http://josstratford.co.uk/

Background

A little-known corner of Europe, Lithuania shares much in common with Poland, its better known neighbour. Birds such as Lesser Spotted Eagles, Thrush Nightingales, River Warblers and many more are commonplace in the summer and can be found with little effort, but the country also hides many specialities, the likes of which make for mouth-watering birding. To mention just a few, Steller’s Eider, eight species of woodpecker, owls including Pygmy and Tengmalm’s, plus numerous passerines, including Citrine Wagtail, Aquatic Warbler and Blyth‘s Reed Warbler.

The Website

Unfortunately, few trip reports exist for Lithuania and even fewer seem to cover the best birding localities across the country. For many of the more specialised birds, specific sites and up-to-date information is most helpful, but often lacking.  As I now live in Lithuania, rather than produce a typical trip report, the purpose of this short introduction is to point would-be visitors towards my website, a resource that should hopefully help any birders planning a visit. The website, updated almost daily, contains my birding diary, highlighting latest observations, plus photographs and background information, plus a round-up of all national bird news and detailed information on some of Lithuania’s most important birding localities.

The idea of the website is to give the birder a very good idea of general birding in the country, an indication of sites to visit and what to expect. As the website has only been up and running since February 2007, it is the intention to further develop this as time goes by, adding particularly more site details and information relating to birding over the border in Belarus. Visiting birders are also most welcome to request information by posting questions and enquiries on the ‘Have your Say’ page, I will endeavour to reply to all postings as quickly as possible.