Birdwatching and Bird Migration

Thank you for your interest in this course. There are places still available on the course but unfortunately the accommodation in the Centre is now fully booked. If you would consider attending as a non-resident, staying in a local B&B, please follow to this link for a list of local B&Bs in the Flatford area. If one of the providers has availability for you, please contact us to reserve your place on the course and then confirm with the B&B.

This course is designed to help you to find out more about bird identification and bird migration. The course is suitable for people who have some birdwatching experience and wish to learn more about the species likely to be encountered during migration periods.

You will be guided on how to identify such birds and learn more on the most likely habitats and situations in which they occur. As well as being very informative, we aim for our courses to be relaxed in order to encourage you to feel comfortable enough to ask questions and join group discussions throughout the course.

We will divide our time between watching birds in the field and working indoors reviewing and discussing what we have collectively learnt. We will observe as many species as possible and use the latest smartphone apps and DVD identification guides to cover those species that may elude us on the day. This will ensure that your stay has been as interesting and informative as we can possibly make it.

We will explore migration marking techniques including ringing, colour marking, radio and satellite tracking. Weather permitting, we will organise bird ringing demonstrations, which will enable us to get really 'close-up and personal' with some of the birds.

Seeing birds in the hand under the guidance of expert trainers is an excellent way of understanding the nuances of bird identification and will reinforce the observations you can make through binoculars.

One of the excursions will be to Landguard Bird Observatory where we will be able to experience live migration and the workings of the team that mount a daily vigil at the site.

The content is also appropriate for anyone wishing to contribute to their Continuing Professional Development (CPD) requirements.

Steve Piotrowski lives in Suffolk and has been watching birds since the late 1960's. Over the years he has become one of the most experienced birders in the region and has gone on to write several literary pieces including his acclaimed The Birds of Suffolk. He currently works as an environmental consultant, is an FSC Associate Tutor and also runs one-day courses for the British Trust for Ornithology.

He specialises in bird migration, was one of the founders of Landguard Bird Observatory and is a Ringing Trainer. Steve says, ‘I like nothing more than to spend a day with fellow enthusiasts sharing with them my experiences of what is a wonderful hobby and hopefully hearing about some of theirs’.

‘Brilliant tutor, knowledgeable and patient, very attentive. Relaxed and humorous’. Course participant April 2011.

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