condor1992's List 2023 (1 Viewer)

[condor1992]

List includes absolutely everything, so don't be surprised if you see natural events crammed into with birdwatching and orchid hunting
Most sought-after bird species:
Spanish imperial eagle
Bald ibis
Eagle-owl
Ruppell's griffon
Greater spotted eagle
Common cuckoo
Most sought-after orchids:
Ghost orchid
Lady's Slipper orchid
Chalk fragrant-orchid
Most sought after natural events:
Nacreous clouds
5* Severn bores


The list so far:
02/01/23- El Hondo
1 greater spotted eagle perched in usual tree
1 osprey flying past hide
1 kingfisher perched briefly right in front of the hide
1 white-headed duck briefly
1 little owl nearby
09/01/23- West Midlands
3 goosander, 1 male and 2 females, right outside my house
15/01/23- Flitwick
1 male Lady Amherst's pheasant, last one in the UK
5 red kites over Manor park and at the station
21/01/23- Eldernell
2 long-eared owls roosting in scrub
2-3 short-eared owls roosting in scrub
1 tawny owl in test hole
1 merlin overhead
5 whooper swans overhead
2 cranes in the distance
1 male hen harrier quartering the floodplains

 

[condor1992]

27/01/23-Eldernell
3 long-eared owls roosting in scrub
2 short-eared owls roosting together and then flying about the washland. One briefly perched within 10 meters and just sat there staring at me
2 barn owls
1 male hen harrier

 

[condor1992]

04/02/23- WWT Slimbridge
15 cranes, including family with 1 juvenile, flying about and feeding in front of Estuary tower
1 Ross's goose with barnacle geese of uncertain origin, almost certainly escape/feral (On an excitement scale for me, still 4/5). Green ring on leg
1 snow goose with distant goose flock, no ring on any leg. Potential vagrant, though far more likely to be escape/feral
100+ Russian white-fronted geese flying past Estuary tower, out on the Dumbles, and then from Kingfisher hide. Possible lesser whitefront among them
4 Ruff, including male with white head
2 distant sandpipers. They were definitely sandpipers, but I have no idea which
50+ tundra swans
1 peregrine
Swarms of dunlin (I think)

 

[condor1992]

11/02/23-Rickmansworth
1 drake wood duck on Batchworth lake (broke the excitement scale)
1 smew on Stocker's Lake, very elusive at first but then became very easy to see and quite close
5 goldeneye on Stocker's Lake
5 ring-necked parakeets in the area
1 kingfisher along canal to Watford

 

[condor1992]

22/02/23-Stonebench
4* tidal bore passing at 09:44. Maximum crest height estimated at 2 meters, overtopped a high bank

 

[condor1992]

19/03/23- Suffolk
2 goshawks, 1 male and 1 female, floating overhead. The male I identified instantly, and then watched displaying with 3 other people. The female was identified after I returned from the trip

3 sparrowhawks, which confused the situation to me

3 buzzards
1 firecrest from the top of a spruce
1 albino pheasant from the train

 

[condor1992]

22/03/23- Suffolk
2 goshawks, 1 male and 1 female. Exceptionally close views of the female, flew overhead at low altitude on one occassion
5 buzzards
1 goldcrest
1 sparrowhawk
1 albino pheasant

 

[condor1992]

27/03/23- Thetford Forest
1 firecrest in larch tree at Lynford Arboretum
At least 1 goldcrest
3 lesser spotted woodpeckers at Santon Downham. Heard only
4 great spotted woodpeckers
1 green woodpecker
2 marsh tit

 

[condor1992]

29/03/23 -Alicante province (botanical trip)
2 swallowtail
5+ mirror orchid

 

[condor1992]

31/03/23- Crevillente sierras
1 golden eagle
15+ chough
1 unidentified lark
1 Iberian green frog
1 peregrine
1 swallowtail
1 Bonelli's eagle at phenomenal range

 

[condor1992]

03/04/23- La Marina
3 great spotted cuckoo
7 bee-eater
8 Iberian grey shrike
2 Iberian green woodpecker
2 hoopoe
4 little owl
1 booted eagle
1 marsh harrier

 

[condor1992]

06/04/23- Sierra Oeste de Madrid
5 Spanish imperial eagle
1 black stork
4 black vulture
10 griffon vulture
3 Iberian magpie
5 giant orchid
Black and red kites all over the place

 

[condor1992]

07/04/23- Alcala de Henares
35+ white stork
4 monk parakeet
Casa de Campo, Madrid
1 Neotinea conica orchid
6 Ophrys incubacea orchid
5 sawfly orchid

 

[condor1992]

08/04/23- Colmenar Viejo
4 lesser kestrel
20+ white stork
2 booted eagle
5 griffon vulture
1 black vulture

 

[condor1992]

10/04/23- El Hondo area
1 short-toed eagle (perched)
1 great spotted cuckoo
1 common cuckoo (possibly, 2)
4 collared pratincole
20+ pied avocet
60+ cattle egret
20+ glossy ibis
2 little egret
5 black-winged stilt
3 booted eagles
7 bee-eaters
1 woodchat shrike
3 Iberian grey shrike

 

[condor1992]

13/04/23- El Molar area
1 incredibly infuriating common cuckoo
6 collared pratincole
1 woodchat shrike
6 Iberian grey shrike
5 bee-eater
2 booted eagles

 

[condor1992]

15/04/23- Torrevieja
1 lesser flamingo (Incredibly rare here for obvious reasons, especially in the warm months!)
7 Montagu's harriers
30 greater flamingoes
1 booted eagle
1 GS cuckoo
El Pinet area
2 elegant terns (Incredibly rare here for obvious reasons, but has bred to the north)
100s of sandwich terns