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ZEISS DTI thermal imaging cameras. For more discoveries at night, and during the day.

Lazza's 2016 list (1 Viewer)

And while in Switzerland, I added

39. Starling

in Martigny, then

40. Cormorant

flying over the road at Saint Gingolph (just before the French border).

But, the best was still to come. Following a tip-off, I stopped at Baby Plage just outside Geneva, where I first added:

41. Little grebe
42. White wagtail

And then, the hoped-for lifer:

43. Ferruginous duck* - two females in among the tufted duck and pochard

Plus a couple of additional species in the park across the road:

44. Long-tailed tit (new for my Swiss life list)
45. Robin

* not on a previous list
 
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A big leap forward this weekend, as I was out on my bike early on Sunday morning for a ride along the coast, which proved quite productive, including a remarkable two lifers - pretty unusual for a half day out in the UK :)

The first new species for the weekend, though, was on Saturday morning, from the garden, as a flock of c25

93. Whooper swan

flew over heading north.

Then on the Sunday, the next addition to the list was as I rode through Morpeth, where there was a

94. Grey wagtail

near the blue footbridge.

Next, as I headed towards Stobswood, there were quite a few

95. Meadow Pipit

singing and displaying, along with lots of skylark.

Then, at East Chevington, my first lifer of the day:

96. Slavonian grebe

showing very clearly at the south end of the main pool in lovely Spring sunshine

As I left Druridge Bay, heading south, I was surprised to find my first Spring arrival of the year, as I spotted a:

97. Chiffchaff

in the plantation at the Druridge pools exit road (my earliest chiffchaff since I started taking records, by some 6 days)

Then, at Cresswell Pond, I found a single

98. Lesser redpoll

among the goldfinches and tree sparrows on the feeders, and then finally caught up with the long-staying

99. Long-billed dowitcher - my second lifer of the day :)

Finally, I had a quick stop at Snab Point to see the usual

100. Fulmar

Along the way, I added two mammals to the year list. Firstly, between West Chevington and Redrow, I found a very recently deceased red squirrel [5], clearly only just hit by a car; then at Woodhorn, a field vole [6] ran along the cycle path straight past me!
 
The wonders of the Facebook grapevine alerted me to a county rarity yesterday afternoon, so I skipped off to Bothal Pond early evening, and - for once - managed to actually see what I went looking for!

101. Great white egret - new for my UK list
 
Made a brief stop at Castle Island on the Wansbeck yesterday evening - nothing much to report, except for a lovely pair of red-breasted merganser and two displaying pairs of goldeneye. However, I did add to the year-list, as among the black-headed and herring gulls were two

102. Lesser black-backed gull
 
Forgot to add a species a couple of weeks ago. While out on my bike, as I headed past woodland at Scots Gap, I spotted a single:

103. Brambling
 
So, I'm now out in Spain, on the first of our two annual visits to the in-laws' house south of Alicante. And, as usual, the list has taken a huge leap forward!!

The first species on the list for the year was:

1. Serin*

- several seen in trees outside Alicante airport.

Then, on the drive south, along the N332, at El Altet:

2. Collared dove
3. Southern grey shrike*

and at Santa Pola Salinas:

4. Barn swallow*
5. Greater flamingo*
6. Yellow-legged gull
7. Little egret

and passing through La Marina:

8. Blackbird.

Then, on arrival at the Urbanizacion in La Marina:

9. House sparrow
10. Jackdaw
11. Spotless starling*
12. Great tit

* 5 species not on any previous list
 
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The next day, I headed out on my first cycle ride.

As I headed through the Urbanizacion:

13. Greenfinch
14. Cuckoo* - heard
15. Red-rumped swallow*

Then I headed along the farm tracks that follow the canals around the edge of the Urbanizacion:

16. Goldfinch
17. Cormorant
18. Tree sparrow (in their usual place!)
19. Zitting cisticola*
20. Iberian green woodpecker* (several heard yaffling)
21. Crested lark*
22. Moorhen
23. Corn bunting*

A quick stop at the olive groves near the mouth of the Rio Segura didn't add any of the expected species, but I did hear a singing

24. Blackcap

Then on to the Salinas at El Pinet, where half an hour in the first hide was quite productive, even though the number of birds about was quite low:

25. Little stint*
26. Avocet
27. Black-tailed godwit
28. Black-winged stilt*
29. Audouin's gull*
30. Kentish plover*
31. Shelduck
32. Black-headed gull

My route back took me past the reservoirs at the end of Vistabella road, where there were:

33. Grey heron
34. Feral pigeon

And then along the "Palm Farm" track:

35. Chiffchaff
36. Marsh harrier*
37. White wagtail

And finally, along the track back to the Urb (left from the end of the Palm Farm track):

38. Common swift
39. Mallard

* 11 species not on an earlier list
 
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An outing to the beach at El Pinet with the family, yesterday, added:

40. Sardinian warbler*

While on the way home, we stopped at Lidl, where a

41. Kestrel

surveyed the local scrub from the top of a telegraph pole.

Then yesterday evening, I headed out on the bike again, along the tracks to the end of Vistabella road, with a stop at the two furthest east hides. As I got near to the main road, a large flock of birds flew over:

42. Glossy ibis*

Then, from the first hide:

43. White-headed duck*
44. Coot
45. Shoveler
46. Black-necked grebe*
47. Little grebe
48. Red-crested pochard
49. Purple swamphen*

Then, from the second hide:

50. Common pochard
51. Whiskered tern*
52. Garganey*
53. Great-crested grebe
54. Purple heron*

As I headed home, along VB road, I also added:

55. Crag martin* - new for my Spain life-list
56. Yellow wagtail*
57. Stonechat

And then, along "sandpiper alley":

58. Green sandpiper*
59. Kingfisher*
60 Reed warbler*

* 13 species not on a previous list
 
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Yesterday evening and this morning, the "resident"

61. Hoopoe*

in the verde across the road from our house has been calling almost constantly. I've not seen it yet this year, but it's definitely there!

* 1 species not on any other list
 
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So, a few more bike rides, a lot more species!

A late afternoon ride out to Dolores on 30 March gave me an early summer arrival:

62. Woodchat shrike* (my first in March)
63. Cattle Egret*

And then a 5 minutes stop-off at the layby on the N332 on the way back from the airport added:

64. Turnstone
65. Wood sandpiper*

and while driving through Santa Pola:

66. House martin

And another early evening ride through Rojales and down to the mouth of the Rio Segura on the 31st was also worth the effort, adding:

67. Linnet
68. Great Reed Warbler*

* 4 species not on a previous list
 
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Up quite early on 1st April, for a ride to El Hondo, visiting the 2 main hides near the San Felipe vistor's centre (I didn't have time to make a thorough visit, but 45 minutes at the two hides was still very productive for the list!)

Firstly, as I crossed the irrigation channel into the reserve (near the observation tower), I heard several warblers, mostly:

69. Cetti's warbler*
70. Willow warbler

But also at least one chiffchaff and several Sardinian warbler

Not much visible from the north-facing hide (despite the reeds having been hacked back), although I could just make out a few

71. Marbled duck*

Overhead were a few noisy

72. Mediterranean gull

The second pool, viewed from the south-facing hide, was much more interesting, however:

73. Common sandpiper
74. Spoonbill!* - a real surprise, and new for my Spain life list
75. Redshank
76. Little ringed plover*

As I headed out past the observation tower, in warmer sunshine, the air was full of hirundines, and lots of swift, mostly Common swift but some paler birds also visible:

77. Pallid swift*

Later that day, I headed to La Marina beach with my family, which was very quiet (due to quite strong winds, I presume). Even with no bins, I picked up:

78. Sanderling (one lone bird competing with the Audoiun's gulls at the water's edge!)
79. Common tern

* 7 species not on any previous list
 
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A short ride on 2nd April only added:

80. Magpie

But then had a 3-hour outing on 3rd April, heading down to Torrevieja, where I was delighted to find the reported.

81. Azure-winged magpie (Iberian Magpie)* - my first Spanish lifer this year :)

And, for the record, in the evening, a hedgehog [7] wandered past our gate!

* 1 species not on a previous list
 
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Out to Guardamar with the kids on Tuesday, and a small flock of

82. Long-tailed tit

were flitting about in the park.

Then, later, on a short evening ride around the Dolores farm tracks, there were a couple of:

83. Red-legged partridge
 
On our final full day, I decided to take my two girls out to El Hondo, as a bit of an adventure. We started at the Vistabella road hides (well, one of them, the others were too flooded to get to), where there were plenty of flamingo and white-headed duck, and a very close purple swamphen. We also had a very close encounter with a water vole [8].

We then headed to the San Felipe visitor centre, where there were lots more swamphen, and very close to the visitor centre itself were several marbled teal and the re-introduced red-knobbed coot (which I don't count, yet!)

A walk around the wooden walkway was quite a surprise as the bare pools of last year (and scrubby undergrowth of previous years) has bloomed into an excellent vegetation-ringed pool, where we saw:

84. Collared pratincole* (dozens of them)
85. Squacco heron*

Then, at the furthest hide:

86. Spotted redshank*
87. Ruff*
88. Snipe

* 4 species not on a previous list
 
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Back in Blighty, and the first bird I hear in the garden:

XXX Chiffchaff - counted twice!!

which then actually appeared, flitting around the garden picking flies off the trampoline!
 
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Had a ride out to the coast at the weekend, which brought my list on quite nicely :)

Firstly, at Cresswell Pond, three more species and a new spring arrival:

105. Linnet (at last! and there were loads of them!)
106. Barn owl
107. Northern wheatear

And in the fields just to the south

108. Grey partridge

A quick look out over a very distant and quiet sea from Snab Point only added one species, another spring arrival:

109. Sandwich tern

And finally, as I headed home down the coast to Lynemouth, yet another new arrival:

110. Willow warbler - singing in the copse near the flash
 
Back in Switzerland with work, and yet more progress on the year list.

As I drove along the motorway from Geneva to Martigny, a couple of species seen near Vevey were:

46. Black kite*
47. Kestrel

After finishing at the office, I made a decision to head up to one of the nearby mountain villages, called Les Marécottes. On the way, I stopped off at a high bridge (at Gueuroz) to take a photo, where there were:

48. Jay
49. Chiffchaff - several singing from trees in the gorge

When I reach Les Marécottes, I went for a walk into the woods up the steep tracks, in the hope of finding black woodpecker, to be honest, although I was not successful. But....I did add a lifer!!

Over the town, there were 3-4 calling

50. Raven*

Then, in the forests:

51. Chaffinch
52. Coal tit

Then some unfamiliar calls alerted me to some birds feeding on the ground behind some tree stumps, and occasionally flying up onto low tree branches. After about 15 minutes standing quietly by some rocks, the birds finally revealed themselves:

53. Rock bunting* - the year's 6th lifer!!

Watched a flock of 8-10 stunning looking birds hopping around the rocks and grass at the edge of the track for about half an hour!

One final addition was on arrival at my hotel in Martigny:

54. Barn swallow

* 3 species not on an earlier/higher list
 
A few more from last week, in Switzerland.

As I walked from the factory car park to the office, in Evionnaz, I heard a calling

55. Green woodpecker - new for Switzerland (and followed up with actual sightings the next day, at the NR below).

The following day I headed north along the motorway past Bern, on a lovely sunny evening. I small nature reserve caught my eye as I headed north of Fribourg, so I pulled off at Düdingen and managed to make my way back to it (just south of the town). A pleasant hour's evening stroll was quite productive, adding:

56. Blackcap
57. Fieldfare
58. Snipe - new for Switzerland
59. Great spotted woodpecker

as well as good views of green woodpecker. A couple of other mystery species also remained unidentified (a very rusty-brown mid-sized passerine in the undergrowth, and a couple of largish warblers - maybe garden warbler - plus possibly a water rail disappearing into reeds)

Then, finally, as I drove the A1 motorway north of Bern, there were swifts and

60. Common swift, and
61. Alpine swift*

feeding above the motorway (the latter making a spectacular show of giant swooping birds right above the carriageway!!)

* 1 species not on a previous/higher list
 
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One from last weekend, on a trip to Beamish open-air museum, the skies above the "1940s farm" were filled with:

111. Barn swallow
 
A nice addition to the year's garden list came in the form of a singing

112. Blackcap

at the weekend.

And then a trip out to Newbiggin on my bike was also quite productive. Firstly, at Bothal Pond

113. Sand martin

- a couple of dozen were flittering about over the water

Then, at Church Point in Newbiggin, quite strongly northerly winds were blowing up quite a rough sea, but bright sunshine 100-200m out picked out several passing birds quite nicely, including:

114. Gannet - several groups heading north
115. Guillemot

While quite close to shore, I had a single

116. Puffin

fly over

The next day, I headed south on my bike, through Newcastle, and heading over the Tyne Bridge, I added

117. Kittiwake
 
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