Well birding wise it has been an ok sort of year, I managed to see 206 species, the first time I've been over 200 since before Covid, with 6 lifers.🏆
American Robin, Green-winged Teal, White-tailed Lapwing, Black-browed Albatross, Eleanora's Falcon and Radde's Warbler the lifers.
Finally seeing a Green-winged Teal after years of heartbreak was more a relief than the triumphal moment it should have been! Still no Black Kite though😂😢, I know I'm never happy!!
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| Green-winged Teal |
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| Look at that lovely vertical stripe!! Whoop! |
The full story of a great day at Rye Harbour at the link
Green-winged heaven
The absolute highlight of the year though, who knew it could get better than a small American dabbling duck😲 was without doubt my visit to Bempton to see Albie the returning Black-browed Albatross, my first and at time of writing only Albatross, what a stunning bird in a sublime location, a supporting cast of thousands of Gannets, Puffins, Fulmars and a host of other Seabirds and got another lifer on the way home as well, with the White-tailed Lapwing at Frampton Marsh a fantastic, if tiring day!!!
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| Black-browed Albatross |
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| Lovey-dovey Gannets |
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| Puffin |
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| Tree Sparrow plenty of these about the visitor center! |
To see more pics and read a full report on this adventure click the link
Albatross
The White-tailed Lapwing was also a lifer and another quality bird
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| White-tailed Lapwing |
To read the Lapwing adventure click the link
White-tailed LapwingProbably the next best adventure was Margie and my holiday in Shetland, our first visit, fabulous if windy place with stunning wildlife!! Skuas, Otters, Orcas, Puffins, Gannets , a Storm Petrel that hit Margie's leg before crawling over my foot into it's hidey-hole on top of the Mousa Broch, Twite, Divers, Hoodies, Black Guillemots, a Bluethroat ,a couple of Dotterel and much, much more. Watching a Bonxie take down a Gannet was gob-smacking, something I will never forget! It was a great holiday, if you are a birder and haven't been I highly recommend it!!
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| Arctic Skua, saw plenty of these in the two weeks! |
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| Black Guillemot's showed well in Lerwick Harbour |
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| Bonxie (Great Skua) saw loads, sadly been badly affected by Bird Flu |
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| Gannet |
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| Puffins, seen in several places, but the Hermaness reserve on Unst was best, though Sumburgh Head ran it a close second |
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| Twite |
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| Wheatear, Margie thinks I'm obsessed with em!! And I am😂!!! |
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| I know right an Otter walking casually up the beach!! |
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| Bluethroat |
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| Margie's pic of a Red-throated Diver |
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| Arctic Tern |
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| Dotterel |
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| Eider, love the sound of these guys |
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| Purple Sandpiper |
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| Arctic Skua having a bath |
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| Wheatear |
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| Arctic Skua |
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| Common Gull |
I did Blog posts for each day of our holiday, available in the sidebar, but a couple of the highlights are linked below, to be honest everyday had highlights.
Your gonna spend all Christmas reading heh, heh 😂!!!
I haven't twitched much this year, but couldn't resist the Elenora's Falcon at Worth Marshes in Kent, where Margie and I had great views of the bird and a lovely day all round, which also included great views of Hobbies and a Red-footed Falcon!
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| Elenora's Falcon |
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| Elenora's Falcon |
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| Hobby |
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| Elenora's Falcon |
Full trip report and many more pics at the link
Elenora'sAnother trip of note was to Eastbourne to see the American Robin, that took up residence in a housing estate there, met up with Gary my old mate and birding partner from Suffolk, we also had a rather underwhelming, Hume's Leaf Warbler and a Hooded Crow and when Gary went home I found a Little Bunting on Ashdown Forest Hurrah. Note to self, meet up with Gary more often in 2023!! To read the whole story click the link
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| American Robin another stunning bird! |
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| Little Bunting |
I saw several other notable birds, so haven't twitched much maybe a bit of an exaggeration!! though most of it was localish! A few of the notable ones below, click the name to see the story of the day!
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| Radde's Warbler |
Sabine's |
| Sabine's Gull |
Penduline Tit |
| Penduline Tit |
Red-backed Shrike |
| Red-backed Shrike |
Snow Bunting |
| Snow Bunting |
Squacco |
| Squacco Heron |
Little Gull
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| Kingfisher |
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| Seen loads this year!! |
Wryneck |
| Hoopoe, I know it's a crap picture but it's a self found Hoopoe!! Whoopoe!!!😂 |
We also had a short break in Wales, again with some good birds seen, Notably Chough, Dipper, Osprey and Buff-breasted Sandpiper to name but four!
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| Buff-breasted Sandpiper |
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| Chough, sitting watching these guys own the cliffs was another birding highlight for me and Margie |
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| Osprey |
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| Dipper |
Was a trip of 2 blogs
If you ain't got much time I would go for Part 1!!
Despite the evidence above a lot of my birding this year was done locally, Seawatching at Seaford was pretty poor this year, most of the good migration movement happened while I was at work, had a couple of good days, but only managed one Pom!!😢 Click the link to see a typical early Seawatch report
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| Med Gull |
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| Brent Geese |
But most of my birding was done at local reserves and wandering the Downs along the Bostal Road where farmland birds seem to be doing okish! Some pics below.
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| Whinchat, love these little fellas! |
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| Corn Bunting, my favourite songster |
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| Pied Wagtail |
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| Wheatear |
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| Greenfinch |
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| Brambling |
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| Long-tailed Tit |
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| Lesser Redpoll |
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| Reed Bunting |
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| Skylark |
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| Stonechat |
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| Yellowhammer |
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| Rock Pipit |
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| Wheatear |
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| Goldfinch |
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| Spotted Flycatcher |
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| Lesser Whitethroat |
here
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| Common Redstart |
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| Common Redstart (female) |
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| Whinchat |
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| Greenshank |
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| Iceland Gull |
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| Cattle Egret |
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| Great Crested Grebe |
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| Grey Phalarope |
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| Velvet Scoter |
here
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| Bearded Tit |
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| Bearded Tit |
Freed from Lockdown I didn't bird much in Hurstpierpoint, though got out a few times, with some nice Yellowhammer encounters the best of it. The garden was fairly productive this year with some Sparrowhawk visits, and a Black Redstart, not something I was expecting,😲 nearly fell off the sofa in the excitement! Though it's down to the regular Sparrows and Starlings, who seem to have a pretty good breeding year, to provide most of the entertainment!!
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| The local Yellowhammers quite often put up a good show |
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| Hurstpierpoint Spot Fly |
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| Hurstpierpoint Wheatear |
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| Hurstpierpoint Linnet |
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| Different Hurstpierpoint Spot Fly |
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| Hurst Whinchat |
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| Garden House Sparrow |
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| Garden Starling |
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| Garden Long-tailed Tit |
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| Garden Chiffchaff |
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| Garden Willow Warbler |
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| Baby Blackbird our Garden pair had two broods although not in our Garden |
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| One of our Starlings, didn't make it!😢But Sprawk gotta eat! |
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| Our Blackbird with his white eyebrows, still knocking about the garden now |
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| The male Sprawk |
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| Probably the bird that amazed me the most this year a Black Redstart strolling around the Patio!! |
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| Margie's picture of the Male Sprawk in our Garden. |
So a pretty good year, with some good birds, missed a few as well, no Nightjar, Turtle Dove, Slav Grebe, Lesser Spotted Woodpecker, Garden Warbler, Hawfinch, Little Tern, Black Tern, Little Owl, Short-eared Owl, Honey Buzzard or Goshawk all gettable in Sussex with a bit of effort, however I like to be green so didn't travel, basically I'm too lazy!!😢😲I blame Long Covid, which I've just about recovered from and the boiling hot summer, I don't do well in the heat! I'm particularly disappointed with myself on the Nightjar front as it is a lovely experience! However some wonderful days out and amazing wildlife encounters, which is what it's all about at the end of the day!
Targets for 2023, Black Kite(high time I connected with one of these), Caspian Tern, Icterine Warbler, Great Shearwater and as many Shrikes as I can get and also to take more pics of Wheatears, which will please Margie!!😁😂
Some people say I spend too much time birding, though only 96 blog posts this year which suggests there were well over 200 days when I didn't go birding😂😂😢😲!!!!!
So more of the same in 2023!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Will leave you with a pic of my Bird of the Year! (Obviously Margie is my bird of every year💗) Happy Christmas and Good Birding for all in 2023, for any Non-birders who have got this far, have the best New Year you can with your sad bird free lives😱😅.
Ok then as it's Christmas Margie has insisted her picture of a Robin from Pulborough Brooks be included!!
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| Happy Christmas!!! |
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