rylirk
Well-known member
I'll be moving from the UK to Texas in February, so this list should be rather different to last year's...
Key: * for 'not seen previous year', bold for lifer, italics for birds which others may not count as wild (i.e. Salisbury plain bustards). All names IOC compliant.
January 1 - West Sussex, UK
Had a go at a proper Jan 1 bird race this year My species count could have been better, but there were a lot of cracking birds mixed in! There's a bit more pressure to find some of the rare-ish birds now as I've only got about a month to add to my 2019 UK list.
First of all, a few birds from the garden in Crawley in the morning:
1. Eurasian Blue Tit
2. Carrion Crow
3. Eurasian Magpie
4. Great Tit
5. Common Chaffinch
6. Common Starling
7. European Robin
8. Common Wood Pigeon
9. Common Blackbird
Two more from on the road, both in the vicinity of Brighton:
10. European Herring Gull
11. Rook
Then onto the first proper stop of the bird race: a quick check for waders at the Adur Estuary in Shoreham-by-Sea.
12. Black-Headed Gull
13. Common Redshank
14. Eurasian Curlew
15. Rock Dove
16. Common Kingfisher
17. Ruddy Turnstone
18. Northern Lapwing
19. White Wagtail
Then onto Shoreham fort with the hope of picking up the purple sandpiper. The redstart was a pleasant surprise; we knew there had been one at the area, but didn't expect to see it at the fort!
20. Great Cormorant
21. Eurasian Rock Pipit
22. Black Redstart
23. Purple Sandpiper
24. Great Black-Backed Gull
25. Mute Swan
26. House Sparrow
Then onto Widewater Lagoon nearby for mergansers (of which there were none...)
27. Eurasian Coot
28. Little Egret
29. Eurasian Teal
The car park at Widewater was an all-day ticket, so we decided to do a spot of seawatching while we were there. Probably my most succesful seawatch ever!
30. Common Murre
31. Razorbill
32. Northern Gannet
33. Red-Throated Loon
34. Great-Crested Grebe
To Goring gap next, to try and pick up Med gulls and roosting plovers. Tide was too low for the latter at this point, but got a few more ticks:
35. Eurasian Collared Dove
36. Sanderling
37. Dunlin
38. Grey Plover
39. Mediterranean Gull
40. European Stonechat
After quite some deliberation over where to go next (out of Arundel WWT, Pulborough Brooks and Warnham LNR), we decided to go for Arundel. Picked up a few more birds on the drive from Goring.
41. Western Jackdaw
42. Mallard
43. Tufted Duck
Then onto the WWT itself. Had a false alarm early on with some wigeon which turned out to be captive, but found some wild specimens later on so all was good!
44. Greylag Goose
45. Common Pochard
46. Common Moorhen
47. Canada Goose
48. Common Chiffchaff
49. Long-Tailed Tit
50. Common Shelduck
51. Common Snipe
52. Gadwall
53. Grey Heron
54. Mew Gull
55. Common Buzzard
56. Dunnock
57. Eurasian Wren
58. European Goldfinch
59. European Greenfinch
60. Eurasian Wigeon
61. Stock Dove
62. Water Rail
63. Little Grebe
64. Coal Tit
65. Eurasian Nuthatch
66. Eurasian Bullfinch
Then, just as we were about to leave, by *far* the best bird of the day flew over! A UK first for me already on Jan 1, and almost certainly the best bird I've ever been the first reporter of.
67. Common Crane
Then one final bird on the drive back to Crawley:
68. Common Kestrel
Key: * for 'not seen previous year', bold for lifer, italics for birds which others may not count as wild (i.e. Salisbury plain bustards). All names IOC compliant.
January 1 - West Sussex, UK
Had a go at a proper Jan 1 bird race this year My species count could have been better, but there were a lot of cracking birds mixed in! There's a bit more pressure to find some of the rare-ish birds now as I've only got about a month to add to my 2019 UK list.
First of all, a few birds from the garden in Crawley in the morning:
1. Eurasian Blue Tit
2. Carrion Crow
3. Eurasian Magpie
4. Great Tit
5. Common Chaffinch
6. Common Starling
7. European Robin
8. Common Wood Pigeon
9. Common Blackbird
Two more from on the road, both in the vicinity of Brighton:
10. European Herring Gull
11. Rook
Then onto the first proper stop of the bird race: a quick check for waders at the Adur Estuary in Shoreham-by-Sea.
12. Black-Headed Gull
13. Common Redshank
14. Eurasian Curlew
15. Rock Dove
16. Common Kingfisher
17. Ruddy Turnstone
18. Northern Lapwing
19. White Wagtail
Then onto Shoreham fort with the hope of picking up the purple sandpiper. The redstart was a pleasant surprise; we knew there had been one at the area, but didn't expect to see it at the fort!
20. Great Cormorant
21. Eurasian Rock Pipit
22. Black Redstart
23. Purple Sandpiper
24. Great Black-Backed Gull
25. Mute Swan
26. House Sparrow
Then onto Widewater Lagoon nearby for mergansers (of which there were none...)
27. Eurasian Coot
28. Little Egret
29. Eurasian Teal
The car park at Widewater was an all-day ticket, so we decided to do a spot of seawatching while we were there. Probably my most succesful seawatch ever!
30. Common Murre
31. Razorbill
32. Northern Gannet
33. Red-Throated Loon
34. Great-Crested Grebe
To Goring gap next, to try and pick up Med gulls and roosting plovers. Tide was too low for the latter at this point, but got a few more ticks:
35. Eurasian Collared Dove
36. Sanderling
37. Dunlin
38. Grey Plover
39. Mediterranean Gull
40. European Stonechat
After quite some deliberation over where to go next (out of Arundel WWT, Pulborough Brooks and Warnham LNR), we decided to go for Arundel. Picked up a few more birds on the drive from Goring.
41. Western Jackdaw
42. Mallard
43. Tufted Duck
Then onto the WWT itself. Had a false alarm early on with some wigeon which turned out to be captive, but found some wild specimens later on so all was good!
44. Greylag Goose
45. Common Pochard
46. Common Moorhen
47. Canada Goose
48. Common Chiffchaff
49. Long-Tailed Tit
50. Common Shelduck
51. Common Snipe
52. Gadwall
53. Grey Heron
54. Mew Gull
55. Common Buzzard
56. Dunnock
57. Eurasian Wren
58. European Goldfinch
59. European Greenfinch
60. Eurasian Wigeon
61. Stock Dove
62. Water Rail
63. Little Grebe
64. Coal Tit
65. Eurasian Nuthatch
66. Eurasian Bullfinch
Then, just as we were about to leave, by *far* the best bird of the day flew over! A UK first for me already on Jan 1, and almost certainly the best bird I've ever been the first reporter of.
67. Common Crane
Then one final bird on the drive back to Crawley:
68. Common Kestrel
Last edited: