Places and Trails across Hong Kong
Utilise urban parks equitably, mitigate Hong Kong’s climate hazards now
Hong Kong will face more intense heat, flood, storm surges and biodiversity depletion under climate change. Healing Parks, an advocacy group, says that urban parks can help to mitigate these hazards – but current park design guidelines fail to consider climate resilience. If the government remains inactive, it would harm…
Wang Chau, Basalt Island and Bluff Island
The Ung Kong group of islands is a cluster of three islands – Wang Chau, Basalt Island and Bluff Island, lying off the southeast tip of the Sai Kung Peninsula. They’re made of the same tuff that occurs from the southeastern peninsula to the Ninepin Group, and developed in the…
Tung Ping Chau the Flat Isle of Sedimentary Rocks
The most northeasterly land in Hong Kong, set in Mirs Bay and far closer to mainland Shenzhen than to the Hong Kong mainland, Tung Ping Chau is the only sizeable island in Hong Kong to be built only of sedimentary rock. Its name means Flat Island, and as you approach…
Sharp Island in Hong Kong’s smallest country park
Sharp Island (Kiu Tsui Chau) is the dominant member of Hong Kong’s smallest island country park, which also includes seven islets off its northeast and northwest coasts. As the name suggests, the island is indeed angular. The interior is a slender, north-south ridge that rises to 136 metres, with especially…
Activities in Hong Kong outdoors
Taking Hong Kong landscape photos come rain or shine
Even if you don’t travel outside Hong Kong, your photos don’t have to be much the same, week after week, day after day after day. Shooting from the same spot, it’s possible to take highly contrasting photos, such as by heading out at different times of day, and…
Cycling From Tai Po Market to Tai Mei Tuk on Rented Bikes
Hong Kong hardly abounds with routes for relaxing cycling, but there is a fine one in the New Territories, from Tai Po Market to Tai Mei Tuk.
Camping and campsites in Hong Kong
While day and evening trips to the Hong Kong countryside are rewarding, a whole new experience awaits if you’re willing to camp.
Hong Kong Night Hiking is Far More Than a Walk in the Dark
As increasing numbers of people are discovering, night hiking may seem a little spooky, but there are rewards a-plenty, including tranquillity, scintillating scenes, respite from daytime heat, fitting in with busy work schedules, and – for some – encounters with snakes.
Telford Gardens, a private housing estate in Kowloon Bay, East Kowloon, has become an unlikely hotspot for migratory birds, notably for seeing some normally secretive wetland species such as Locustella warblers and rails. Unless you arrived here when there are birders/photographers, you might glance around and just dismiss…
I had a whatsapp message from Nick Florent this afternoon, a bird on the beach, on Cheung Chau; there was a photo too – a red-footed booby! This seabird is rare in Hong Kong, and even then seen pretty much only over waters well south of Hong Kong…
I’ve seen various social media posts and even a couple of media articles about large numbers of Red-base Jezebels Delias pasithoe in Hong Kong recently. It seems people especially notice them during cold spells, when many of these butterflies are grounded by the chill, maybe dying – though…
While we’ve known for some years that Grey-faced Buzzard and Chinese Sparrowhawk can pass Hong Kong in good numbers on some spring days – evidently after being deflected by easterly winds while migrating from Luzon towards southeast China (Spring Migration of Grey-faced Buzzards and Chinese Sparrowhawks in Hong…
Introduction: Biodiversity Depleted yet Rich Lying just south of the Tropic of Cancer, and with a sub-tropical climate – summers are hot and humid, winters tend towards temperate – Hong Kong has a mostly tropical flora and fauna. Though there has been significant damage to land and marine…
Weather including tropical cyclones
Rare November Tropical Cyclones Including Typhoons in Hong Kong
As I write on 13 November 2024, Tropical Cyclone Toraji is set to pass over Hong Kong, with a T8 signal warning of gales, and radar indicating intense rains to come. It’s highly unusual to have a tropical cyclone affect Hong Kong in November, and I’ve had a…
Typhoons and Rainstorms Past Help Hong Kong Forecasts Today
Wetter, Wilder Weather Events Loom with Warming World You may find yourself on a Hong Kong beach, on a roasting hot day when the sun feels extra searing, the air cloying and superheated. Though there’s not a breath of wind, and the sea appears calm, surf builds along…
“Typhoon to Hong Kong Soon” Makes Great Clickbait
While Hong Kong is sometimes hit by typhoons, predicting them in advance is tricky. Yet this doesn’t stop social media and even mainstream media posts that latch on to occasional results of computer forecast models that suggest potential typhoons, even while other results at the same time show…
Lightning-packed Supercell over Cheung Chau, Hong Kong
Yesterday evening (30 April 2024), weather monitoring imagery showed an intense rainstorm/thunderstorm area – a “supercell” approaching Hong Kong from the west. I went from my home to the public pier at the nearby Cheung Chau typhoon shelter, with ideas of taking photos of lightning as the storm…
In March 2025, WWF Hong Kong published a report, The State of Hong Kong Biodiversity 2025, and an accompanying Hong Kong Terrestrial Biodiversity Hotspot Map; you can download them via Hong Kong Biodiversity. This entailed considerable work; as a press release notes: WWF-Hong Kong, in association with the…
Suppose you were ageing and with various ailments, yet still attractive to many; and you were in the care of someone who is doing nothing to help, but says they could make your body much better. Just one thing, though – they would also turn one of your…
After I posted in a birding whatsapp group about issues with the Long Valley Nature Park, I was surprised at a response, sent to the whole group of over 200 members so hardly private. Well, perhaps complaints about conservation issues are indeed rather dull; yet clearly to me…
Birds of Shui Hau on Lantau Island
