JWN Andrewes
Poor Judge of Pasta.
Last year I decided that rather than haring off on trips all over the UK, I would instead focus my efforts more locally and have a go at a North Wales Yearlist. Of course, three months in and the wheels well and truly came off and I ended up limping to a rather pathetic 171, last addition being a Lapland Bunting on the beach at Llandudno (didn’t even catch up with Black Grouse or Pied Flycatcher).
This year I’ve fared a little better, made it to 196 with a recent run over to Llanrwst for Hawfinch, but with only one more day not in work before 31st I probably won’t move it on much more, if at all. The year’s highlights have included Elegant Tern, Pacific Golden Plover, Squacco Heron & Wilson’s Phalarope, filling in some more common species that I’d not seen in the region before, like Jack Snipe, Yellow-legged Gull, Egyptian Goose, Garganey etc, as well as a spanking sum plum Lapland Bunting at Hen Borth, point blank walk-away views of Dotterel on the Great Orme and a day-roosting Nightjar at Conwy RSPB, on the back of a plastic Heron!
So 2022 will be third time round, and with the first six days of the year off, then weather allowing I’ll be able to make serious inroads, and I should be able to push it over the 200 mark by the end of the year.
So I thought I’d start a thread to share my progress, but also for anyone else birding in the region to chip in.
This year I’ve fared a little better, made it to 196 with a recent run over to Llanrwst for Hawfinch, but with only one more day not in work before 31st I probably won’t move it on much more, if at all. The year’s highlights have included Elegant Tern, Pacific Golden Plover, Squacco Heron & Wilson’s Phalarope, filling in some more common species that I’d not seen in the region before, like Jack Snipe, Yellow-legged Gull, Egyptian Goose, Garganey etc, as well as a spanking sum plum Lapland Bunting at Hen Borth, point blank walk-away views of Dotterel on the Great Orme and a day-roosting Nightjar at Conwy RSPB, on the back of a plastic Heron!
So 2022 will be third time round, and with the first six days of the year off, then weather allowing I’ll be able to make serious inroads, and I should be able to push it over the 200 mark by the end of the year.
So I thought I’d start a thread to share my progress, but also for anyone else birding in the region to chip in.