Lazza's 2015 list (1 Viewer)

Out at the weekend on my bike, up to Druridge Bay, where there were dozens of goldcrest, present in pretty much every coastal copse. And in among them at Cresswell Pond, was a new species for my UK life list (taking it to 208):

143. Firecrest

I also added toad {4} to the year's amphibian list.

Then, this week, I was in Madrid for a conference, and added a few final species to the year list for Spain, including one lifer and a further species new for the country.

In Parque Juan Carlos I, near the Feria de Madrid:

107. Monk parakeet*
108. Pied flycatcher - new for Spain
109. Western Orphean Warbler* - lifer (although I had previously possibly seen one near Elche while on holiday in Spain a few years ago)

Then, in trees outside Barajas airport:

110. Coal tit

* of which two species not on an earlier list.

Good to add another lifer at the weekend, with a stop by Blyth South Harbour to look for the reported autumn visitor/migrant. And after an hour of futile hanging around, I wandered back to the car thinking it was another rarity that hadn't hung around until the weekend, when another birder's shout alerted me to a small bird pecking away on a narrow grass verge:

144. Shore Lark - LIFER NUMBER 12 FOR THE YEAR!

Up to Berwick-upon-Tweed for a long weekend, and I managed to tick off a couple of winter waders, one of which I see most years when we come up here.

145. Grey plover (always seem to be one or two around here in October)
146. Purple Sandpiper

A bit of a poor effort in the last couple of months, so my list has hardly progressed at all, and I can definitely say I will have my worst UK list and global list for several years unless I put in some serious effort over the last couple of weeks of the year!!

Nevertheless, one more to add to the UK list, from mid-November, when I was rather pleased fto have a garden fly-over from 5

147. Whooper Swan

while I was putting the bins out one morning!! A garden lifer, and a glaring omission from the year list!

And, then a trip to Switzerland added a few more to the Swiss year list, but nothing to the overall year list. Only a short visit to the path along the Rhone upstream from Saint Maurice added:

41. Marsh tit
42. Great spotted woodpecker - apparently new for me for my Swiss list...?!
43. Robin
44. Grey wagtail - new for Switzerland

Finally, a visit to customers in Sweden last week allowed me a couple of short stops at some woodland areas.

In Sodertalje, I added:

49. Siskin
50. Goldcrest

Then, at my favourite stop at some feeders in woodland near SLU in Uppsala, I added a few species to my Swedish life-list and a rather nice species to the year list:

51. Robin
52. Greenfinch
53. Green woodpecker
54. Treecreeper
55. Marsh tit - new for Sweden
56. Willow tit - new for Sweden
57. Crested tit* - new for Sweden

And finally, from the motorway near to Arlanda airport, a flyover

58. Jay

* one species not on any previous list

So, how did the year go?

Well, on one hand, a very disappointing UK total, just 147 species versus 161 in the last 2 years. But the overall "global" total was my second best since I started keeping a list, at 221 species, just three below last year's 224.

The big success stories were Spain (110 species, 14 more than any other year, including 5 lifers, and contributing 54 unique species to the global list) and my work trip to Sweden and Finland in June bagging 69 species, including 34 species added to the country lists combined, and four lifers, while contributing another 11 unique species to the year list.

All-in-all, 12 lifers in the year:

Spain (5): Moustached warbler, Marbled duck (at last), Great spotted cuckoo, Black-eared Wheatear, Western Orphean Warbler
Finland (3): Black guillemot , Citrine wagtail, Corncrake
UK (3): Black-winged pratincole, Long-eared owl, Shore Lark
Sweden (1): White-tailed eagle

And a final word for the garden list, which reached an almighty 50 species for the year, 6 more than any previous year, and included 7 new species for the full garden list (Little egret, Redwing, Nuthatch, Treecreeper, Golden plover, Red kite, Whooper swan)