Jan 1st 2016 ff
Happy New Year!
I haven't pressed the shutter button yet on my camera so dull and damp has the weather been! However Barry and I got out on January 1st and managed 72 birds including quality stuff like snow bunting, scaup, smew, 3 species of diver [you'll guess correctly which 3!], med gull, purple sands and [because I like them] parakeets. Since I had decided to try to see my fastest first hundred birds I had been shocked to discover looking back at past records that I would have to get there before January 8th.
Since then we had an afternoon at Blacktoft experimenting in seeing how wet we could get [marsh harrier and fieldfare seen] and I drove round the back lanes of Poppleton [4th January] and picked up rook, mistle thrush and barn owl. So, 79 so far.
Still so very dull, dark and damp. On the 5th I had a good day split between Fairburn and North Cave. Highlights were nuthatch and willow tit at Fairburn and white-fronted geese, brambling and little owl at North Cave. Eleven year ticks in all that day took me to 90.
A day with Barry on the 6th wandering around some of our favourite haunts in the Middlesborough/Hartlepool area proved rewarding. We saw shore larks, pinkfeet, spotted redshank plus a few other more common birds all of which took me to 95 by the time we arrived at Saltholme. 5 to go!
Saltholme: stonechats, pintails, barnacle geese and long-eared owl. 99!
The pager announced a glaucous gull at Jackson's Landing but the sighting was not new and the day was declining into darkness. We decided to go see. Barry spotted the bird straightaway. So record achieved on January 6th. I took the camera from the back of Tiggy and pressed the shutter at last...
Glaucous Gull
Glaucous Gull
Glaucous Gull
Glaucous Gull
Glaucous Gull
Glaucous Gull
Glaucous Gull
Glaucous Gull
Glaucous Gull
Glaucous Gull
Glaucous Gull
Targets 2016!
I promised to announce my targets for 2016 just in case anyone [which I doubt!] is remotely interested. It's all a personal motivator really...
Here they are:
1: See 40 species in/from the garden.
2: See 281 or more species UK.
3: 10 lifers in UK in any combination of birds and butterflies.
4: Website hits to reach 30,000.
5: Go on 2 more birding adventures.
6: Fastest hundred [8th Jan target to beat]. Achieved 6th January!