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Lazza's 2016 list (1 Viewer)

lazza

Well-known member
Well, another year, another list!

As with previous year lists, I'll be keeping a separate list for each country I visit, so each country's list will be numbered separately. This initial post will be used to keep a running count of each country's total, as well as an overall total of species seen across all countries visited and my totals for mammals and any other interesting species!

As there will be species that are common across several lists, the list on which that species first appears will be the one on which it is counted as "unique" unless the species is seen in the UK - my primary list - in which case, it will count towards the UK total (which probably makes no sense to anyone but me!)

UK: 154
Switzerland: 65 (13*)
France: 39
Spain: 123 (57*)
Sweden: 23
Finland: 54 (9*)

2016 Total: 233

And, for the record:
- mammal total: 15
- amphibian total: 2

* unique species to that country's list
 
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Not a lot to report so far, as no specific birding outings made in the first couple of days of the year. Nevertheless, the list has begun, so here we go:

1. Robin - my first species of the year, heard at about 01:30 as I locked uthe back door after the New Year festivities!

2. Starling - also heard at night, about 5am in our loft space chattering and clucking!!

Then, once I was up and about, the usual garden suspects began to appear:
3. Woodpigeon
4. Carrion crow
5. Blackbird
6. Blue tit
7. Great tit
8. Nuthatch - nice to see this relatively new garden species back again
9. Chaffinch - another less frequent garden visitor that put in an appearance on day 1
10. House sparrow
11. Dunnock (last year's first species)
12. Black-headed gull
13. Magpie

In the afternoon of New Year's Day, we headed out to Bolam Lake. On the way there, at Whalton, there was a large group of

14. Jackdaw

And at Bolam Lake:

15. Coot
16. Mute swan
17. Canada goose
18. Goldeneye
19. Mallard
20. Moorhen
21. Wren
22. Coal tit

Another couple of species added while driving home, first, near Bolam:

23. Fieldfare

Then near Whalton:

24. Kestrel

And on to the 2nd of January, another garden species was added:

25. Feral pigeon/Rock dove

Before a trip to Newcastle (to watch the Panto with my girls) added:

26. Herring gull
 
Out to Beamish Museum yesterday, on the kids' last day of holiday, and although it wasn't great weather and I didn't take my bins, I added:

27. Goldfinch
28. Pied wagtail
29. Pheasant

Then, on the way home, passing through Stannington Station:

30. Collared dove
 
A (very brief) stop at Bothal Pond after dropping the kids at school, in truly awful weather, added most of my target species:

31. Rook
32. Wigeon
33. Teal
34. Shoveler
35. Lapwing

No herons or other waders, and didn't spend the time looking through the large gull roost as I was getting rather wet, so no new gulls either, but not bad for a 10 minute stop-off.
 
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A few opportunities to grow the list over the weekend.

Firstly, on Friday, a short stop at Cresswell Pond (in the vain hope of seeing the long-staying long billed dowitcher):

36. Sparrowhawk
37. Snipe
38. Dunlin
39. Pink-footed goose
40. Reed bunting
41. Tree sparrow

I then had a long drive down to Cambridge, for a college reunion, and managed to add:

42. Red kite

as I drove along the A1 (near to Water Newton, Cambridgeshire)

On the way home, I stopped for a break at Rutland Water, adding

43. Red-legged Partridge (just off the A1 in fields near Stamford)

and at Egleton reserve:

44. Redwing
45. Cormorant
46. Gadwall
47. Pintail
48. Shelduck
49. Common pochard
50. Golden plover
51. Bullfinch
52. Song thrush

Finally, as I continued north, another A1 spot, near Stretton, Leicestershire:

53. Common buzzard
 
A brief local outing this week added a few more to the year list:

First, at Bothal Pond:
54. Greylag goose
55. Mistle thrush

Then at Cresswell Pond:
56. Greenfinch
57. Grey heron
58. Stonechat

And just up the coast slightly at the farm (Hemscott Farm?)
59. Curlew
60. Redshank

No sign of the long-billed dowitcher, again....!
 
Ticking along nicely, with a few more less-common common species onto the list locally today, and a nice bonus last week while over in the North West visiting family

Driving from Preston to Manchester, along the M61, a very low-flying bird bounced its way across the motorway right in front of me, as we skirted Bolton:

61. Woodcock - only my second sighting but an absolutely clear view!

A stop by Bothal Pond today added:

62. Common gull - 4 or 5 in among the BHGs on the ice
63. Great Spotted Woodpecker - quite a surprise

Then, in Morpeth:

64. Goldcrest
 
Had a ride down to South Shields today via Whitley Bay and the Shields ferry, adding a few more to the year list along the way.

Firstly, at St Mary's lighthouse:

65. Oystercatcher
66. Turnstone
67. Sanderling
68. Rock Pipit
69. Great Black-backed Gull

And from North Shields ferry jetty:

70. Eider
 
A planned visit to Cragside didn't turn out as expected last weekend, as it was closed! But it gave us a chance to head up the Coquet valley. Not much about, to be honest but still added:

71. Jay
72. Dipper

And a few days later, finally, my first mammal of the year: a few rabbits [1] in Hepscott
 
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First foreign trip of the year this week, out to Switzerland with work, to visit our two facilities.

A few distant birds as we taxied on Zurich airport runway couldn't be definitely identified, so the first species was rather surprising:

1. Red kite
2. Crow

seen from the motorway just south of the airport! Then, near Graenichen, also from the motorway, several:

3. Buzzard

The next day, as I headed down towards Geneva, I stopped off at Gunzgen motorway services, adding:

4. Blackbird
5. Great tit
6. Jay
7. Goldcrest

And as I continued south, the surprising sight from the motorway of:

8. Great White Egret - new for Switzerland
9. Grey heron

Then, a second stop off at Moosseedorf, with a short walk along the small lake's shore, adding:

10. Nuthatch
11. Marsh tit*
12. Short-toed treecreeper* - new for Switzerland
13. Mallard
14. Coot
15. Magpie

Arrived into Martigny, where I added:

16. House sparrow

Then, when heading home yesterday, I drove over the pass at Col de Forclaz, stopping for a romp through the snow, which was very productive, adding

17. Crested tit* - new for Switzerland
18. Willow tit*
19. Treecreeper - new for Switzerland

* 5 species not on any previous/higher list
 
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And, for what it's worth, I passed through France a couple of times, starting of the country's year list with:

1. Blackbird (in Chamonix)
2. House sparrow (in Ferney Voltaire)
3. White wagtail (in Ferney Voltaire)
 
So, January draws to a close, and I reached 86 species in total - 80 in the UK, and a further 6 species on a trip to Switzerland.

The list took a big jump forward on a weekend away in Bamburgh this last couple of days, when an early morning walk out to Stag Rock on Saturday boosted the total by 8 species:

73. Purple Sandpiper
74. Red-breasted merganser
75. Red-throated Diver
76. Razorbill - kindly pointed out and identified by some other birders on the rocks.
77. Common Scoter
78. Yellowhammer
79. Siskin
 
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Had a cycle out to Killingworth Lake on Saturday, in the hope of seeing the Smew that's been there a while. On the way, I passed along Beacon Lane in between Cramlington and Arcot Lane, adding

80. Treecreeper

Then, at Killingworth Lake, I was quite pleased to add 3 new species:

81. Scaup
82. Goosander

and....

83. Smew! And a lifer! What a gorgeous little bird :)

Then, on Sunday, as I wandered through Choppington Community Woods with my kids, the neighbouring farmland held three singing:

84. Skylark
 
Out to Switzerland again last week, and a drive that took me around parts of Lake Geneva was quite productive, taking my Swiss total for the year to 36, just 8 short of last year's Switzerland total.

As I drove through Geneva city centre, over the bridge across the Rhone:

21. Mute swan
22. Black-headed gull
23. Feral pigeon

Then, as I left Geneva, I stopped off at the marina at Plage de Geneve/Port Noir:

24. Red-crested Pochard*
25. Goosander
26. Tufted duck
27. Gadwall - new for Switzerland
28. Common Pochard
29. Great crested Grebe
30. Moorhen - new for Switzerland, apparently!
31. Woodpigeon
32. Yellow-legged gull*

One evening, after finishing work at a site up the Rhone valley into the Valais region, I stopped off for a short walk along the Rhone at Saint Maurice:

33. Dipper
34. Wren
(but no Grey Wagtail, which I was hoping for)

Then at the site in Evionnaz:

35. Jackdaw

And finally, from my hotel balcony in Montreux one morning, a nice flock of singing:

36. Greenfinch


* 2 species not on an earlier/higher list
 
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At the same time, my French list came along a little, but nothing to add to the year-list.

As I drove through Douvaine:

4. Great tit
5. Grey heron

In Evian-les-Bains:

6. Great crested grebe
7. Red-crested pochard
8. Coot
9. Black-headed gull
10. Yellow-legged gull
11. Cormorant
12. Goosander
13. Carrion crow
14. Mute swan

Just before the border into Switzerland, the bay at Saint Gingolph held dozens of:

15. Tufted duck

And finally, heading back through Douvaine:

16. Kestrel
17. Feral pigeon
 
While reviewing my list, I noticed I missed a species off in January, from the first list at Bolam Lake on 2nd January! So:

85. Tufted duck (but should be 17 on the list!)

And I forgot to add the new species seen at Prestwick Carr as I was heading back from the airport last week:

86. Long-tailed tit
87. Short-eared owl
 
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So I was back in Switzerland again this week, although with no time to get out and about, but in the town where I was staying (Zofingen), I added:

37. Goldfinch
38. Collared dove
 
Had a trip down to Saltholme RSPB at the weekend with a vague hope of seeing the reported penduline tit, but it hadn't been seen for a couple of days, so no lifer for me. Nevertheless, a nice 3 or 4 hours there with my kids, including a wander around the main lake, and nice views of another female smew (having added this species as a lifer just a couple of weeks ago at Killingworth lake!)

Additions to the year list were:

88. Stock dove
89. Little egret
90. Little grebe
 
Out on my bike on Saturday, heading out to Newbiggin in the hope of some nice seabirds and waders.

Passing by Bothal pond, I added my first UK

91. Great crested grebe

of the year, but Newbiggin itself was a bit of a disappointment, only adding

92. Mediterranean gull

(and even they took a bit of finding!)

And on a trip up to Aberdeen last week, although I didn't add any new bird species, I somehow added three mammals to the mammal list from the train on the way home. As we headed south out of Aberdeen along the coast, there were several Harbour Porpoise [2] breaking the surface of the North Sea(!), then just outside Stonehaven, a farmer ploughing his fields disturbed a couple of Hare [3], and finally, just after Leuchars, a small group of Roe deer [4] were seen in fields by the rail line.
 
A trip out to Switzerland (with travel through France) finally brought me up my 100th species for the year, and it was a lifer, too, so not bad at all!!

In France:

18. Woodpigeon

- several seen in Evian

Then, driving through Sciez, a lot of finches in a stubble field grabbed my attention, but they were all

19. Chaffinch

and some

20. Starling

Then, an early start in Ferney Voltaire, along with several calling

21. Greenfinch

And finally, at CDG airport:

22. Magpie
 

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