Its only the end of January..... but even so, this year has started off much better than previous years. Not only in terms of birds seen (I'm on 74, which isn't stellar) but in terms of the enjoyment I'm getting from it.
Since my last post (I really need to up my output...) I've had a mixed bag of days out. A trip East to Musselburgh was 'different' since I'd forgotten my binos, and had to bird by camera. But while previously this would have been catastrophic and flung me into the depths of despair, this time it added to the humour of leaving home at 7am on a Sunday, hammering along the worst motorway in Scotland at silly speeds, only to discover that my binos were still sitting in the living room. Still got a few year ticks, but the patch was incredibly quiet, binos or no binos.
Decent birds in the garden, and decent birds dotted about on my travels (mostly from the house to the train station, so 'travels' may be a misnomer!) All these were positives that not even an utterly forgettable trip to Lochwinnoch RSPB last week could diminish.
A visit to my 'home' reserve of Baron's Haugh (when I say home, I travel on 2 motorways to get there) got me a very tricky Tawny Owl, 2 unexpected little grebe and a noisy water rail to add to the tick list. Treecreeper and goldcrest proved my hearing hadn't been totally destroyed by Rawk music. Mind you, there was sod all else on the reserve, so 3 ticks and 2 small, high pitched skulking species was about as good as anyone could do.
74 in 27 days, with only 3 or 4 proper days out.
I can't complain. And for once, I won't. (at least, not about my yearlist!)
Since my last post (I really need to up my output...) I've had a mixed bag of days out. A trip East to Musselburgh was 'different' since I'd forgotten my binos, and had to bird by camera. But while previously this would have been catastrophic and flung me into the depths of despair, this time it added to the humour of leaving home at 7am on a Sunday, hammering along the worst motorway in Scotland at silly speeds, only to discover that my binos were still sitting in the living room. Still got a few year ticks, but the patch was incredibly quiet, binos or no binos.
Decent birds in the garden, and decent birds dotted about on my travels (mostly from the house to the train station, so 'travels' may be a misnomer!) All these were positives that not even an utterly forgettable trip to Lochwinnoch RSPB last week could diminish.
A visit to my 'home' reserve of Baron's Haugh (when I say home, I travel on 2 motorways to get there) got me a very tricky Tawny Owl, 2 unexpected little grebe and a noisy water rail to add to the tick list. Treecreeper and goldcrest proved my hearing hadn't been totally destroyed by Rawk music. Mind you, there was sod all else on the reserve, so 3 ticks and 2 small, high pitched skulking species was about as good as anyone could do.
74 in 27 days, with only 3 or 4 proper days out.
I can't complain. And for once, I won't. (at least, not about my yearlist!)
