Stuart's Wildlife Diary

Monday, 2 March 2026

Japan Part 2 - Kushiro and Sapporo

It was back on a plane on Friday 13th February as we headed onwards to Kushiro on the island of Hokkaido for the next part of our trip. From the monorail to Tokyo Haneda Airport I saw Wigeon and Great Crested Grebe to add to my holiday bird list and from the departure lounge at the airport I had a distant view of a very large flock of Geese flying around. We also saw Mount Fuji again but this time it was just a distant view of its snowy peak poking out from above the clouds as we flew northwards.

On arriving at Kushiro it was sunny but noticeably colder and there was plenty of snow laying about on the ground and the only birds seen before it got dark were a Black Kite and Large-billed Crows.

Kushiro Train Station

Kushiro Drain Cover

Saturday 14th February was spent wandering around Kushiro and seeing the sights (which didn't take very long) but I did see some birds with a juvenile White-tailed Eagle flying overhead and spooking all the Slaty-backed Gulls the highlight. Also seen were Mallard, Wigeon, Cormorant, Great Crested Grebe, Carrion Crow, Goldeneye, Red-breasted Merganser, Thick-billed Crow and an immature male Scaup.

Slaty-backed Gulls

Slaty-backed Gull

Red-breasted Mergansers

Sushimi at Kushiro WASHOU Market - sadly including Whale meat

Itsukushima Shrine

Sunday 15th February was cold, overcast and dull as we headed out on a morning tour to the nearby Kushiro Shitsugen National Park to look for Red-crowned Cranes, the whole purpose of our visit to Kushiro. Our driver-guide was called Yuki and our first stop was at a lay-by beside a frozen lake which had a small patch of open water close to the road. An adult and juvenile Whooper Swan immediately caught my attention stood out on the ice and there were Ducks out on the water too with male and female Goosanders, a male Mallard, male Falcated Ducks and a male and 2 female Smew all seen while a Great White Egret flew overhead. The absolute highlight though was a beast of an adult Steller's Sea Eagle sat on a lamp post right by the side of the road with a second bird seen in the nearby trees, stunning views of a stunning bird.

Kushiro Shitsugen National Park - dull light and bright white snow were not my cameras friend

Whooper Swans

Steller's Sea Eagle

We carried onwards and saw lots of Sika Deer feeding on tree bark by the side of the road and had further views of Steller's Sea Eagles with 4 adults and an immature bird seen.

Sika Deer

Steller's Sea Eagle

We eventually came across Red-crowned Cranes feeding in the roadside fields before watching a pair mating on the road right in front of our van!

Red-crowned Cranes

Red-crowned Crane with a leg ring

Red-crowned Crane

Mating Red-crowned Cranes

There were even more Red-crowned Cranes at the Tsurui village feeding station with birds loafing about in the snowy fields and whooping and dancing away while juvenile birds looked on. The Cranes are fed corn in the morning and afternoon, we arrived after the morning feed but the Cranes were still present in the fields and it was wonderful to see them so close. I could have stayed watching them all day but it did feel a little like watching the Bewick's Swans being fed grain at Slimbridge, the Red-crowned Cranes and Bewick's Swans are both wild birds but habituated to Humans.

Red-crowned Cranes

After returning to our hotel in Kushiro we headed off to the railway station for a 4 hour train ride to Sapporo, a comfortable journey through increasingly snowy landscapes to the next city on our tour of Japan.

Kushiro Train Station

There was a lot more snow around in Sapporo and the next day (Monday 16th February) it pretty much snowed all day as we wandered around the city. We visited a couple of temples in Nakajima Park which was a total snowy wonderland and where I saw Japanese Tit, 4 Brown-eared Bulbul and 2 Nuthatch. The only other birds seen in Sapporo were Large-billed Crows and a Carrion Crow, not surprising in the very cold and snowy weather.

Nuthatch

Sapporo

Sapporo Gokoku Shrine

Sapporo

Yahiko Shrine

Sapporo

Sunday, 1 March 2026

Japan Part 1 - Tokyo

Sunday 8th February duly arrived and after months of planning and organising it was finally time to catch the train from Plymouth to Heathrow Airport for our flight to Japan the following morning.

We booked the trip ourselves with flights, hotels, trains, attraction tickets and tours all organised beforehand and it all went very smoothly. Our itinerary started with an overnight stay at Heathrow Airport before a flight to Tokyo on Monday 9th February and we arrived the following day at 7:30am Japanese time for a 3 night stay at Ueno. We then took a flight to Kushiro on Friday 13th February for a 2 night stay and then a train to Sapporo on Sunday 15th February for a 2 night stay before flying back to Tokyo on Tuesday 17th February to catch a bullet train to Nagano for a 3 night stay. Another bullet train journey on Friday 20th February took us to Osaka for a 5 night stay before it was back to Tokyo on a bullet train on Wednesday 25th February for 2 more nights before we flew home to the UK on Friday 27th February.

The train journey up to Heathrow Airport was interesting with sightings of a Hare, Roe Deer, Red Kites, 3 Great White Egrets and a Red Admiral of note along with a very flooded Exminster Marsh and some very flooded Levels around the Taunton area.

We arrived safely at Tokyo Airport on Tuesday 10th February but unfortunately our cases didn't! This is the first time that something like this has happened to us in all our years of travelling so I guess it was due to happen at some point but it was a bit of crimp on our arrival into Japan despite getting crystal clear views of a snow capped Mount Fuji as we came in to land. Fortunately our cases arrived at our hotel the next morning so normal service was resumed from there on in.

We had no real sleep on our flight to Japan so we endured a very long first day in Tokyo fighting jetlag and trying to keep awake, we spent the day around Yanaka and Ueno Park which were close to our hotel and I had plenty of bird sightings there to keep me occupied and where the birds were surprisingly tame.

Buddha, Tenno-ji Temple, Yanaka Cemetery

Temple, Ueno Park

Komatsunomiya Akihiti Shinno Statue. Ueno Park

Yanaka Cemetery

Temple, Ueno Park

It was strange to have travelled the furthest I've ever been from the UK on the longest flight I've ever been on but to see familiar birds like Feral Pigeon, Little Egret, Tree Sparrow, Grey Heron, Pintail, Cormorant, Tufted Duck, Kingfisher, Black-headed Gull and Coot! However there have also been more exotic and unfamiliar species to test my ID skills as well such as Brown-eared Bulbul, Vega Gull, Japanese White-eye, Japanese Tit, Eastern Spot-billed Duck and Japanese Pygmy Woodpecker.

Tree Sparrow

Black-headed Gull

Grey Heron

Pintail

Dark-headed Thrush

Japanese White-eye in the Plum blossom

Japanese White-eye

White-cheeked Starling

Brown-eared Bulbul

Large-billed Crow

Eastern Spot-billed Duck

Vega Gull

During our time in Tokyo we visited the National Museum (which even had a small Egyptian collection), various Temples and the Tokyo Skytree while also enjoying the food and drink and observing a very different culture to ours.