Year List Update - 29th December 2025

 Yesterday, Luke and I went across to Lincolnshire to add a few new species to this year's Year List.

We started off at Tongue End, where we added Tundra Bean Goose (206), Bewick Swan (207) and European/Russian White-fronted Goose (208), all feeding with a large herd of Whooper Swans. Unfortunately, the Snow Goose, had done a bunk!!!

Afterwards, we drove to Titchmarsh LNR, in Northamptonshire, so that Luke could add American Wigeon, to his list. Whilst there, we also saw a minimum of 4 Great White Egrets, including this one that posed nicely, next to a Little Egret.

Great and Little Egret

Our final stop for the day was Eyebrook Reservoir in Leicestershire. We stopped off here so that Luke could see his first adult, male Smew. In total, we saw 4 males and a couple of "redheads".

Smew

Year List Update - 3rd December 2017

The year is coming to a close, but I'm still managing to add a few more species to the Year List. As you'll see below, I'm up to 197 species, so hopefully, I should manage to top the 200 mark this year, especially as I'll be visiting Norfolk before the end of the year.

The new additions are: Marsh Tit, Hawfinch, Bewick Swan and European White-fronted Goose.

The first two species were seen at The Yorkshire Arboretum last weekend, whilst the latter two species were seen today at WWT Slimbridge. Here are a few photos.

Hawfinch (female)

Hawfinch (male)

Hawfinch

Bewick Swan and White-fronted Goose

Year List update:
194: Marsh Tit
195: Hawfinch
196: Bewick Swan
197: White-fronted Goose (European)

WWT Slimbridge- 15th February 2016

It's half term this week, so I traveled down to the Wildfowl and Wetland Trust's Slimbridge reserve with my nephew and his friend on Monday. We saw lots of great birds (as always), including ten "year ticks", one of which was also a "lifer".

The first stop on the journey was a small pond on the outskirts of Gloucester (Horsebere Pool). Two male Penduline Tits had been present here for a couple of weeks. We arrived on site and were lucky enough to see 1 of the birds within about 10 minutes. The bird was feeding on the Reedmace in the corner of the pond. I managed to get it in the binoculars for about 30 seconds (!), before it disappeared, never to be seen again. A very smart little bird and my second "lifer" of the year. No photos of my own unfortunately, but here's a link to the BirdGuides website, where there are some super shots. Also present here were 2 Chiffchaffs, a male and a female Stonechat, Robin, Long-tailed Tit and Reed Bunting.

Moving on to Slimbridge, we spent about four hours looking around the reserve, adding another 9 "year ticks" to the Year List, along with hundreds of commoner birds, including Teal, Wigeon, Tufted Duck, Pochard, Mallard, Canada and Greylag Goose, Lapwing, Dunlin and Golden Plover.

Pintail

Crane, Pintail, Lapwing and Wigeon

Year List update:

102 - PENDULINE TIT (lifer)

103 - Stonechat

104 - Black-tailed - Godwit

105 - Shelduck

106 - Pintail

107 - Common Crane (4 colour ringed birds)

108 - Scaup (2 females)

109 - Avocet

110- European White-fronted Goose (7)

111- Barnacle Goose (100+)

112 - Bewick Swan

WWT Slimbridge - 28 Year Ticks and a Lifer

The weather forecast for Thursday was the best of the week, so I decided to head out, with my nephew, birding and "year-ticking" at the Wildfowl and Wetlands Trust's reserve of Slimbridge in Gloucestershire. In the end, I managed a very respectable 43 species, which, as the title suggests, included 28 "year ticks" and a "lifer"!

First up the lifer- a Green-winged Teal. This north American species has become an annual visitor to Britain, but, despite a few attempts to see, them I've never managed to catch up with one - until now! After a few hours of searching through the 2000+ Eurasian Teals, the bird, a male, was eventually found fast asleep in front of Martin Smith hide, where I managed to get a photo. Note the vertical white line. This is horizontal in the Eurasian Teal seen behind.

Green-winged and Eurasian Teal

 

Now to the Year List update. At this time of year it's quite easy to add birds to this list, with certain birds such as Collared Dove and Mistle Thrush being relatively easy to find. Others are more difficult to see, so I was very pleased to find, amongst others, wild Bewick Swans and European White-fronted Geese feeding on and around the reserve. Other highlights for me were Common Cranes (3), thousands of Golden Plover and Lapwings and a very obliging Water Rail and Snipe.

 

 

Year List update:

36 – Collared Dove

37 – Curlew

38 – Dunlin

39 – Black-tailed Godwit
40 – Golden Plover
41 – Redshank
42 – Lapwing
43 – Ruff
44 – Avocet
45 – Bewick Swan
46 – European White-fronted Goose
47 – Barnacle Goose (F)
48 – Greylag Goose
49 – Pintail
50 – Pochard
51 – Wigeon
52 – Teal
53 – Shelduck
54 –Shoveler
55 - Gadwall
56 – Green-winged Teal
57 – Mistle Thrush
58 – Fieldfare
59 – Pied Wagtail
60 – Skylark
61 – Linnet
62 – Common Buzzard
63 – Common Crane
64 – Herring Gull