2014 in wildlife: January-June

Above: sanderlings at Rossall Point, Fleetwood, Lancashire

It's been a mixed year. The first half was spent between Scotland and Lancashire, and that's how I expected it to continue. But midsummer health and technology upsets meant I spent almost all the rest of the year at home, and some plans didn't amount to anything. Having said that, I've seen quite a few new bird species, and taken a few photographs. Here's a quick summary of the first six months (I've split the year as there are a lot of pics), garnished with some of my favourite shots.

Above: a male shoveler at Stanley Park, Blackpool; below: siskins in West Lothian.

Having two 'home' locations has many advantages for wildlife spotting, especially when they are as different as these. One coastal, low-lying, with extensive sandy beaches and dunes, mudflats, tidal estuaries, and open farmland nearby; the other hilly, inland, with lots of woods and upland rivers. I also got out to a couple of other locations, Nottingham and London, although the wildlife in these places was of limited, personal interest.

Above: grey wagtails, resident at Stanley Park (winter and spring); below: a female in breeding plumage, West Lothian.

It was a mild and wet winter mostly, with a pretty good spring and plenty of heat in the middle of summer. I was more focused on particular species at particular sites, in addition to my usual wandering. But as ever, luck played a big part in what I saw.

Spring warblers were a target. Above: a willow warbler; below, a chiffchaff, both in Blackpool (IDed based on song, you'll have to take my word for it). 

Due to computer problems, I don't have access to the full back catalogue of photos, nor to proper editing, so I've had to cobble together this as best I can. My Flickr feed has a lot of these shots, but I've also tried to find a few unpublished ones on memory cards and rescued from my defunct laptop's hard drive.
 

Above: Almondell & Calderwood Country Park in West Lothian is a great location. Dippers on the river, bullfinches in the local hedgerows - I've yet to see their kingfishers.

 Below: Fleetwood in Lancashire is a surprisingly good place for birds. Rossall Point catches lots of passage migrants, both rare and common (here's one of the latter, a meadow pipit), and proved a good spot for one of my top targets, stonechats (below); while Fleetwood Marsh Nature Park is a hidden gem, packed with good birds, like this wheatear and skylark - so long as you can stand the incessant wind and obnoxious dog walkers.

I mostly attained my goals - I photographed numerous skylarks, including during their song flights, wheatears, finches, and other assorted passerines. Larger birds were less successful, but that's something I can work on in 2015.

Above: it took me years to get a good goldfinch shot. They may be common and widespread, but they are unexpectedly picky about where they land.