Wild About Hong Kong
Hiking, birding, wildlife, conservation, environmental issues and more….
Places and Trails
Hiking a South Lamma Circuit – akin to far-flung New Territories
While Sok Kwu Wan is familiar as a coastal village dominated by seafood restaurants, it’s also a good starting place for an easy hike to explore the relatively little visited,…
Ma On Shan – Ascent of Saddleback Mountain
Soaring above the new town that bears its name, Ma On Shan – Horse Saddle Mountain – is among Hong Kong’s most distinctive and highest peaks. And while also near the…
Lai Chi Wo and Double Haven: Searching for Sustainable Tourism in Hong Kong Geopark
Double Haven is among the most beautiful areas in Hong Kong, and a ferry ride through here to the village of Lai Chi Wo on the west shore makes for…
Hoi Ha Wan and Pak Sha O
Early on a fine summer morning, Hoi Ha Wan – “Bay Beneath the Sea” – seems wonderfully serene, with the calm waters reflecting Hoi Ha village’s cluster of pale, three-storey…
Activities
Cycling From Tai Po Market to Tai Mei Tuk on Rented Bikes
Especially while government sports centres are closed, one of the best ways of getting some outdoor exercise is to get on a bicycle, and ride away some of those coronavirus…
Hong Kong Forest Trails for Tranquillity and Wildlife Watching
In this year that’s remarkable in Hong Kong for too many of the wrong reasons, it’s surely vital to try and find at least some brief escape from the perils…
Cheung Chau PhotoExplorer
On the Cheung Chau PhotoExplorer, resident and expert photographer Martin Williams will guide you around the village, along coastal trails, and to side trails even few locals know. Cheung Chau…
Day of Being Wild – East Coast to High West on Hong Kong Island
Shek O: Pure Morning Early on a clear summer morning, from a vantage atop Tai Tau Chau – an islet by Shek O, you can fully appreciate Hong Kong’s superb…
Wildlife
Spring is the breeding season for the only seabirds that nest in Hong Kong – three species of terns: elegant birds like small gulls, also known as “sea swallows”. Bridled Terns over Castle Rock, near Po Toi The terns nest…
In his book The Seashore Ecology of Hong Kong (co-authored with John Morton), Brian Morton – dubbed the father of marine ecology conservation in Hong Kong – wrote: Of all soft inter-tidal shores these are the richest in life; and…
This spring (2022), thanks to birding naturalist Paul Aston, I helped discover that the hills near Ngong Ping on Lantau island are good places for observing migrating birds of prey – especially Grey-faced Buzzards and Chinese Sparrowhawks, along with seeing…
Hong Kong is usually a poor place for seeing migrating birds of prey; on many days, you might be hard-pressed to see even one passing over. But on some days – and perhaps not every year, two species can be…
While there’s no apocalypse now in Hong Kong’s insect world, threats and changes are cause for concern – including for us humans It’s nightfall on a grey, gloomy day, at a car park amidst woodland in Hong Kong’s central New…
Over 500 species of birds have been recorded in Hong Kong, which is around five percent of all the world’s bird species – a remarkable figure that partly reflects the sub-tropical climate, setting on the south China coast, and the…