Review of the year

2012 was a really great year of birding for me, with 455 species seen in total, including a decent 183 in Britain. 72 of these species were new to me, and I saw 31 new British species for me. I also saw 50 types of mammal, one of which, the sand fox, was new for me.

My birding highlight of the year was the stunning adult male Daurian shrike at Portland Bill, shortly followed by short-eared owl, puffins and Manx shearwaters on Skomer and the Egyptian Vulture in Samburuland, Kenya.


Monthly review of the year:

January and February were not particularly great months for me, but a snow bunting at Portland Bill and golden plovers at Maiden Castle were new birds for me; while three red knots seen on the Exe Estuary bird trip was a new species for me in Britain.Other highlights were a great skua feeding close in off Portland Bill and hundreds of avocets as well as a peregrine on the Exe Estuary.

March was an improvement, with two great new species in the Dartford warbler and common crossbill seen on the same trip to Purbeck. We also saw three spoonbills at Arne on the same day. A week in the Lake District was not based around birding, but I saw at least 15 peregrines and lots of ravens.

The next week I spent at the Bardoneccia ski resort in Italy, and saw some great birds, including two new species in wood warbler and northern goshawk; as well as golden eagle and black redstart.

Almost immediately, we headed to Jordan for a week and had a great time visiting the stunning Petra, Wadi Rum and the Dead Sea. I saw a total of 79 species, 35 of which were new for me. The highlights were a wryneck at Mount Nebo; nightingales near Petra and the enormous migrating flocks of raptors as well as Sinai rosefinches at Petra itself. I also this year's only new mammal- a sand fox that darted into a cave at Wadi Rum.

May brought very few birds of interest, but June began well with a glossy ibis and spoonbill at Exminster Marshes; followed three days later by a great white egret, two garganey and a ferruginous duck at Shapwick Heath, as well as a bittern, marsh harriers and a red kite.

July's trip to Skomer was superb, with thousands of puffins seen among the tens of thousands of other seabirds; as well as two little owls, a short-eared owl and several choughs in the day, before the tens of thousands of Manx shearwaters began to arrive once it got dark. It was a truly incredible experience.

On the return journey, we stopped at Templecombe to see the three white storks present in a flooded field, and also saw a pair of yellow-legged gulls there.

We then went to Kenya for a superb two weeks. I saw 225 bird species, with 13 new species being a decent effort, considering that this was my 7th visit to the same area of Kenya in eight years. The birding highlight was a juvenile Egyptian vulture in Samburuland; while the dozens of pygmy falcons, the stunning pair of lanner falcons in the early morning sun and both Verreaux's eagle and his eagle owl and also being great birds to see well. The Hemprich's hornbills seen in the Mathews mountains were not in the species's official range, and were certainly the pick of the new birds I saw on the trip. I saw lots of great mammals, including all of the big five, but the highlights were the aardvark and wild dogs at Sarara. An African wild cat and aardwolf were also magnificent species to see.

Our trip to west Cornwall towards the end of August was superb for wildlife. The day after we arrived, I saw one of the spotted crakes at Marazion Marsh, and later on in the week we had a buff-breasted sandpiper there as well. The other new birds for me were a little gull at Hayle Estuary and several grey phalaropes which flew past Pendeen Watch. Seawatching brought another new British bird for me, the sooty shearwater and a new English bird for me, with 8 puffins. Other highlights were Arctic and great skuas, thousands of Manx shearwaters, a storm-petrel and dozens of choughs. About 20 basking sharks and a weasel contributed to a great week of wildlife.

September was another good month, with a short-billed dowitcher at Lodmoor the highlight, an extremely rare bird in Europe, and this was only the second one ever recorded in Britain. This was the only new bird for this month, but a pair of green sandpipers on the same day and two redstarts, a curlew sandpiper and a juvenile red-backed shrike on one day around Portland were new for me in Britain.

October was excellent as well, despite missing the purple heron at Radipole. The end of the month made up for that, with a yellow-browed warbler, the stunning Daurian shrike and Britain's first confirmed Stejneger's stonechat, still technically a race of the Siberian stonechat, all seen on the 25th at Portland Bill. 5 days later, I had my first firecrests at Abbotsbury Subtropical Gardens.

November was a very disappointing month, dominated by being at school, but a black redstart at school livened things up.

The year ended superbly, with six new species for me seen in the last 16 days of the year. The 16th was a great day, with two long-tailed ducks at Abbotsbury Swannery and two velvet scoters and a great northern diver in Portland Harbour being new birds for me. I saw some other great birds, with a snow bunting, short-eared owl and black redstart all at or near Ferrybridge. On the 21st, we found a black-throated diver in Portland Harbour, along with about 30 black-necked grebes and a stunning pair of Slavonian grebes. On Christmas Eve, we found the hawfinch in Bruton Churchyard, and my final new species of the year was a pair of Bewick's swans in a flooded roadside field in near Axminster in Devon.

Hilfield 30th December

Very suprisingly, I managed add a final species to my year list at Hilfield yesterday, when a group of six bramblings landed in a tree in the garden. What a great surprise!

Also 12 redwings among the more common songbirds present in good numbers.

Actually, another little bit of birding this year....

With a pair of Bewick's Swans having been regularly seen literally next to the road we going down on the way to Devon today, it would have been rude to not have a look.

We spotted them opposite Axmouth FC in a flooded roadside field. They were certainly in a convenient place! Two adult Bewick's swans, yet another new bird for me this year, and a difficult bird to find in the southwest. Very sadly, the world's smallest swan, which visits us in winter from its Siberian breeding grounds, is in serious decline. Although protected in all countries that it is found in, it suffers severely from lead poisoning, draining and poaching. Let's hope that things change for this wonderful goose-sized swan.

My 182nd British bird of the year, and probably my last new one. What a great way to end the year!

Bewick's Swans, Axmouth, 28.12.12

Other birds seen today were 40+ curlew in the flooded fields near where the swans were and a woodcock.

Last bit of birding this year

We visited Portland Harbour again yesterday in search of the black guillemot reported there yesterday. Driving to the harbour, I saw at least 120 golden plovers and a little egret feeding in the flooded fields near Maiden Castle. 

Unfortunately, we failed to find the guillemot, but in the harbour there were 8 black-necked grebes, 4 Slavonian grebes, 3 pale-bellied brent geese and 4 great northern divers (one of which flew over the road at Ferrybridge and down Chesil Beach!) as well as lots of red-breasted mergansers and dark-bellied brents. A quick look in Weymouth Bay revealed a dozen or so guillemots and 10 great crested grebes.

The highlight of the day, however, was my first barn owl of the year, which was sitting on top of a roadside fence post near the village of Sydling, just south of Hilfield. 

Hawfinches- Bruton

With news of at least two hawfinches in the churchyard at Bruton, we decided to head there in really horrible weather.

There were dozens of greenfinches in the churchyard, but it took us about an hour and a half to find a hawfinch, when one flew into the top of a tree with the greenfinches. A really great new bird for me, and a seriously difficult one to find, as well as being a very iconic species. Unfortunately it was not the best view in some miserable weather, but once I had it in the scope, I could see its remarkably powerful bill, capable of generating over 50KG of force!

I also saw a kingfisher which flew down the River Brue in front of the church.

Yet another great bird this year!

Portland Harbour 21st December

Back in Dorset, I visited Portland Harbour again today, hoping to add to last week's tally of waterfowl. First we visited Sandsfoot Castle, where alongside the many cormorants, shags, great crested grebes and red-breasted mergansers were at least 35 black-necked grebes, an eider, the two velvet scoter I had seen on Sunday, and close in a rather splendid pair of Slavonian grebes on the remarkably calm water, taking my year list up to 179. There were also a sparrowhawk and a stunning kingfisher present. We then headed to Ferrybridge, and on the Portland Harbour side there was a very distant great northern diver as well as several common scoter, alongside many more red-breasted mergansers and a razorbill. We walked to Portland Castle, off which there was another razorbill and a common scoter. I also found another diver, an exceedingly long way off the shore, but clearly not a great northern as it displayed far too much white on its side. About twenty minutes of watching it brought the conclusion that it was a black-throated diver, my fourth new bird in five days, despite dreadful views and choppy water making identification difficult.

A quick look at Ferrybridge revealed the continued presence of the snow bunting, feeding on the muddy shore alongside several skylarks; several brent geese; 6 Mediterranean gulls and a little egret.

Another excellent morning!

Hyde Park 20th December

Egyptian Goose, Hyde Park

Greylag Geese, Hyde Park

Egyptian Geese, Hyde Park

With an afternoon in London, I decided to visit Hyde Park to find some of the feral duck species found there. Before I reached the Serpantine Lake, I had seen a jay, a goldcrest and several long-tailed tits. The Serpantine Lake itself was absolutely with waterfowl, in particular mute swans, Canada geese and greylag geese. In among these were one species I had hoped to see, the Egyptian goose, a rather bizarre addition to London's avifauna. Hyde Park does not have a bird collection, and these birds have come there by their own accord. They are able to fly and breed in the park, so in spite of it feeling slightly wrong, these birds come from a self-sustaining population of about 75 birds and are thus the 175th addition to my British year list! 

Other wildfowl seen were a trio of shovelers, several tufted ducks and pochards and barnacle goose (presumably an escapee from one of the nearby bird collections). There were, however two highlights for me, a peregrine falcon that flew over and a dozen or so ring-necked parakeets, my 176th British bird of the year. Two new additions to my year list (albeit a pair of very feral ones), and two birds very rarely seen back in the west country!

Abbotsbury and Portland Harbour 16th December

Today was yet another incredible day of birdwatching for me this year. 

We started at Abbotsbury Swannery, from which long-tailed ducks and scaup were reported three days ago. Unfortunately, the swannery was closed and there seemed to be no public access to the the beach opposite the fleet. We decided to scope the large flocks of ducks from as close as we could. Soon we were rewarded with two stunning long-tailed ducks out in the middle of the fleet. This was yet another new species for me, and a really superb pair of birds to see. Unfortunately I failed to find any scaups, but in among the more common wildfowl species I also found two pintail and a shelduck; while there was also a flock of approximately 250 lapwing, several snipe, both great crested and little grebes and Mediterranean gulls around the area.

We then headed to Portland Harbour in search of divers and grebes. We decided to have a quick look at Ferrybridge, and remarkably a snow bunting landed on the bridge as we crossed it, which we then followed as it landed in the shrubbery. It was remarkably tame, allowing views of up to four foot! 

On the other side of the road, I found a water pipit, my first in Dorset, on the shingle beach of Portland Harbour, as well as a turnstone. On the far side of the harbour, I caught site of a pair of ducks flying just above the water. My first thought was velvet scoter, a very scarce bird inside the harbour itself. The birds soon landed and they fitted that species perfectly. The birds were confirmed as velvet scoter as they took off again, flying close enough to show off their white backs of wings. It was my second new bird of the day.

Several gulls and corvids appeared to be getting aggravated over Ferrybridge, and the reason for this was soon revealed. A short-eared owl, another first for me in Dorset, flew towards us, before landing in the grass right next to some windsurfers who seemed to fail to notice it! A rather breathtaking 10 minutes!

We walked around to Portland Castle, where my fourth black redstart of the year was on the rocks alongside several pied wagtails. Offshore, there was a guillemot and several red-breasted mergansers, and on the pier a remarkable tally of 15 grey herons! Then, a diver species appeared, but dived back under before a positive identification. It came back up and was confirmed as a great northern diver, my third new bird of the day.

An incredible morning of birding.

Not much birding, but black redstart and tawny owl

With GCSEs coming up, birding hasn't been my priority. I did however have a great surprise when I found a stunning male black redstart in Sherborne. It landed in a tree right in front of me, in which it stayed for several minutes. Although I have seen several of them before, finding this species in Sherborne was certainly unexpected.

Returning home after dark, I was treated to a tawny owl which took flight from a roadside signpost. Two very nice birds to liven up what has been an extremely dull month!