Month 1. Done.

Last year I was going all out to do a patch year list with my Blog Pal, Steve Gale at ND&B and in doing so had some great birds and broke my own patch year record which can't be bad. January 2019 ended on 89 species including such local megas a Red necked Grebe and Firecrest.

Fast forward to 2020, a new decade. I have not been hammering things as much due to less work days off ( I had extra last year due to a holiday reshuffle) and pretty crap weather at weekends. So, I ended January on 76 species. Not too bad I suppose with only one bird that I didn't see last January. The best was the long staying Water Rail in the wet wood, 2 Kingfishers on the pond, several Barn Owls and a single Chiffchaff on one day only.

What this means really is that I have several common species I should have seen by now, waiting until a quiet February day to boost the total... I bet Ringed and Grey Plover don't play by the rules...

The first quarter of any year here is much quieter than the final quarter so I am sure things will balance out by November...

An old pic of a Water Rail, it was too dark in the wood to get one this year but the current bird is fem/fw like this one...

I'm still here...

Just a quickie to say I am still here, but have not lifted my binoculars, let alone taken a photo, since November!

Early in the month, I was getting fed up not seeing daylight at home until the weekend, so I deliberately jacked it all in. I thought, as this is quite a busy domestic time on the run up to Christmas, I would go into a temporary wildlife and birding lull until I had some time off over the holiday period.

Oh am I ready for it! Today is my first day of leave and I wont return to work until 4th Jan so hopefully I will get out into the field again soon. Christmas day and Boxing day are fully booked but the 27th is looking favourable to get out and blow the cobwebs away...

Whilst I haven't been out there, looking for wildlife, I have been pondering what to do in 2017. I always make a provisional plan or two, that usually gets ignored, but its good to think about the way forward.

This coming New Year I think I might keep a year list. I always used to keep one back in the 80s and 90's, but haven't done so since. Its usually all about the local patch, but I might broaden horizons a little. Now my year lists don't descend into hyper active all out twitching, they are a much more sedate affair, involving a few trips out for favourable birds, a couple of holidays in other parts of the country and catching up on local scarce breeders and winterers at home, you know, species, often miseds out on in a year such as black grouse, wood warbler, long tailed skua etc.

I've also pondered doing a bit more field sketching if I can fit it in, and I even might try wetting a fishing line this year? Who knows?

Regardless of what I get up to, you'll be the first (or second) to know.......

An old one from the notebook...