2011 REVIEW......Best and Worst Bits

Sandhill Crane photo by Joseph Nicholls

Firstly i would like to do a few thank yous , To Mike and Dan Booker for putting up with me during most of my birding trips this year ( how do they do it ?? ) , to local patch watchers such as Martyn Wilson , Mark Chidders , Marc Heath , Murray Wright and David Campbell to name just a few ,  for whom we all owe a debt of gratitude as with out the dedication of patch birders we would not see as many species as we do so a big thankyou to them . 

Greenshank on Scillies .

Well back to the review of 2011 , every year i set out to try and get one new species for each month which i rarely achieve although i did come mighty close this year  :

New Species for 2011 :  11 which are :

 1. PACIFIC DIVER at Penzance  in Cornwall 1st January.

2. RUFOUS TURTLE DOVE at Chipping Norton Oxon 19th February.                                                                            3.  SLATY BACK GULL  at Rainham Marshes 20th February.

4. TRUMPETER FINCH on Lundy Island 21st May.

5. GREENISH WARBLER at Warren Wood in Norfolk 27th August.

6. PALLID HARRIER at Burpham in West Sussex 23rd September.

7. SANDHILL CRANE St Combs in Scotland 24 th September.

8. BLACK HEADED BUNTING on Unst Shetland 29th September.

9. NORTHERN WATERTHRUSH on St Marys Scillies 29th October.

10. WESTERN SANDPIPER at Cley Marshes 10th December.

11. SIBERIAN STONECHAT at Wells Wood in Norfolk armchair tick.

Iceland Gull in Suffolk.

I have been lucky enough to have many highlights this year , also achieving a lifetimes ambition in going to Shetland , this was a truly amazing experience and i am hoping to go back in 2012 , i have also met some amazing birders this year and made many new friends which only enhances the whole experience of birding , of course there are always downsides to birding ie : the dips and i have made some spectacular ones this year , here are the ones that hurt the most ..... lol 

Number one dip for me has to be the White Throated Robin in Cleveland , i don't normally get to affected by gripping but this one hurt big time , i have always wanted to see one and with work commitments meant i could not get there til the Saturday and by that time most if not all my birding buddies had connected with it , and of course it had gone over night on the Friday ( sob ....  sob.... ) totally gutted , tired and a 5 plus hour drive home didn't help plus some stunning photos just about finished me off, other dips included White Winged Scoter , Black Scoter, Great Snipe ( Twice ) and Scarlet Tanager ( Twice ) , so its not all glory .

Black Guillemot Lerwick Harbour Shetland.

If i had to choose the bird that gave me the most enjoyment and relief this year it would have to be the SANDHILL CRANE near Aberdeen , this was such an amazing bird to see and made a long journey worth while , achieving my 60 th wader species in the UK is another highlight , i can still remember sitting down Pegwell Bay when i first started birding way back in the eighties looking at a wader species for over an hour trying to work out what it was , no scope in those days plus my first set of bins were 20 x 50 , the wader turned out to be a Black Tailed Godwit and i was hooked .

Northern Long Tailed Tit at Dymchurch.

I have seen some very good sub species this year including Northern Long Tailed Tit , these were delightful to see and a sub species i had longed for , i also saw the Northern Harrier at Thornham in Norfolk and i feel this has a very good chance of being split some time in the future fingers crossed , plus of course the smart looking Eastern Black Redstart  which was a great find for Barry Hunt .

Eastern Black Redstart.

My 2011 year list stands at 276 and this is the second highest year list i have achieved in nearly 30 years of birding , i always keep a year list but never set out to get huge year lists , i am not that competitive , so that just about sums up 2011 and i am already looking forward to see what 2012 might turn up , thanks for taking the time to read this and i wish everyone a bird filled 2012.