Restricted to only sporadic daylight only day visits during 2024, I don't have much of a list. Now that I have collated it however, it is better than I thought, although a long way short of the usual 50 or so birds I get when doing a normal 3 weeks on, 3 weeks off rota. At 27 species (28 if you count the probable Long-tailed Duck I saw at great distance) the list is decent considering the circumstances. In context, 2024 has been a much better year than 2023, when working the same day visit only strategy only produced 19 species.
The list for 2024 is as follows.
(d) indicates dead specimen only.
2024 List
1) Great Black-backed Gull
2) Herring Gull
3) Kittiwake
4) Fulmar
5) Gannet
6) Meadow Pipit (d)
7) Carrion Crow
8) Wheatear
9) Sparrowhawk
10) Blackcap (d)
11) Redshank
12) Woodpigeon
13) Great Spotted Woodpecker (d)
14) Chiffchaff
15) Yellow Wagtail
16) Great Skua
17) Common Gull
18) Goldcrest
19) Cormorant
20) Pied Wagtail
21) Grey Heron
22) Peregrine
23) Yellow-browed Warbler
24) Starling
25) Redwing (d)
26) Merlin
27) Black-headed Gull
Please note that the Goldfinch I reported in post #965 were actually Goldcrest. Typing error, not an ID issue.
Bird of the year so far, a little surprisingly maybe, is Redshank. In what is a patch that has a fairly unique environment, it is strange how the value you give bird species changes. There are a few migrants in that list that would rate highly if I found them at home, but this far out into the North Sea, Redshank becomes a rarity. Of course, that is not to say that I don't value every visitor that passes through.
It will be another two weeks before I head home, so plenty of time to add a species or two for this year. Following that, I'll be back in the first week of January to kick off a proper list.
www.abdn.ac.uk
