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Lazza's 2014 lists (1 Viewer)

lazza

Well-known member
As with the last 2 years, I will be keeping separate lists for each country I visit with a running total of all species seen here in this first post.

UK: 161
Switzerland: 46 (6*)
France: 46 (7*)
Germany: 33 (1*)
Poland: 19 (0)
Sweden: 32 (3*)
Spain: 95 (40*)
Norway: 31 (1*)
Finland: 46 (3*)
Italy: 8 (0)
Ireland: 16 (1*)

2014 Total: 223

And, for the record:
- mammal total: 13
- amphibian total: 4

* unique species to that country's list
 
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Didn't leave the house/garden during daylight so a slowish start:

1. Blackbird - species number one seen through the kitchen window making the day's first cuppa!
2. House sparrow
3. Blue tit
4. Grey heron - quite a surprising early garden tick for the year
5. Robin
6. Coal tit
7. Dunnock
8. Woodpigeon
9. Magpie
10. Carrion crow
11. Black-headed gull
 
Another slow day with no chance to get out birding. Nevertheless, managed a few additions:

Another two garden ticks:
12. Collared dove
13. Great tit

Then on the way into Newcastle while stopped at the level crossing in Stannington Station:
14. Jackdaw

And in Newcastle City centre:
15. Feral pigeon
16. Mallard
17. Starling
 
Right, now we're getting going! Had a ride from Whitley Bay back to Morpeth this afternoon, via St Mary's and Holywell pond. Nothing particularly remarkable to be honest, but ticked off a good few common species:

In Whitley Bay town centre:
18. Herring gull
19. Pied wagtail

And then at St Mary's:
20. Cormorant
21. Lapwing
22. Great blackbacked gull
23. Eider
24. Curlew - lots on the links and the fields
25. Oystercatcher
26. Sanderling
27. Redshank
28. Shag
29. Teal - 50+ flew off from the wetlands area out over the sea and then south
30. Coot - on the wetland
31. Turnstone - lots feeding on the grass by the car park!
32. Ringed plover
33. Moorhen - on the wetland

Holywell pond was fairly quiet, and very windswept, but there were small numbers of wildfowl:
34. Wigeon - one pair
35. Greylag - two geese
36. Canada goose - a single bird
37. Chaffinch
38. Mute swan
39. Gadwall - 3 pairs
 
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Out to Bolam Lake with my two girls, much busier than just before New Year, but still managed to connect with a couple of my target species, and more besides:

40. Nuthatch
41. Wren
42. Brambling
43. Goldeneye
44. Tufted duck
45. Long-tailed tit
46. Kingfisher - a real surprise, seen (and heard) distantly - but well - from the jetty by the picnic area, fishing from trees on the other side of the "nature reserve".

In addition, there were 43 mute swans, three with visible leg rings.

Also, the first mammal of the year: a huge brown hare [1] by the roadside on the way home just past Bothal hall.
 

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Had an hour at Bothal Pond this morning, and managed a few new additions, but not the species I was aiming for (snipe, little grebe, goldfinch, linnet). Nevertheless....

47. Tree sparrow
48. Common gull
49. Rook
50. Shoveler

Then, on the way home, passing Choppington Community Woods, there was a

51. Buzzard

hopping about the fields (catching worms?)
 
One more today... can't believe it's taken a week:

52. Goldfinch

Seen while picking the girls up from Stobhillgate school
 
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A run to the post office yesterday finally added another finch:

53. Greenfinch

in a garden by the Stobhill roundabout.

And then, when I got home, seen from the garden:

54. Sparrowhawk
 
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Out to Blyth dunes and South Beach, with surprisingly good results:

55. Golden plover
56. Stonechat
57. Woodcock - the first lifer of the year
58. Kestrel
59. Snow bunting
 
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A wander around the rural edges of our housing estate at lunch time was very productive, adding:

60. Bullfinch
61. Reed bunting
62. Great spotted woodpecker

Also, almost certainly a flock of

63. Snipe

flushed by dog-walkers in the fields south of the estate.

Also, my second mammal of the year, a single rabbit [2] seen in the fields to the south.
 
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Creeping up towards last year's January total of 79...

From the train, just south of Morpeth, my first

64. Pheasant

of 2014, seen this morning through the low mist.
 
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A wander around Regents Park on a trip to London on Thursday (in torrential rain) added a few species for the year:

65. Egyptian goose
66. Mistle thrush
67. Song thrush
68. Ring-necked parakeet
69. Jay
70. Lesser blackback gull

Also, several grey squirrel [3] around the park and in other locations around London.

And the today, a ride out to B&Q in Ashington allowed me a 30 minute stop at Castle Island, and 30 minutes at Bothal Pond on the way back, adding

71. Little grebe
72. Pochard
 
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So, my first foreign trip this year, to my employer's site in Switzerland. Flew into Geneva, and headed around Lake Geneva to the Valais region, via the southern route through France on over one of the lower mountain passes. A few species seen in France, but none that weren't also seen in Switzerland so will limit this to a Swiss list.

GVA airport:

1. Carrion crow

Then drove through Geneva City centre to the south shore of the lake, stopping off at Port Noir, where the marina was full of waterfowl:

2. Mute swan
3. Black-headed gull
4. Pochard
5. Coot
6. Moorhen
7. Little grebe
8. Great crested grebe
9. Goosander
10. Red-crested pochard
11. Tufted duck
12. Mallard
13. Goldeneye
14. Cormorant
15. Woodpigeon
16. Feral pigeon

And a brief stop just before the French border added:

17. Rook
18. Chaffinch
19. Kestrel
20. Great tit

Through France and up the Vallée d'Abondance then over the Pas de Morgins, stopping for lunch at the lake on the border. A wander through a snowy landscape added:

21. Blackbird
22. Raven

Then down into the Valais valley, with a stop at dusk at the small lake (Les Mangettes) in Monthey, to add..... A LIFER!

23. Blue tit
24. Wren
25. Buzzard
26. White wagtail
27. Grey heron

And......

28. Eurasian Bittern* - a long-awaited lifer!

(Of which 1* is not on an earlier 2014 list)
 
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An early morning walk along the quayside in Montreux (in the gloom) revealed a similar set of species as Geneva port, although among the black-headed gulls, there was a single

29. Yellow-legged gull*

And in the afternoon, I stepped out of my meeting in Evionnaz to be confronted with a bush full of

30. House sparrow

No tree sparrow among them, which are reasonably common around here in the winter.

* 1 species not on any previous list.
 
Back in the UK, and within a couple of hours, had passed last year's January total of 79 (all seen in the UK)...

Firstly, a pass by Lynemouth Flash, to successfully track down the

73. Glossy ibis - a new UK tick

kindly pointed out by another birder, hiding close to the wall along the road (so near in fact that it was not visible from the pavement). Also present were several

74. Linnet

On for a brief look over Cresswell pond added:

75. Red-breasted merganser
76. Whooper swan

And on the way back, I resisted a look at Bothal pond, but instead stopped in my tracks when I spotted a field full of birds at the top of the hill out of Bothal towards Shadfen, which included perhaps 200 more linnet and

77. Fieldfare
78. Redwing

including a leucistic fieldfare with completely white head and throat.

So, only one more UK bird to go to reach my UK January total of 2013.
 
Eighty species in the UK was reached this weekend, with a cycle up to East Chevington, in decidedly chilly conditions, including sleet, horizontal hail, and icy winds. The weather finally broke once I reached the coast, with a lovely sunny evening ride south.

So, at Stobswood, I had my first:

79. Pinkfooted goose

with around 1000 in the fields south of the lake (and more seen at Maiden's Hall lake, East Chevington, and then - most dramatically - at Cresswell, where there were around 2000 birds).

And, although East Chevington was fairly quiet, I did add:

80. Shelduck
 
Neighbours had mentioned beeing kept awake by an owl earlier this week at 3:30am, so I'd been hoping to hear something. And last night, at 11:30pm, there was a

81. Tawny owl

hooting for around an hour in the neighbours tree. Not seen, even in silhouette, but a nice addition to the year (and garden!) list.
 
An early ride out around the farmland and smaller ponds at Bothal this morning added:

82. Grey partridge

just off the A196 east of Shadfen, and then at the smaller Bothal ponds:

83. Yellowhammer
 
A productive ride out to Newbiggin takes me past 90 for the year, despite not getting any of the target species (treecreeper/Woodhorn colliery, w-f goose/Woodhorn, Med gull/Newbiggin, rock pipit/Newbiggin). But I did add:

84. Great-crested grebe

- a single winter bird at QEII lake, Woodhorn museum

Then, at Newbiggin, from Church Point:

85. Purple sandpiper
86. Grey plover
87. Dunlin

And in the bay at Newbiggin, very close in to shore:

88. Long-tailed duck

Also added red squirrel [4] to the mammal list, with two seen in different place at Woodhorn museum.
 
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A cycle down into Morpeth today via the wooden bridge at the bottom of Whorral Bank added:

89. Grey wagtail
 

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