Birds of January

 Bird of the month: the elusive but beautiful firecrest.

This year I'll keep track of the total number of bird species I encounter, as well as new ones. Unlike my previous lists, this can include things I see or hear with confidence but don't photograph. It's easier to tot them up monthly, so here's the first tally. My original year target was 150, based on what I've managed before, but given how much progress I've made already, I might raise that later on. I've underlined "lifers", i.e. species I've never seen before.

January 2015
95 species (6 lifers)
Bar-tailed godwit
Barnacle goose
Black-headed gull
Blackbird
Bluetit
Bullfinch
Buzzard
Canada goose
Carrion crow
Cetti's warbler
Chaffinch
Coal tit
Collared dove
Common gull
Coot
Cormorant
Curlew
Dunlin
Dunnock
Eider
Feral pigeon
Fieldfare
Firecrest
Gadwall
Golden plover
Goldcrest
Goldeneye
Goldfinch
Goosander
Great black-backed gull
Great crested grebe
Great grey shrike
Great spotted woodpecker
Great tit
Greenfinch
Grey heron
Grey plover
Grey wagtail
Greylag goose
Herring gull
House sparrow
Iceland gull
Jackdaw
Kestrel
Lapwing
Lesser black-backed gull
Linnet
Little egret
Little grebe
Long-tailed tit
Long-eared owl
Magpie
Mallard
Meadow pipit
Mediterranean gull
Merlin
Mistle thrush
Moorhen
Mute swan
Oystercatcher
Peregrine
Pheasant
Pied wagtail
Pink-footed goose
Pintail
Pochard
Purple sandpiper
Red-legged partridge
Redshank
Reed bunting
Ringed plover
Robin
Rook
Sanderling
Shelduck
Shorelark
Shoveler
Skylark
Snipe
Sparrowhawk
Starling
Stonechat
Teal
Tree sparrow
Treecreeper
Tufted duck
Turnstone
Twite
Water rail
Whooper swan
Wigeon
Woodcock
Woodpigeon
Wren
Yellowhammer

 Runners up: flocks of twite livening up the saltmarshes.