Self found year record (1 Viewer)

[Mark Lew1s]

If I had the time and the money (and the driving licence!) I'd definitely give this a shot...

What do you think would be the perfect itinerary for doing a self found UK year list? Leaving aside the 'rules' for the moment, I guess it would be a balancing act between the best sites, at the best times of year - but avoiding the largest numbers of observers.

And what do you think a realistic total would be?

Here's a starter off the top of my head

Jan: East Anglia for wildfowl, cranes, raptors, etc

Feb: More wildfowl, perhaps NW, NE scot,

Mar: NW scot for WW gulls,

Apr: SW for hoopoe, woodchat, melodious etc, then Outer hebs for corncrake, waders, raptors, seabirds, white-billed diver.

May:Scottish specialities, then some unwatched part of the east coast/northern isles

Jun:Stay on the east coast for week 1, then clean up on a few breeding spp, and target a few waders

Jul: Assess what you still need, and target!

Aug: Seawatching in the SW (from your own lonely little headland...)

Sep: Northern Isles (no twitching, mind...)

Oct:Northern Isles and then Scilly

Nov: Scilly and then ?

Dec: I guess a well earned break and targetting a few winter specialities


And a reasonable total - 260?

 

[Paul Chapman]

I've never understood the rules of such things but it is something that I have thought about doing if/when I get the opportunity to quit work for full-time nature-watching as it could be combined with other wildlife far more easily than a twitcher's year-list.

I would have thought the key is going to extremities in the right weather conditions at the right time of year. Shetland I would have thought would be fairly key in winter as well as late spring and autumn though in the latter season the right place in Orkney may be better for finding. I would have thought a Scillies spring trip was also a good idea and do not underestimate Portland and Dungeness areas generally.

I had always thought 250 would be respectable but then you reignite the 'rules' arguments which always seem very very odd to me. I'm not very good at 'genuine surprise'.

All the best

 

[Mark Lew1s]

I think you're right re a Scillies trip in spring - but not sure what you'd get in Shetland in winter (apart from cold..!)

 

[Paul Chapman]

I think you're right re a Scillies trip in spring - but not sure what you'd get in Shetland in winter (apart from cold..!)

I spent new year's day there once generally birding having dipped a Brunnich's on Fetlar and picked up Glaucous and Iceland Gulls and Little Auk with minimal effort along with several other 'nice to sees'. I suspect a week would give you a crack at some finds - White-billed Diver etc? It depends how strictly you are interpreting your criteria really.

All the best

 

[Andrew Whitehouse]

Would suggest spending a bit more time in the west of Scotland, which I reckon probably has the best 'chance of rarity: underwatched' ratio of anywhere in Britain. Even places like the Uists and Tiree are fairly underwatched and would give great chances for finding a wide range of scarce stuff. Might be a good bet around this time of the year for American waders and seabirds.

 

[Mark Lew1s]

Agree again - first half of September would probably be better spent west than north. Further seawatching opportunities too.

 

[Dave Ball]

Barra is very well placed geographically and seems pretty underwatched, though I think there's one crew there most Septembers nowadays.

 

[dantheman]

Recall a mini competition in 2011 (don't know if done on purpose or if there's any account of it anywhere) -

http://www.bubo.org/Listing/view-all-lists.html#listtop

Doing a self-found yearlist as a serious record attempt is a bit fraught with something-or-another (angst?) I'd have thought. But would be some fun. A lot of it would come down to ignoring other birders at sites so they can't tell you what they've just seen, ignoring vast swathes of good habitat (ie nature reserves) and having to take things off continuously when you did discover someone else had already seen something*


(* but I would contend that if active suppressors don't put their records in within a reasonable time period you can still have it).

 

[Paul Chapman]

I imagine there are good self-found county yearlists knocking around in places like Dorset, Kent, Norfolk and Yorkshire. In Avon, 170 would be reasonable!

All the best