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

KB57's 2018 list (1 Viewer)

23rd March, Co. Durham
Back to work, with few signs of spring in West Durham

170. Song Thrush

I'm one down on my Scythebill list which says this should be #170, so I'll have to go back and edit when I work out what I've missed...

7th April, Co. Durham

Common Chiffchaff (heard only)

West Durham has been in the grip of winter until very recently, I'd normally have had chiffchaff on the list before now

8th April, Northumberland coast
Added a few 'first British' year list records, including barn swallow and red-breasted merganser, plus only one new world year list sp.

171. Sandwich Tern
 
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16th April...negative news to post, normally from my office I can hear willow warblers by now, but they appear to be late arriving here this year...

15th April: Low Newton, Northumberland
Adding to my summer migrant list very slowly, as well as catching up with a couple I've missed so far this year. Winter plumage purple sandpipers added to the 'not quite spring' feel, although balmy weather and diving Sandwich terns provided grounds for optimism. Still need to try and locate the extra species listed on Scythebill and missed off here.

172. Western Yellow Wagtail
173. Common Reed Bunting
174. Red-throated Loon
 
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Tracked down the missing species - eider! Normally added on my 1st January coastal visit, so didn't clock them as a new year list tick when seen a few weeks later...had to go through the list and renumber all subsequent sightings, giving them an out-of-sequence number would be just wrong for me I'm afraid.

Update...I was wrong about eider, which I did see on January 1st and is now listed twice! Still need to sort the discrepancy...

Update #2...well I had the correct date but the wrong species - it was sanderling - doh! Exported my Scythebill list to Excel, sorted in alphabetical order; cut and pasted all the species from this thread into Excel, removed sequential numbers, sorted into alphabetical order, placed in adjacent columns..et voila!
 
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19th April, Co. Durham

175. Red-legged Partridge

20th April

Willow Warbler (heard-only)...5 days later than usual round these parts
 
28th April, Knockhill, Dunfermline
Went on a birthday treat today, driving round a skid pan then on a rally course. Didn't think I'd add to my year list whilst indulging my inner petrol-head, but the birch scrub round the skid pan supported one new addition:

178. Willow Warbler
 
3rd May, Hoddesdon, Hertfordshire
Added a couple of 'heard-only's' whilst doing work stuff
Sedge Warbler (heard-only)
Green Woodpecker (heard-only)

Then finished work in time to visit RSPB Rye Meads for an hour or so. Could've done with a bit more time to see more warblers.

Common Whitethroat (heard-only and uncountable glimpse)
179. Common Tern
Cettl's Warbler (heard-only)
Eurasian Reed Warbler (heard only)
180. Common Pochard
181. Stock Dove
182. Garden Warbler
 
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11th May, Co. Durham

Just like last year, the ultimate birding month finds me stuck in the office with deadlines to meet. At least working late means I'm going home at dusk...saw a pale shape above the hedgerow, no traffic on the road so stopped briefly to watch a barn owl doing that 'suspended in the air a couple of metres from the ground' thing they do when just about to strike. Nice connection with nature after a disconnected day.

183. Western Barn Owl
 
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15th May, Clumber Park, Nottinghamshire

Had to go to Nottinghamshire for work reasons, and managed to fit in an evening walk in Clumber Park. Didn't hear nightjar or woodlark, but did see two roding woodcock (or maybe the same one on a different part of its territory..).

184. Eurasian Woodcock
 
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19th May - a long weekend in Lithuania

Kaunas airport

185. Common House Martin
White Wagtail (ssp. alba)
186. Hooded Crow
(some large raptors, probably LSE, seen from the car)

Neman River near Jurbarkas - ca. 15min break from driving in a riverside car park

187. Sedge Warbler
188. Caspian Gull
189. White Stork

Silute

190. Common Swift
 
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20th May, north of Silute

191. Montagu's Harrier Nice grey male

Juodcrante, Curonian Spit

Great Reed Warbler (heard-only)
192. Common Whitethroat
193. Wood Warbler B :)

South of Klaipeda - another grey male harrier, possibly Hen / Pallid, but seen while driving and couldn't stop..

Sysa, Nemunas Delta - evening visit

Thrush Nightingale (heard-only)
River Warbler (heard-only)
 
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21st May, Rusne fishponds, Nemunas Delta

194. Black Tern
195. Common Cuckoo
196. Red-backed Shrike
197. Yellowhammer
Barred Warbler (heard-only)
198. Fieldfare

Uostadvaris, Nemunas Delta

Savi's Warbler (heard-only)
199. Western Marsh Harrier
200. Lesser Spotted Eagle
Western Yellow Wagtail (looked like blue-headed, ssp. flava)

Scythebill says I have 200 excluding 'heard-onlys', so I've made a mistake again somewhere...EDIT..turns out it was stock dove at RSPB Rye Meads, which I was sure I'd seen earlier somewhere - LSE was a pretty cool 200th! Had I been a passenger rather than driver, and were I as sharp-eyed as my wife, I'd have also added black woodpecker, black redstart and green / grey-headed woodpecker sp. to my year list
 
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24th May, Durham City

No time to go looking for sand martins, and I could've sworn this was already on my list - apparently not though!

201. Grey Wagtail
 
27th May, Druridge Pools, Northumberland
Heard via Twitter there were a few waders around at Druridge...didn't have a lot of time to spare, but turned out to be a good move...

202. Glossy Ibis
203. Common Ringed Plover
204. Red Knot
205. Ruff
206. Garganey
207. Pectoral Sandpiper
208. Little Stint
209. Little Gull

Not sure how I've managed to avoid ringed plover for so long...also saw my first British greenshanks since 2016, last year's bogey bird, and my first male non-eclipse garganey for a very long time.
 
29th May, near Uttoxeter, Staffordshire

Work visit brought two new additions:

European Green Woodpecker (heard-only)
210. Common Sandpiper
211. Sand Martin

And another greenshank!
 
7th June, Teesdale, Co. Durham

Listened to a singing redstart for ages at close quarters, but could not pick him out...until he flew off - not the greatest of views, but enough to count.

212. Common Redstart
 
30th June, North Cave Wetlands, Yorkshire

Managed to tag on some birding to a visit to Beverley in East Yorkshire. I'd been here last year for the first time, and was more than happy to share a return visit with my partner.

215. Black-necked Grebe
 
July and August were birding-free zones this year I'm afraid, thanks to work and family commitments. A surprise bank holiday weekend visit to Switzerland organised by my wife provided some much-needed leisure time, and a few extra additions to my year list.

24th August, Geneva

216. Yellow-legged Gull

26th August, La Sauge nature reserve, Cudrefin

217. Ferruginous Duck (a local rarity I understand, which had been present for the past few weeks)

Cudrefin

218. Black Woodpecker

27th August, Lake Geneva

219. Red-crested Pochard

Also lots of great crested grebes, great views of kingfishers at La Sauge, and both red and black kites...though less of the latter than I was expecting around Geneva.
 
9th September, Alnmouth

An hour sat at the edge of the dunes at high tide brought one long overdue addition in the form of gannets, and a very nice close inshore, dark-phase Arctic skua.

220. Northern Gannet
221. Parasitic Jaeger


18th September, Colchester

Work trip down south, where green woodpeckers seem much more common, finally resulted in visual contact this year

222. European Green Woodpecker
 
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