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.