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

Lazza's 2018 year list (1 Viewer)

A trip to Castle Island last night was quite interesting, with very low water levels giving a wide expanse of mud to the south of the islands. It was great to hear my first Grasshopped warbler in this location, and also add to my UK year-list:

116. Little ringed plover
117. Sand martin
118. Common swift
 
Had a nice walk from Craster to Low Newton along the coast over the Bank Holiday weekend, managing to add a lifer along the way!

At Dunstanburgh, on the cliffs:
119. Razorbill
- quite a high proportion of the auks on the cliffs seemed to be Razorbill to me.

At Low Newton:
120. Little Tern - new for my UK list :)
121. Blyth's Reed Warbler - lifer! Showing really well in bushes near to the hides.

Then a cycle home along the coast added:
122. Reed warbler - at East Chevington
123. Greenshank - at Druridge flash (coal road?) - seemed to be the only remaining "target species" (no Garganey, no Little Stint, no Ibis, no Ruff!)
 
So... a new country list was started in June. Not quite sure how to list this, as I actually visited quite briefly two countries on a work trip. For now, I think I will list as Former Yugoslavia (probably incorrectly) as I saw different species in Bosnia & Herzogovina than in Croatia.

Sarajevo Airport
1. House sparrow
2. Starling
3. Feral pigeon

Sarajevo
4. Hooded crow*
5. House martin
6. Jackdaw
7. Tree sparrow

near Zenica (BiH)
8. Yellow-legged gull
9. Grey heron
10. Barn swallow
11. Cormorant

near Doboj (BiH)
12. Turtle dove

Zagreb
13. Magpie
14. Blackbird

Rijeka
15. Serin
16. Common swift
17. Pallid swift

Opatja
18. Chaffinch
19. Goldfinch

Zagreb (River Sava)
20. Woodpigeon
21. Blackcap
22. Dunnock
23. Great tit
24. Common whitethroat
25. Nightingale
26. Pheasant
27. Song thrush
28. Bee-eater*
29. Crested lark
30. Sand martin
31. Collared dove
32. Mallard

* 2 new species not on an earlier 2018 list
 
Back in Switzerland in late June, with a couple of stop-offs at mountain passes during travel, which resulted in me adding a lifer :) and two new species to mySwiss list

Versenaz, GE
47. Common swift

Pas de Morgins
48. Dunnock
49. Marsh Warbler* - lifer

Montreux
50. Red-crested pochard*

Col de Forclaz
51. Crossbill* - new for my Switzerland list
52. Tree pipit* - new for Switzerland
53. Willow tit
54. Crested tit*

* 5 species not on an higher list
 
A few trips out to the coast in June were not very productive, but I did add:

127. Gannet - from North Blyth

128. Sandwich Tern - at Amble Braid, while kayaking!
 
Out to Druridge bay last weekend, Friday evening, for a walk along the dunes, and a short stop at Druridge Pools. A lovely peaceful evening, with the birdlife showing a distinctly Autumnal feel (such as a Golden Plover already back at the coast).

129. Yellow wagtail - my first in the UK for a couple of years
130. Wood sandpiper
 
August spent in Spain, except for a short trip to Switzerland with work. Working for 2 weeks and on holiday for the last 2 weeks, so managed a few birding trips. Missed out on some of the usual year-ticks this year, but still added to the year list overall.

On the first evening, sitting in the garden at the Urbanizacion in La Marina, a few nice species overhead, including:
89: House martin
90: Bee-eater

Then the first weekend, a couple of short rides out on the bike along the nearby canals:
91: Common sandpiper* (species 200 for 2018, but I am pretty sure this is missed from my UK year list in error)
92: Squacco heron*

and to the El Pinet beach and salinas:
93: Little tern
94: Great egret*

An early morning ride out along one of the local farm tracks added a surprising lifer to my year list:
95: Penduline tit* - lifer

Then a weekend visit to Aqualandia in Benidorm also managed to give me a bonus:
96: Long-tailed tit (trees were full of them!)

* 3 species not on an earlier list
 
Another weekend, another cycle ride. I headed down to Torrevieja looking for the usual Iberian Magpies at La Mata, but they were not there. Instead, there was a large and loud group of Monk Parakeet, which I'd not seen there before, but I did also add:

97: Greenshank (on one of the irrigation ponds)
98: Spotted flycatcher*

Then another jaunt out to the El Hondo hides on VB road:
99: Ruff*
100: Spotted redshank*

and at Rio Vinalopo bridge:
101: Roller*

While an evening visit to El Hondo (San Felipe Neri visitor centre hides) added:
102: Little bittern*
103: Red-knobbed coot* (nice to see the re-introduction is working well, with several birds without collars and a small number of new fledgelings)
104: Kingfisher*
105: Wood Sandpiper
106: Little ringed Plover

At El Hondo, I also made a rare addition to my life mammal list, with the large expanses of dried mud bringing a Granada Hare [10] out into the open

* 7 species not on an earlier list
 
After several years of talking about it, I finally took on the challenge of a cycle back from Benidorm to our villa in La Marina. So after a nice day out with the family, I got on my bike and pedalled south. Most of the route was on main roads or through coastal towns, but I somehow ended up on some (very) rough tracks along the coast south of Villa Joyosa, and in one valley, there were plenty of warblers in the scrub, plus a second lifer for the trip (long awaited!).
107: Short-toed Lark* - lifer

And in the last few days of the holiday, a few more bike rides added:
108: Black-crowned Night-heron*
109: Jackdaw
110: Quail*

* 3 species not on a previous list
 
Had a work trip to Abu Dhabi last week, with a long stopover at Heathrow Airport on Sunday, so spent an hour at Osterley Park, where I added:

131. Tawny Owl
132. Mandarin Duck
 
Then, in Abu Dhabi, I managed to add a few more species to my UAE list, including some spectacular - and unexpected - lifers, six in all. All other species were, of course, new for my UAE life list :)

We were staying at the Hilton in al Khubeirah, near the Royal Palace, with its own private beach, which I checked out on the first morning:
9. Common sandpiper
10. Purple sunbird*
11. Sanderling
12. White-cheeked tern* - lifer

A short walk around the local area during last hour of daylight added:
13. Ring-necked parakeet
14. Red-wattled Lapwing*
15. Crag martin?*
16. Grey francolin* - lifer
17. Grey heron
18. Whimbrel*

And a second morning visit to the beach added:
19. Western Reef Heron* - lifer
20. Green sandpiper

Finally, a visit to Umm al Emarat park, near Mashrif Palace added three rather nice lifers:
21. Graceful Prinia*
22. Indian Silverbill*
23. Blue-cheeked Bee-eater*
and also
24. Red-vented Bulbul*

*11 species not on a previous list
 
Out to the coast on Saturday, although conditions were wrong for anything too dramatic. Was there quite early though, so finally managed to pick up the Druridge Pools

133. Little Owl

- one adult and two juveniles

The down to Cresswell Pond, where I added

134. Wheatear (at last!)
135. Spotted Redshank
136. Stock Dove (phew!)
 
A lot of updates missing - been a bit slack in keeping this up-to-date in 2018.

So... some Autumn additions to the UK list for 2018 came from trips to Lancashire and Berwick-upon-Tweed. Firstly, on the mudflats at Lytham:

138. Black-tailed godwit
139. Knot

And on the beaches / offshore at Berwick:
140. Grey plover
141. Shag
142. Brent goose
143. Puffin
 
Another trip to the Netherlands in October added to both my NL life-list and my 2018 overall list:

Hoofddorp:
46. Short-toed treecreeper* - new for my NL life list
47. Wren - new for my NL life list
48. Gadwall

Nieuw Vennep
49. Grey heron
50. Great egret* - new for my NL list

Hoofddorp
51. Jay

* 2 species not on an earlier list
 
In November, I had a rather interesting trip with work to Saudi Arabia! So, yet another new country list, and some interesting lifers (despite not being able to take binoculars, which are apparently on the list of banned items to take into the country).

So, all species new to the KSA list ;) as follows:

Riyadh city centre:
1. Feral pigeon
2. Laughing Dove

Riyadh Industrial Zone:
3. House sparrow
4. Pale Crag Martin

Riyadh city centre:
5. Common mynah

El Qassim:
6. White-eared Bulbul
7. Kestrel

Buraydah
8. Ring-necked parakeet
9. Steppe Grey Shrike* - lifer
10. Hoopoe
11. Graceful Prynia
12. White wagtail
13. Black-scrub Robin* - lifer

Jeddah, Corniche
14. House crow
15. Common redshank
16. Common ringed plover
17. Reef heron
18. Little stint
19. Common sandpiper
20. Greenshank
21. Kentish plover
22. Rüppell's Weaver* - lifer
23. Sooty gull* - lifer
24. Glossy ibis
25. Cormorant
26. Blue-cheeked bee-eater

* 4 species not on an earlier list
 
Finally, November and December in the UK added a handful more to the list, but yet another lifer for the year:

East Chevington, November:
144. Water rail
145. Snow bunting

Newbiggin, early December:
146. Red-backed shrike - lifer
147. Mediterranean gull

Hesketh Out Marshes, Lancashire, end of December:
148. Merlin

RSPB Marshside, Southport, end of December:
149. Pintail
 

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