Birdwatchers love making lists, with the yr checklist one of the crucial vital. In my more youthful days I at all times stored yr lists: my perfect ever yr used to be 1986, after I crowned the 1,000 mark because of journeys to Australia, Kenya and quite a lot of Ecu locations. It’s a complete I’ve by no means approached since, which would possibly provide an explanation for why in recent times I ended counting. On the other hand, twelve months in the past I determined to do a 2023 yr checklist, so now, with 2024 simply hours away, I will be able to disclose the consequences.
They’re now not, alas in particular spectacular. My British general used to be a trifling 172 species – now not dangerous, however now not excellent. On the other hand, I’ve to position it in viewpoint by means of explaining that all over the yr I hardly ever ventured out of East Anglia, and nearly each chicken used to be noticed in Suffolk or Norfolk – I survive the county boundary. Each counties are top-of-the-line in Britain for birds, however to knock up a large general with out travelling some distance you in point of fact must survive the coast. I reside 45 miles (or in the event you favor, 73km) from the ocean, so that you could get to there takes me greater than an hour within the automotive, even though the visitors is typically mild, the roads quiet.
I’m now not a twitcher, both, so I infrequently, if ever, move looking for a chicken, or birds, that anyone else has reported. Each one among my 171 species used to be a chicken that I discovered myself. I document all my chicken sightings on BirdTrack, (see display shot, above) which is the British Believe for Ornithology’s an identical of E-bird. It’s a very good, easy-to-use app, and does permit you rapid get entry to to your entire data. It assists in keeping a per month document of sightings, so I will be able to let you know that it used to be in February that I recorded my very best per month species general (106), whilst my lowest general used to be in August (39). I most effective scored 43 in March, however that used to be as a result of I used to be away birding in Portugal and Estonia.
My out of the country journeys did spice up the total yr checklist significantly. I additionally travelled to Kerkini in Northern Greece in June and Kefalonia in south-east Greece in October, so my total yr checklist used to be a extra enough 272 species. Even though I additionally log all my out of the country sightings on BirdTrack it doesn’t give me a operating general for them, simply my British data. This can be as a result of I’m now not competent sufficient to set it up to take action. I even have an Excel unfold sheet for my Ecu yr checklist. I failed to attain any lifers in 2023, which isn’t in point of fact unexpected as there are very chances left for me in Europe, and even the Western Palearctic.
In January I controlled to seek out lots of the wintering birds I will be able to be expecting on this a part of the arena, so my month’s checklist with ease handed the 100 mark. My a centesimal species used to be a Spoonbill. This used to be a captivating sighting, because it’s most effective in recent times that those hanging birds have began over-wintering in East Anglia. Those birds (typically juveniles) are obviously related to the rising breeding inhabitants within the area. Spoonbills nested in Britain for the primary time for 300 years in 2010, when a small colony turned into established at Holkham in North Norfolk. These days that very same colony is flourishing, with an excellent 90 birds fledged in 2023.
One among my maximum gratifying ticks in January used to be any other wetland chicken, a Bittern. Even though it used to be a species I used to be assured of discovering within the spring, a pleasingly confiding person lurking at the fringe of a reedbed allowed me to take its {photograph} (above). I encountered a lovely flock of Snow Buntings at the identical day, any other species that it’s at all times just right to look.
In February it used to be a case of discovering the ones species that had eluded me to this point, so I used to be happy, for instance, to find a few Mediterranean Gulls whilst checking thru a flock of Black-headed Gulls at the coast close to Yarmouth. I at all times adopt plenty of quick timed surveys for the Recreation and Natural world Conservation Believe’s Large Farmland Hen Rely in February, and even though the counts didn’t upload the rest to the yr checklist, they had been memorable for locating large flocks of finches and buntings, whilst a daylight-hunting Barn Owl used to be a delightful sight. Later within the month, a flock of a number of hundred Avocets at the River Alde used to be additionally memorable.
Ten days in southern Portugal in early March gave a significant spice up to the yr checklist, as spring comes early to the Algarve, so I used to be straight away including a lot of spring migrants to my impulsively rising checklist. Swallow, Area and Sand Martin, Yellow Wagtail or even Cuckoo had been all birds I used to be a positive of seeing a month later at house, however it used to be cheering to seek out them so early. Pallid Swifts had been already again at their breeding websites, whilst the marshes equipped a number of waders, together with year-ticks comparable to Whimbrel, Curlew Sandpiper and Kentish Plover. Inland within the Alentejo I discovered Nice Noticed Cuckoos and the primary returning Brief-toed Eagles. On the other hand, finding the particular steppe birds of the Alentejo proved a problem (I must have used an area information), however in the end I discovered each Nice and Little Bustards, Black-bellied Sandgrouse and a lot of Calandra Larks.
Estonia on the finish of March equipped rather a distinction to heat and sunny Portugal. The temperature infrequently climbed above freezing, and birding used to be laborious paintings. The rewards had been, on the other hand, massively gratifying. Large flocks of Lengthy-tailed Geese had been a pleasure, however our goal chicken, Steller’s Eider, allow us to down – we discovered only a unmarried feminine, now not the flocks we had been anticipating. We most effective noticed a feminine Capercaillie, too, whilst our perspectives of Hazel Grouse had been fleeting. At the plus aspect, Waxwings and White-tailed Eagles (10 within the sky directly) had been nice to look.
April and Would possibly in England gave me the danger to atone for the breeding birds of my space, together with Mandarin Duck, Goshawk and Stone Curlew (the {photograph} beneath is by means of courtesy of my pal David Addy – I photographed the similar chicken, however David’s image is far better, because it captures the chicken’s Breckland habitat). Probably the most delights of spring are the concentrations of Leisure pursuits that may be discovered at native wetlands in mid Would possibly, even though photographing them is at all times a problem, and I’ve but to get a shot I’m in point of fact happy with.
In June I loved a consult with to Lake Kerkini in Northern Greece. It used to be an opportunity to meet up with lots of the Balkan specials, comparable to Masked and Lesser Gray Shrikes, Rock Nuthatch and Levant Sparrowhawk. I discovered a making a song Olive Tree Warbler, too, however it didn’t wish to have its {photograph} taken. Kerkini is a secure wager for all of the Ecu herons, plus Spoonbills and each Dalmatian and White Pelicans.
Again house in England for the summer time, my record misplaced its momentum, as there wasn’t a lot more to seek out. I became to butterflies as an alternative, effectively discovering Massive Blues, one among Britain’s rarest species, and a a hit reintroduction after extinction in 1979. New chicken ticks had been now turning into elusive, or even Kefalonia in October failed so as to add a lot. Pleasant island even though it’s, it’s now not an excellent spot for autumn migration, even though I did set up to seek out a couple of passing Whinchats, a chicken that had eluded me previous within the yr. A unmarried Eleonora’s Falcon used to be an excessively pleasant if now not sudden, and a year-tick.
I did a lot of birding in November and December, however there have been now few chances so as to add to the yr checklist. One used to be Shore Lark, however in spite of really extensive efforts the wintering birds at Holkham controlled to elude me. On the other hand, I used to be extremely joyful to discover a Razorbill, fishing enthusiastically in a Norfolk harbour. A Rock Pipit, shut by means of, used to be additionally a yr tick. Waxwings proved laborious to get, in spite of a lot of flocks being reported. I in the end discovered a unmarried chicken, sitting quite forlornly in a hawthorn tree with a few Woodpigeons. It wasn’t a yr tick, after all, as I had noticed them in Estonia, however it used to be the final new chicken of the yr for my British checklist, and a extremely gratifying one at that.
Will I be record once more in 2024? The solution is sure. On New Yr’s Day I will be able to try to discover 70 species in the neighborhood to start out the yr, whilst updates at the checklist’s growth might be reported right here on 10,000 Birds. My objectives are 200 species in Britain and 300 in Europe: somewhat little bit of ambition by no means does an hurt.