows a couple days of bad weather, we know it will be a good one for northward movement, as the birds take the opportunity to continue their journeys. This time it coincidedContinue reading “Flying Kites in the Straits”