One of the best parts of the festive season is that we get 2 days off for New Year, just at the time that the wife and mini- sandpipers are exhausted from the excitement of it all. This allows scope for me to make a good start to the year's birding, knowing that all too soon we'll be back to the grind of work and the other things that 'life' does to curb my birding.
Anyway, tradition has held that Jan 2nd would be my day for going out. As this is usually for the full day, without deadline, I've been happy to forego any birding on the 1st. This year, though, Mrs Green Sand offered to let me go our for a couple of hours on New Years Day- I didn't need to be offered twice.
Made my way to Baron's Haugh, my not-so-local patch. I try not to be a fanatical lister, I like to enjoy birds for their sake, rather than the accumulation of ticks (although ticks are always nice) but I found myself trying to cram in as many birds as I could. Forcing myself to slow down, I counted off 20 species in just over an hour and a half. Not as many as I had hoped, but did get some quality birds such as shoveler and gadwall.
It was great just to be out, to be honest. A new year, a new list, new targets and goals. In ancient times, midwinter used to be symbolised by rebirth- once daylight begins increasing, the ancients knew that the viritas of spring was on its way. I couldn't help but feel, as I trudged back to the car, that my birding had also been reborn.
Anyway, tradition has held that Jan 2nd would be my day for going out. As this is usually for the full day, without deadline, I've been happy to forego any birding on the 1st. This year, though, Mrs Green Sand offered to let me go our for a couple of hours on New Years Day- I didn't need to be offered twice.
Made my way to Baron's Haugh, my not-so-local patch. I try not to be a fanatical lister, I like to enjoy birds for their sake, rather than the accumulation of ticks (although ticks are always nice) but I found myself trying to cram in as many birds as I could. Forcing myself to slow down, I counted off 20 species in just over an hour and a half. Not as many as I had hoped, but did get some quality birds such as shoveler and gadwall.
It was great just to be out, to be honest. A new year, a new list, new targets and goals. In ancient times, midwinter used to be symbolised by rebirth- once daylight begins increasing, the ancients knew that the viritas of spring was on its way. I couldn't help but feel, as I trudged back to the car, that my birding had also been reborn.
