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You are here > Home > Things To Do > Activities > Bird Watching
With 300 square kilometres of special environmental protection, nature reserves and wildlife sites and 150 kilometres of spectacular coastline to explore, the Isle of Wight is an amazing place for birds!
Over 200 species are recorded each year, from seacliff-nesting guillemots to forest-dwelling nightjars, and there’s something special to see at any time of year. In the spring the Island bursts with birdsong as warblers and nightingales join the resident chorus. In the summer the beaches are alive with terns plunge-diving for fish while the towns and villages resound with screaming swifts. Huge numbers of ducks, geese and waders move down into the Solent for the winter, filling the north coast estuaries with noisy spectacle.
In 2019 the Isle of Wight was chosen as the location to reintroduce the white-tailed eagles as it offers an ideal habitat for them.
One of the other most fascinating things about the Islands birdlife is what’s missing! We don’t have tawny owls, nuthatches or lesser spotted woodpeckers for example. These familiar birds are almost unknown here simply because of our 7000 years of separation from the mainland, making it harder for more sedentary species to colonize.
The Island sits within one of Europe’s major migration flyways and is a vital landfall for spring birds heading north and needing to stop and refuel. Wheatears, ring ouzel, redstarts and pied flycatchers pop up all around the coast while magnificent ospreys will stay to fish for days at a time. The autumn return movement is more concentrated and very large numbers of migrants funnel across the Island, their last dry land before the inevitable risky sea crossing. This visible migration is an amazing experience and the sight of tens of thousands of swallows, streaming seemingly endlessly overhead, is never to be forgotten!
Its flyway location also makes the Island a great place for national rarities, though still underwatched, making it the UK’s best-kept birding secret! Who knows what you might turn up if you visit in the magic months of April, May, September or October!
If you love wildlife, you’ll love the Isle of Wight!
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