May 2-11, 2026 with Willy Perez (ext. to May. 16)
May is the perfect month to visit the UK, when a lot of nature starts to come alive again, birds are definitely in full swing and this year it worked out beautifully well. We started our trip in London and travelled northeast to the stunning region of East Anglia, where we visited the two neighboring counties of Norfolk and Suffolk. Here we spent 8 full days in what birders consider the mecca of birding in England. We visited fantastic nature reserves, incredible historical houses, big estates and lush woodlands.
The first day we arrived to the small town of Westleton, where we had our first encounter with some of what the English refer to as “garden birds”. Just in front of our lodging we saw our first European Robin, outside of the car park we saw European Goldfinch and many other birds that are very much accustomed to humans. The next day, for the first time, we had the opportunity to hear the incredible sound of a Common Nightingale, which proved to be hard to find, but eventually we had some scope views. The same place had a Woodlark singing and several Eurasian Linnets that kept us busy.
A morning visit to some of the heathland provided us with nice views of Dartford Warbler and scope views of Common Cuckoo that we had heard before. Being so close to some of the most important archeological sites in Suffolk, we include the renowned site of Sutton Hoo in the itinerary and did a guided tour by one of the cultural guides there. The site visit was incredible with so much history, and for us it was super interesting to learn about how it was discovered and to learn the whole history of this place. The estate grounds are also fantastic for birds. Here, we saw Eurasian Green and Great Spotted woodpeckers, plus a very well-hidden Little Owl.
Our full day visiting Minsmere RSPB Nature Reserve was superb. This place has many different habitats including woodland, reedbeds, grassland, heathland and the coast, providing the opportunity to see a superb combination of unique and rare birds in the UK. Our first one here was the Eurasian Thick-knee (Stone Curlew) on a nest. A family of Bearded Reedlings was fun to watch, plus hundreds of water birds including Pied Avocets, many species of ducks and even a scope view of Common Grasshopper Warbler. After lunch we went to the south hides and there we saw Eurasian Hobby and Marsh Harriers hunting, plus a flyby Eurasian Bittern.
Before we started our journey to Norfolk, we did a quick stop for the rare Iberian Chiffchaff that had been recently found in the area. We stayed in the charming town of Cromer with a great coast line especially for Northern Fulmars, and the local church has their own resident Peregrin Falcons which we could see even from our hotel. Our visit to some of the Norfolk Wildlife Trust Reserves was pretty good with a nice combination of different birds like Northern Lapwing with chicks, and a new species for us here was Wood Sandpiper. For lunch we went to Blickling House and we visited the impressive house plus the gardens. The hike along the lake was wonderful with Great Crested Grebes doing a bit of courtship display, and scope views of Common Kingfisher.
Holkham Estate worked nicely for us; a relaxed walk to the beach was nice and easy, and we enjoyed watching Willow Warblers plus some Eurasian Spoonbills. The gardens were also productive with a roosting Tawny Owl and many Barnacle Geese. Tichtwell Marshes were full of birds and some were very enjoyable; Reed Bunting and big groups of Brant Geese were joyful to watch. Our last visits in England were close to the small town of Munford, and we visited the Linford Arboretum where we had great encounters with Eurasian Jay, Marsh Tit, Yellowhammer and Common Firecrest. The last morning here we went to Thetford Forest where we had stunning views of Mandarin Duck and a group of Red Crossbills drinking water from the Little River Ouse. Finally, we drove back to London to get ready for the Scotland extension.
This extension was exciting too, despite our flight being delayed to Aberdeen and we enjoyed the days that we were there. Something that impressed everyone was the Scottish Highlands with amazing views of heather and the big red Scottish pine trees. The birding there was enjoyable, especially the first three days. Our site for Black Grouse was incredible, with some males still displaying and we managed to get a Red Grouse the following day. We saw Arctic Loons, but also we enjoyed the views of several lochs. People enjoyed watching the nest of Crested Tits and scope views of Common Redstart. Our hunting for White throated Dipper was also a success, plus we had decent views of Golden Eagle and many Red Kites. Our last day in Scotland, we went to the RSPB Troup Head Reserve. It was very windy but the birds didn’t care; many Northern Gannets, Razorbills, Common Murres and a good number of Black-legged Kittiwakes were fighting against the wind. Our last visit during our route back to Aberdeen was Bullers of Buchan with its very stunning cliffs; here we could shelter a bit from the wind and we had great scope views of most of the birds that I mentioned above, with the addition of European Shags nesting.
The trip flew by and Scotland proved to be a very pleasant end to a super enjoyable 13 days of birding in the British Isles. The weather was kind (most of the time) and the birds behaved well, but more importantly I was lucky enough to have a great group of people who embraced the adventure and who helped make this trip very successful.
So, I would like to say thank you to all of you for coming to the UK to join Field Guides and me to do this great tour.
I hope that I will see you again soon, enjoying our feathered friends.
For now, hugs from Dorset.
Other wildlife seen on the tour.
European Rabbit (Oryctolagus cuniculus)
European Hare (Lepus europaeus)
Eastern Gray Squirrel (Sciurus carolinensis)
Red Fox (Vulpes vulpes)
Southern Red Muntjac (Muntiacus muntjak)
Common Fallow Deer (Dama dama)
Western Red Deer (Cervus elaphus)
Caribou (Reindeer) (Rangifer tarandus sibiricus)
Western Roe Deer (Capreolus capreolus)
Peacock Butterfly (Aglais io)
Common Lizard (Zootoca vivipara)
You can see my complete trip report on eBird at this link: https://ebird.org/tripreport/510443
You can download a combined PDF of this page and the eBird report at this link: https://fieldguides.com/triplists/gre26TRIPLIST.pdf
-- Just keep birding, Willy