European Birding Tour in a Campervan

2019-2020 European Campervan Tour


Between March 2019 and July 2020, I travelled Europe in a camper van, on a birding trip visiting 23 countries along the way.  

I got caught up in lockdown in Spain in 2020, and was confined to a studio flat in Benahavis for several months, therefore missing the last leg of the trip - a trip up the East coast of Spain during peak Spring migration.

I managed to see 398 bird species during this time, getting over 360 of those on the "van list".


In early Spring 2025, I made the missed Spanish East Coast trip on the way back from Morocco.



Here are the four links to the poorly written trip report of that journey.


Part One  

Belgium, Netherlands, Germany, Denmark, Sweden, Norway, Finland


Part Two 

Finland, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, 


Part Three 

Czechia, Austria, Slovenia, Croatia, Hungary, Romania, Bulgaria, Greece, Germany, England, Wales, Scotland.


Part Four  

France, Spain, UK and Systematic List

(the rare Wheatear in Lancashire has subsequently been accepted as Pied Wheatear/ Eastern Black Eared Wheatear although it does now look like a Pied Wheatear to me - a casual birder)


What an adventure that was. The sites that made the most impression on me will be well known to Western Palaearctic birders; the stunning diversity of species during Spring migration at Skagen in Denmark, the island of Oland in Sweden, the very special Varanger Peninsula in Arctic Norway, Biebzra Marshes in Poland, Lake Kerkini in Greece, Strumble Head in Wales after a storm, Donana NP/ La Janda in Spain, and the indescribably beautiful Pyrenees. Tarifa will always be worth a mention, despite having missed the hypnotic spectacle of raptor migration this year due to the strict Covid-19 lockdown. The pandemic completely removed the possibility of spending two months exploring numerous wetlands along the Spanish and French Mediterranean during peak Spring migration. 


Other disappointments were mostly centred around missing achievable birds and mammals such as the previously seen Wolf and Brown Bear in Spain.  Neither seen during his trip. Wallcreeper comes to mind, perhaps a casualty of arriving too late in the breeding grounds.  Another miss was Cory’s Shearwater which can often be seen from Tarifa in April. I would have liked the opportunity to at least try for the more unlikely species such as; Ruppell’s Vulture, White-rumped Swift, Eleonora’s Falcon (last seen in Tarifa 2018) and Lesser Crested Tern in Spain, which used to be annual at Los Lances near Tarifa. 


Other species that I didn’t manage to see can be down to chance, Red-breasted Goose, (I should have checked every single of the thousands of Barnacle Goose that flew over Oland), natural circumstances: Snowy Owl or when impossibly lucky: Tengmalms, Pygmy and Ural Owl. 


Finding birds is usually part of the fun and I didn’t succumb to guides, especially when, finding out the price to see owls in Finland.  A tour guide company quoted €400 for a 3-hour trip in my own vehicle, to visit the nest sites of just two of the five species, (one of which I managed to fluke anyway).


Another of the great disappointments was not seeing any Little Bustards. Because of lockdown, accessing the sites at the appropriate moment was out of the question. By the time I did arrive in the right areas in late June, the habitat was overgrown and the males had probably stopped calling. 


Despite all the misses, there have been many extraordinary moments. Being outdoors, or partially outdoors every waking hour for months at a time certainly helps improves the luck. It already seems so long ago. I ponder whether I’ll ever be able to repeat portions of this adventure, or explore new paths in a similar manner ever again. 


Several possibilities come to mind; Sweden, Poda or Tarifa in Autumn, a lengthier visit to Lake Kerkini outside the hot summer months, the Danube Delta in Romania, and Varanger in March, or June. For now I’m back in the UK and focused on freeing up time and space for future adventures like the ones experienced on this tour. 

James Dee 2020


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