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Also in April, our annual trip to the mother-in-law's house near ALicante. A decent count of 73 species for the Spring trip, including a lifer on the building site next to the house! El Altet: 1. Kestrel 2. Woodpigeon Sant Pola Salinas 3. Yellow-legged gull 4. Greater Flamingo* 5. Coot 6...

Also, in April, I visited a new country, with a work trip to Egypt(!) allowing me to start a new country list!! With work commitments and no opportunity to explore, the list was rather short, but it's a start: Around the hotel in Heliopolis: 1. Laughing dove 2. Hooded crow 3. House sparrow 4...

April additions to the UK list... Dunces Houses Lane, Morpeth: 94. Chiffchaff (on 23/03) Penwortham: 95. Whitethroat (on 19 April) 96. Raven! Stobhill, Morpeth, in and around the garden: 97. Blackcap 98. House Martin (20 APr) 99. Barn swallow (21 Apr) And all the following at Druridge Pools...

So, my initial promise to keep my list updated more regularly seems to have been rather hollow.... Nevertheless, I'm going to try to update the whole list now....!! March, UK list update: Firstly at Newbiggin-by-the-Sea: 87. Mediterranean gull 88. Great black-backed gull 89. Guillemot 90...

Trip to London yesterday, and a visit to a customer in Brentford, where I added: 83. Ring-necked parakeet 84. Egyptian goose 85. Grey wagtail And then back home, this morning, nice to hear a singing: 86. Song thrush

After a couple of days of meetings, I briefly called in at a couple of decent stop-offs on the way to the airport. Firstly, Lavey-les-Bains, adding: 30. Dipper 31. Marsh tit Then a clomp through the snow at Col de Forclaz: 32. Willow tit* 33. Coal tit 34. Raven* 35. Crossbill * not on a...

Last week, had another work trip to Switzerland, to our factory in the Valais region. As usual, I took the scenic route via Geneva, along the southern edge of Lake Geneva and over the Pas de Morgins into the Valais canton. Geneva Airport: 14. House sparrow 15. Wood pigeon Geneva plage: 16...

I then had a couple of hours late afternoon wandering the dunes and shore of Rossbeigh beach (peninsula?), which was very pleasant indeed, if not a little windy. It also added a good few species to my lifetime Irish list, and several new species for the year: 20. Common scoter* - new for Irish...

While staying over in Tralee, I added: 14. Pied wagtail 15. Great tit 16. Song thrush - new for Irish list And then on my drive over the Slieve Mish mountains, I added: 17. Grey wagtail - new for my Irish list In Killorglin: 18. Mistle thrush - new for my Irish list 19. House sparrow

I also had a trip out to Ireland, with a work visit to customers in Cork, Killorglin (C. Kerry) and Dublin. Had time for a nice walk along a sand spit jutting out into the Atlantic along the "ring of Kerry" during the trip, adding several species to my lifetime Ireland list. Cork Airport: 1...

Out on my bike a couple of times in the last 3 weeks, adding a few more species in Northumberland. Around Linden Hall area: 75. Merlin 76. Yellowhammer 77. Mistle thrush North Blyth: 78. Eider 79. Shag Castle Island 80. Red-breasted merganser 81. Shelduck River Wansbeck, Guide Post 82. Marsh...

A few more from the weekend, around Morpeth. Firstly, at Stobhill Manor: 72. Jay 73. Greenfinch Then on the Wansbeck in the centre of Morpeth, on a tree branch overlooking the only unfrozen still water on the river: 74. Kingfisher

Finally, a couple more species to add from this week. Firstly, in Morpeth town centre on the Wansbeck: 70. Goosander (which, amazingly, was missing from my 2018 UK list!) And in Stannington Station last night heading back from the football: 71. Barn Owl

Then on Saturday, I had a cycle out to the coast, my first this year in the North East. I didn't quite get around all the places I was aiming for, but still gave the list a good boost. As I cycled north out of Morpeth through Fulbeck: 56. Common gull 57. Fieldfare 58. Redwing ..and on into...

Had a visit to a customer near Southampton last week, and on the drive from the airport to their offices in Fordingbridge, I managed to spot another couple of species for the year list: Near Southampton (from the M27) 54. Little Egret Near Fordingbridge: 55. Little grebe

In amongst all this, I had a work trip to Switzerland (which was rather disastrous from a travel perspective). As I didn't have my own transport, I had limited opportunities for birding, but managed a few year ticks and a start to my 2019 Swiss list: In Zonfingen (where I was staying): 1. Feral...

Then last weekend we had a trip to Barnard Castle to take the girls to a Girl Guides weekend, where I surreptitiously added: 52. Bullfinch 53. Dipper

Through last week, I added a few more species from home: 49. Collared dove 50. Chaffinch 51. Wren

Second weekend in January, still not a chance to get out properly, but managed to pick up a few more ticks for the year-list on a trip to the Tip... Shadfen: 44. Kestrel Bothal Pond: 45. Tufted duck 46. Wigeon 47. Lapwing East Morpeth: 48. Nuthatch

First weekend of the New Year, we headed up to Simonside. Conditions were very overcast and misty, so not easy to see much, and the primary activity was a refreshing yomp with the family, so not much added to the year list. Nevertheless, an early game-bird addition! 42. Red grouse 43. Coal tit