A look back at 2013

It’s a bit self-indulgent, but it seems to be the done thing on one’s blog at this time of year; a look back at the preceding twelve months from a personal perspective. 2013 was undoubtedly one of my best birding years to date, for several reasons:

Patch birding

I took part in Patchwork Challenge in 2013, visiting my patch at Collingham and Besthorpe 116 times, and recording 136 species. I had several patch ticks, including Ring-necked Parakeet, Red Kite and Caspian Gull; better still, I found two decent species, first a Pec Sand at the end of September at Meering Marsh (only my second self-found Pec, and another patch tick), which was beaten by a self-found BBRC description species in the form of a Pied Wheatear – a first for Notts, and the first ever inland county-record. My moment of the year was definitely when the bird appeared after a tense wait early in the morning of the 10th November, having put the news out the night before. See this blog post for a full account.

Pec (left) with 2 Ruff

Pied Wheatear

Birding in Notts

I don’t keep a Notts list (or rather I do, but I don’t actively amass a county list...). However, 2013 was undoubtedly an excellent year for county birding. Whilst I regret not going to see the Hoopoe at Annesley (I knew I would), I did see the White-winged Black Tern at Attenborough, Melodious Warbler at Tiln, Glossy Ibis at Lowdham, Parrot Crossbills at Budby Heath,  and the Pied Wheatear at Collingham (did I mention that already?). 

WWBT

Glossy Ibis

Parrot Crossbill

Listin’ and twitchin’

I finally racked up 400 species this year (BOU of course), after far too long, and finished on 401 (nice to have a small buffer for the Dusky Thrush). Additions were:

Rock Thrush (Spurn, 26th April)

Dusky Thrush (Margate, 18th May) 

Pacific Swift (Trimley, 15th June)

Melodious Warbler (Tiln, 21st June)

Little Bittern (Ham Wall, 29th June)

Pacific Golden Plover (Rutland Water, 15th July)

Bonaparte’s Gull (Heysham, 21st July)

Caspian Tern (Rudyard Lake, 29th July)

Great Snipe (Spurn, 15th September)

I guess if I was a hardcore twitcher I would've added a few more in what was a pretty exceptional year – Harlequin Duck, Needletail, Hermit Thrush, Thick-billed, Cape May and Western Orphean Warblers, Mourning Dove, Semipalmated Plover, Brunnich’s Guillemot... and maybe even Serin (I'll get one one day). As well as lots more I've probably forgotten about.

Birding Trips

Once again, I failed to go on a foreign birding holiday this year, but did add two new species to my WP list – Balearic Warbler, seen during a week on Majorca in February, and a quality category C species in the form of Reeve’s Pheasant in France in July (where I failed to see Grey-headed Woodpecker, again).

Balearic Warbler

In this country, a week with friends in Aviemore produced all the Scottish specialities I could hope for except Golden Eagle (and my best ever Capper encounter – as well as a Pine Marten); a long weekend in Somerset in June got me a Little Bittern (and a Large Blue); and I managed a bit of birding in Norfolk in October half-term. Also in October, I joined Carl C and Stuart D on Scilly for a week. Although lacking a quality rarity, it was a good week’s birding and a lot of fun, with Sora the best bird. Hopefully it will deliver in October 2014! I finished the year with a week back in Suffolk over Christmas, finding not one but two Black Brants down on my old local patch on the Orwell.

Capper

Sora

Black Brant