Birds of 2015

At the beginning of 2015 I set myself a target, to see 150 species of bird in 12 months. That's modest by the standard of many bird folk, but I wanted to be realistic. I had never seen that many before, and my personal circumstances (no car, limited budget, general lethargy) would make a very high goal impossible to attain. Thanks to some good luck (a surprising number of local fly-throughs), and generosity on the part of my main bird-seeking companion (who blogs here), I reached 150 within just a few months, so I set a further bonus goal of 175. It turned out to be a lot harder adding a few more species in the remaining time, and I didn't quite meet it - but 169 species is a total I can be satisfied with.

You can read the specifics in the month entries (one each for January-May, September and October, one for June-August, and November-December), so I'll just add here my top species for the year. I've chosen these on entirely subjective grounds - some because they were so special or striking, some because I'd been after them for years, some because they were photogenic. In no particular order...

Avocet
A species that was once rare, now it's quite common even near home, but I'd never managed to see. My first sighting of these was there, on the Ribble, but very distant - specks in the haze. Better was at Martin Mere, where they bravely chased off much larger swans from their chicks. Later I detoured to Leighton Moss's salt marsh hides, where good views of them (and their young) can be had.

Common scoter
A speciality of my home town, yet almost nobody would ever see them - they float in great rafts, thousands strong, just offshore, usually only visible in a telescope. But a male and a female separately found their way to the local nature reserve, a small body of freshwater a couple of miles from the coast. Later in the year, I added two more species to my list, velvet and surf scoters, but neither afforded quite such good views.

Wood warbler
Several warblers were on my hit list, and I was lucky enough to see them all. Garden warbler almost featured here, for giving unexpectedly good views by the standard of an otherwise elusive species, but the wood warblers are just that bit more flamboyant, and their song lit up the springtime woods for me.

Scaup
This handsome male duck made a local marine lake its home for many weeks, and grew quite tame. It ticks all the boxes - photogenic, laid-back, handsome, unexpected yet easy to find.

Red-throated diver
Like the scaup, and at the same location, a completely unexpected visitor, which really ought to have been out to sea. Beautiful views. Alas the bird was probably injured.



Gannet
This wins out for the combination of spectacle - a couple of hundred thousand birds, each with a wingspan of nearly six feet - and the ease with which good shots could be taken. The light on my boat trip to Bass Rock was perfect, and the sea not too choppy for photography even at relatively close range. An unforgettable experience - but I saw them a couple more times too, from the land further west along the Firth of Forth, and it was exhilarating each time. Their size, colouration, and behaviour is remarkable (though I never saw them dive), and I hope to see more of them in future.

Raven
A species I have been hoping to see for some time. Not rare, and quite widespread - but both my home patches are on the edge of their range, and they are rather spread out from what I gather. They had also been something of a bête noire of mine, as in my early days of birdwatching, I found them impossible to separate from carrion crows based on the photographs, descriptions, and audio recordings I studied - even though the common view is it's pretty straightforward.

As it turned out, I encountered them several times this year. A couple of distant birds on a Cumbrian hilltop could have been the first - but I found the photographs unconvincing. So it was in Bowland I can say I had my first sighting of a raven - high and distant, against a pale grey sky, as poor a view as you could hope for. Then in Silverdale, a pair feasting on a dead lamb - a good view, although still distant, but on the ground in good light. Best of all was the bird the flew over my parents' garden, the first one I identified by its call - which when it came to it, was absolutely unmistakable.

Ring-billed gull

It's hard for a gull to make my shortlist, but this North American bird was distinctive (by the standards of large white gulls), and almost tame. It's been hanging around Preston for months now, seemingly happy to live as an urban bird on the wrong side of the ocean.

Wryneck

A unique bird in this country, and one I would never have expected on my home patch. But one of these weird creatures stuck just down the coast for several days, and although it never came close, it did allow for better-than-record shots in the lovely autumn light. I found it much more exciting than the barred warblers that arrived alongside, in contrast to the crowds of other birdwatchers they attracted.

Short-eared owl
I've never done very well with birds of prey, including owls. I got my first shots of a wild tawny this year, but never caught up with the species I really wanted to see, little owls. However, a large influx of the wonderful, charismatic short-eared owl gave me the chance to get some great shots. Some have hung around at home for a couple of months, but my views have been at Musselburgh either side of the New Year, where between a couple and a dozen have wowed birdwatchers and locals all winter.

As for the rest, here's the master list of species I saw, in alphabetical order by common English name:

January-December 2015
169 species (36 lifers)
Arctic tern
Avocet
Bar-tailed godwit
Barn owl
Barnacle goose
Barred warbler
Black-headed gull
Black-tailed godwit
Blackbird
Blackcap
Bluetit
Brambling
Bullfinch
Buzzard
Canada goose
Carrion crow
Cetti's warbler
Chaffinch
Chiffchaff
Coal tit
Collared dove
Common gull
Common sandpiper
Common scoter
Common tern
Coot
Cormorant
Corn bunting
Cuckoo
Curlew
Curlew sandpiper
Dipper
Dunlin
Dunnock
Eider
Feral pigeon
Fieldfare
Firecrest
Fulmar
Gadwall
Gannet
Garden warbler
Garganey
Goldcrest
Golden plover
Goldeneye
Goldfinch
Goosander
Grasshopper warbler
Great black-backed gull
Great crested grebe
Great grey shrike
Great spotted woodpecker
Great tit
Green sandpiper
Green woodpecker (heard only)
Greenfinch
Greenshank
Grey heron
Grey plover
Grey wagtail
Greylag goose
Herring gull
House sparrow
Iceland gull
Jack snipe
Jackdaw
Jay
Kestrel
Kittiwake
Lapwing
Lesser black-backed gull
Lesser redpoll
Lesser whitethroat
Lesser yellowlegs
Linnet
Little egret
Little grebe
Little ringed plover
Long-eared owl
Long-tailed duck
Long-tailed tit
Magpie
Mallard
Mandarin
Marsh harrier
Marsh tit
Meadow pipit
Mediterranean gull
Merlin
Mistle thrush
Moorhen
Mute swan
Nuthatch
Oystercatcher
Peregrine
Pheasant
Pied flycatcher
Pied wagtail
Pied-billed grebe
Pink-footed goose
Pintail
Pochard
Purple sandpiper
Quail (heard only)
Raven
Red-legged partridge
Red-necked grebe
Red-throated diver
Redshank
Redstart
Reed bunting
Reed warbler
Ring-billed gull
Ringed plover
Robin
Rock pipit
Rook
Ruff
Sand martin
Sanderling
Sandwich tern
Scaup
Sedge warbler
Shelduck
Shorelark
Short-eared owl
Shoveler
Skylark
Slavonian grebe
Snipe
Song thrush
Sparrowhawk
Spotted flycatcher
Starling
Stock dove
Stonechat
Surf scoter
Swallow
Swift
Tawny owl
Teal
Temminck's stint
Tree sparrow
Treecreeper
Tufted duck
Turnstone
Twite
Velvet scoter
Water rail
Wheatear
Whimbrel
Whinchat
Whitethroat
Whooper swan
Wigeon
Willow warbler
Wood warbler
Woodcock
Woodpigeon
Wren
Wryneck
Yellow wagtail
Yellow-browed warbler
Yellow-legged gull
Yellowhammer

Birds of November and December

I'm cheating a bit as this picture was taken in January, on a return visit, but it's the same owl in the same location!

The unseasonal mildness continued to the end of the year - indeed, it seemed to intensify (the UK is likely to have experienced its warmest December in ~350 years in fact), but storm after storm swept in from the Atlantic, so conditions were not ideal for birdwatching. I did catch up with one species I'd been hoping to see for some time, the glorious short-eared owl. Musselburgh, just east of Edinburgh, had attracted up to a dozen of these migrants, and although there were perhaps only three when I went, that was more than enough to guarantee hundreds of good photos.

The east side of Edinburgh has also hosted a very rare sea duck for months on end - a surf scoter. I must have looked at least half a dozen times, but as it tends to drift up and down the coast, and is usually very far out and hangs around with other, quite similar-looking birds, I'd never managed to glimpse it. Caught in a rainstorm, having stared through my binoculars for an hour, I had already given up on this occasion, but a young man who was also there to find it was more successful, and very kindly pointed it out to me. Terrible shots, hand holding my big lens in the worst conditions I've ever tried to take photographs in, but enough to prove it. As a bonus, my first ever male long-tailed ducks put in an appearance, too.

December was full of other things, Christmas invariably taking a chunk out of my time. I'd given up on it, simply enjoying the vast numbers of birds that visit my parents' garden. But a day off the end of the month, what was foraging for fallen sunflower seeds right under my window, but that which I have longed to see again for nearly two years - a brambling. There may have been two, but they soon flew off. Great close views for a few seconds, though, and an excellent way to end the year.

November-December 2015
4 species (2 lifers) - year total 169
Brambling
Long-tailed duck
Short-eared owl
Surf scoter

Birds of October

Hard to see, even harder to photograph - but a new bird to me, a pretty little yellow-browed warbler hiding in dense foliage.

Migrants are still passing through in good numbers in October, and the first winter visitors begin turning up too - geese, swans, winter thrushes. Nationally, a massive influx of yellow-browed warblers was felt even here, with a pair visiting the north end of the coast briefly. To the south, the first snow bunting appeared; these lovely little creatures are surprisingly common on the beach in the winter, although they are not totally reliable and often hard to see. It didn't stay long, though - December tends to be a better month in my short experience.

Short-eared owls have also been reported in large numbers across the country, and two or three hung around the local area for over a week - but my one trip out to locate one was a failure (I haven't given up though, Scotland may provide better chances). A long weekend in Nottingham offered little opportunity for birds, but I did visit a park with resident red-crested pochard, alas absent - but a handsome male mandarin was even better.

Otherwise, it's been a frustrating time, with masses of amazing-sounding birds anywhere but here in the north west of England - sadly if you want rarities, you're much better off almost anywhere else.

October 2015
2 species (1 lifer) - year total 165
Mandarin
Yellow-browed warbler

Birds of September

Above: a lovely juvenile curlew sandpiper, only my second ever, and my best views to date.

September is a great month for adding species to the list. Lots of migrants are passing through, many summer visitors are still here, and more visible, as they feed up in preparation to migrate, some switching from gleaning insects to berries - sitting out in the open, gorging. However, having moulted, many are less brightly coloured, and from a photographic point of view, less interesting.

Above: a male velvet scoter.

One spot down the coast that often turns up passage migrants didn't fail to disappoint, with two very rare species for these parts - a pair of barred warblers and a wryneck. The former only stayed for a day, and I was lucky to see them; the latter, much more interesting to me, hung around for quite a few days, and I was able to return for better photographs than I'd managed to get at my first encounter.

Above: barred warbler. Below: wryneck.

Back in Scotland, I visited Musselburgh for the first time since the winter, and it did not disappoint. Excellent calm conditions and good light meant seawatching over the Firth of Forth was productive even for a novice like me, and I got a record shot of a Slavonian grebe and plenty of photographs of velvet scoters. A curlew sandpiper at the lagoons there showed very well, and although not a lifer, it was by far the best view I've had of this species. A couple of days later, I went to a spot a little further east to seek a surf scoter that has been there for some time. Alas, conditions this time were poor - choppy waves, overcast with poor light. No scoter (nor on a subsequent visit in better conditions a week or two later), but my first red-necked grebe was a nice consolation prize.

September 2015
7 species (6 lifers) - year total 163
Barred warbler
Curlew sandpiper
Red-necked grebe
Slavonian grebe
Velvet scoter
Wryneck
Yellow-legged gull

Below: two species I'd not expected, red-throated diver still in part breeding plumage, and sandwich tern - not new for the year list, but a treat nonetheless.

Birds of summer

Above from top: my first fulmar and kittiwakes; gannets at Bass Rock.

Summer is a poor season for seeing birds, whatever some people might say. Between the spring and autumn migrations, far fewer rarities turn up, and all the breeding migrants and resident species are either busy raising young or moulting. Either way, along with the increased foliage density, they are hard to see.

Above: my best view of a corn bunting; below: a surprisingly mellow ring-billed gull.

With that in mind, I've lumped together the three summer months, especially in light of having seen no new species at all in June. July was little better - two, both heard only. August is the last chance for early-departing birds like cuckoos (mostly their offspring), but also the start of the return migration, so more unusual species can turn up - albeit not in their best breeding plumage. Garganey are another summer stray, fairly regular, but they are often very hard to see. Luckily I just managed to catch both - a juvenile cuckoo took up residence in a very prominent location, and a few garganey popped up here and there, though I almost missed them.

Seabird colonies are an exception to the summer lull - this is the best time to visit them. I took a trip out to Bass Rock, and managed to see four lifers, although just a week too late to catch any puffins on a neighbouring island. It was my first visit to the Scottish Seabird Centre, and my first boat trip, and I strongly recommend both - Bass Rock especially is a breathtaking experience (up to a quarter of a million gannets in one place!), and it's surprisingly inexpensive. Next year I'll do one of the more adventurous trips - to the Isle of May, most likely.

Above: a shag on Craigleith; some gannets on Bass Rock.

I was lucky in that a few species I'd never expected to see or hear turned up locally - quails sang in a field for a few days, and a lesser yellowlegs (the only one in the country, I believe) hung around the saltmarsh at the far northern end of the local bird recording area. Similarly the ring-billed gull, another American stray, has been seen at Preston Dock for a couple of months now.

Above: a glimpse of a garganey taking off.

June-July-August 2015
13 species (7 lifers) - year total 156
Cuckoo
Fulmar
Gannet
Garganey
Green woodpecker (heard only)
Greenshank
Kittiwake
Lesser yellowlegs
Marsh tit
Quail (heard only)
Ring-billed gull
Sandwich tern
Shag

Birds of May

 

 Above: sedge and reed warblers showed well early in the month.

Note: this was written back in May, but delayed until I could process some photos to add.

It's been a busy few weeks with family stuff, but I've managed to do a few trips out to catch some nice birds, and to try and get better shots of some I'd already encountered.

A kestrel carries a rodent kill - I didn't realise this until I sorted through the photos at home.

The torrent of passage migrants has finally tailed off at home, and most trees are in full leaf now, so the golden period of spring is over. However, it's been a chilly month, so things have been delayed, which is to my advantage.

Above: a montage of martins and swallows feeding over the park lake.

Below: a swift.

A couple of species that are guaranteed here in mid-late May are spotted flycatcher and common sandpiper - the latter will stay on in various places, but the former usually only passes through for a week or less. Five flycatchers turned up at the park, but only one was visible when I arrived - but it gave me my best ever views. The sandpiper was much more distant, but I don't mind - it's just good to see them back.

A spotted flycatcher. 

A male scaup has become very tame on the marine lake down the coast, and again provided wonderful photo opportunities. I went down a couple of times, visiting the nearby dunes as well, which provided a few treats. An unreported female whinchat, a loudly singing (if frustratingly hard to see) lesser whitethroat, and a nice flock of breeding plumage small waders (dunlin, ringed plovers, and a handful of sanderlings) were the highlights. Towards the end of the month, my bird mentor David took us to Martin Mere, my first time there, and although we missed the bird that had enticed him out (a white-winged (black) tern), we saw an almost-as-rare Temminck's stint, and nearby a couple of farmland species I've never managed to find, corn bunting and yellow wagtail. Not to mention excellent close (albeit obscured) views of roosting tawny owls (my first sightings, as opposed to just hearing their calls), exceptionally distant breeding plumage little ringed plovers, a barn owl hunting mid morning, dozens of swifts, and lots of nice avocets. We stopped off at the local tern colony on the way back, but it's still early in the season, and they haven't started laying yet. I will return there next month.

A whinchat I found myself!

Finally, I nipped up to Silverdale - ostensibly for rare orchids, but I caught the ever-reliable marsh tits to add to the list.

This male scaup has become a local fixture.

May 2015
13 species (3 lifers) - year total 143
Arctic tern
Barn owl
Common sandpiper
Common tern
Corn bunting
Little ringed plover
Marsh tit
Scaup
Sedge warbler
Spotted flycatcher
Swift
Temminck's stint
Yellow wagtail

 Above: a very poor quality but still diagnostic shot of the Temminck's stint.

Below: more good birds from in and around Martin Mere.

 

Below: avocet, my first ever self-discovered Mediterranean gull, and lady's slipper orchids, a good end to the month.