Dn many people keep a county year list? (1 Viewer)

[Andy Lakin]

Obviously most keen birders focus on their U.K year and county lists but have many people had a go at a county year list? Do people have any info on any counties individual county list records wether un/official. I think it would be a fun challenge for anyone with plenty of time on their hands. I'm not sure which county could involve the longest possible journey between sites.

Had a very quick Google for the Yorkshire record but couldn't find it . Feel free to post any totals you can find or your own personal totals. I wonder what would be the highest individual percentage of birds recorded of a county years total. Has anybody achieved 100% of a counties year total.

 

[Farnboro John]

Obviously most keen birders focus on their U.K year and county lists but have many people had a go at a county year list? Do people have any info on any counties individual county list records wether un/official. I think it would be a fun challenge for anyone with plenty of time on their hands. I'm not sure which county could involve the longest possible journey between sites.

Had a very quick Google for the Yorkshire record but couldn't find it . Feel free to post any totals you can find or your own personal totals. I wonder what would be the highest individual percentage of birds recorded of a county years total. Has anybody achieved 100% of a counties year total.

I think Lundy to Prawle Point (or vice versa) would be challenging. Possibly more difficult than Sumburgh Head to Hermaness!

John

 

[Steve Lister]

I keep a Leics/Rutland year list each year. My best was 202 in 2010 and that stood as the record until someone managed 206 in 2018, still the record now.
Jim Lawrence set a new Norfolk year list record this year which apparently could well also be the best for any county, but can't remember what it was and he will have added more by now anyway.
The whole of Yorkshire could feasibly produce a great total as people regularly get over 200 just for Spurn.

 

[Andy Lakin]

I keep a Leics/Rutland year list each year. My best was 202 in 2010 and that stood as the record until someone managed 206 in 2018, still the record now.
Jim Lawrence set a new Norfolk year list record this year which appare could well also be the best for any county, but can't remember what it was and he will have added more by now anyway.
The whole of Yorkshire could feasibl produce a great total as people regularly get over 200 just for Spurn.

Thanks for the info very interesting I would imagine the Yorkshire and Norfolk records would be very competitive I would imagine. I would imagine twitching much of Norfolk i.e many f the coastal sites could be very tiresome what with all the tourist traffic, low speed limits etc. Whereas the coastal sites in Yorkshire are pretty easy to get to fairly promptly.

On the Rutland/ Leics record roughly how many records would be away from the fantastic Rutland Water?

 

[dantheman]

I thought people keeping a County Year List was a bigger thing than keeping a UK Yearlist perhaps? On some level at least ...

 

[Richard D]

I haven't listed in years, maybe this coming year is the year to start again.

I've no idea what the Kent Year list record is - I think the county list all years record is 380+, the county list is around 420.

 

[James Lowther]

The Dorset record is (at least) 250
Cheers
James

 

[Steve Lister]

On the Rutland/ Leics record roughly how many records would be away from the fantastic Rutland Water?

I don't have details for the record years but this year, when I have not been chasing things even in the county, I have a list of 166 and all but ten of those have been at Rutland Water.

 

[Paul Chapman]

I keep a Leics/Rutland year list each year. My best was 202 in 2010 and that stood as the record until someone managed 206 in 2018, still the record now.
Jim Lawrence set a new Norfolk year list record this year which apparently could well also be the best for any county, but can't remember what it was and he will have added more by now anyway.
The whole of Yorkshire could feasibly produce a great total as people regularly get over 200 just for Spurn.

It seems Long-eared Owl was 284 for Jim Lawrence's Norfolk County Yearlist.

https://twitter.com/x/status/1599488976783429632

I believe that the Somerset record is in the 230's but close to 240 & the Avon one in the 210's but scraping the memory banks.

In my experience, the smaller the area above a certain size & assuming other coverage, the more difficult it is to be complete because of short-staying birds & lack of repeats. If you miss it, you do not get a chance for another....

That is probably mitigated if you are prepared not to leave the area all year of course and had no competing calls on your time but even a 10km yearlist that you never left would be tricky to be complete in my view.

All the best

Paul

 

[Andy Lakin]

That Norfolk record sounds fantastic I love that Long Eared Owl was so late in the year just shows how strange things can be in birding! Can Yorkshire compete with this, obviously I'm very biased😀

 

[lockbreeze926]

I don't do county lists but I know Buckinghamshire has an active group of birders who definitely do compete on this basis every year.

I see some related comments and it does give rise to (very) regular discussions about sightings over bodies of water - "did it ever enter Bucks airspace?" followed by jpgs of maps with dotted lines on them.

To each their own.

 

[bonxie birder]

I do an East Lothian county year list, but at the end of each year I realise I’ve not ticked lots of scarce birds because I’ve previously seen them in a different county. My British year list is more important to me and I really wish it wasn’t.

 

[Farnboro John]

Living at one end of Hampshire I've never tried it and probably won't: I'd rather go and see a minor scarce bird five miles away in Berkshire than sixty-five miles away in Hampshire. Others do: it leads to either full suppression or news out after dark, both of which are against the spirit of the birding community. Such competitions should include rules about putting news out promptly, with an immediate disqualification for offenders - birds are difficult enough to see without active obstruction.

John

 

[LittleBitOfBreadNoCheese]

The Glasgow all-time list (dated 2017) has 232 on it. The latest Clyde region bird report is from 2010 and that had 192 for the year.

 

[Ian Foster]

Lots of info on Cleveland life Lists, Year Lists and Borough Lists here! https://www.teesmouthbc.com/forumtbc/index.php?topic=9794.0

 

[kb57]

I don't do county lists but I know Buckinghamshire has an active group of birders who definitely do compete on this basis every year.

I see some related comments and it does give rise to (very) regular discussions about sightings over bodies of water - "did it ever enter Bucks airspace?" followed by jpgs of maps with dotted lines on them.

To each their own.

This reminds me of the entry for Swinhoe's storm-petrel in Birds of Durham - released at Tynemouth and flew south, but couldn't be determined whether it reached Durham airspace...

 

[Gastronaut]

Some keep a Cornwall year list, I expect the best is over 250. I never have because I wanted to avoid the temptation to drive 2 hours just to year-tick Egyptian goose (somebody did this!). I wonder how far into the journey home the warm after-glow of that tick lasted.

I limit my yearlist to my local area, roughly 10 mile radius. It's nominally the Lizard peninsula but we all agree to differ on where we set the boundary. For convenience my boundary runs between Sainsburys and Lidl because for 350+ days of the year that's the furthest I go. It's all rather casual but last year I made a big effort (relatively speaking - this is Cornwall) to break 200, finishing on 209.

 

[Paul Chapman]

This month's BB article on Species recorded in the Recording Areas of Great Britain confirms that for all bar the top 15 counties keeping a county yearlist is pretty much seeing all of the common species. Of course, magnify that concept for patch listing (especially if you have watched your patch for any period) and 'self-finding'. An interesting article to expose the daily Twitter feeds on such topics.

All the best

Paul

 

[a_j_steele]

Very Intresting. Some counties are surprising low thought oxfordshire would be higher for example

 

[KC Foggin]

I just keep my personal life list.