So at the moment my life list stands at 264, its BOU (apart from White Wagtail and Black Brant ticked back in the days when I didn't realise they weren’t full species but oh well, I'll pluck up the courage and delete them someday)
Last year, 2010, I managed an impressive 32 lifers manging to shift some of my biggest bogeys. 2011 is now here and so what bogeys need to fall this year?
Well Water Pipit, Nightingale and Ring-necked Parakeet are all obvious ones and so will be my top priorites to try to see those.
A well planned trip to Scotland at the end of March and I could see Ptarmigan, Black Grouse, Capercaillie, White-tailed Eagle, Golden Eagle and Crested Tit with Parrot and Scottish Crossbill as a long shot.
A couple of well timed trips to the East coast and I could see Yellow-browed Warbler and Red-backed Shrike along with a whole host of other possibilities that I won’t bore you with here.
Getting down to the LDV over the coming year a bit more and a bit of luck and I could see some quality birds and getting into Norfolk a bit more than last year (grand total of zero trips) could see Spoonbill and Dotterel fall.
Leach’s Petrel, Roseate Tern and Cirl Bunting are individual trips to known sites at the right time and maybe combine them with a twitch for another species.
Of course the best thing about birding is the unpredictability of it all. Who knows what I’ll see if I manage to get back to Fair Isle or somewhere new?!?!
If you would have told me this time last year that in the next year I would see Marmora’s Warbler, White-tailed Plover, Pallid Swift, American Robin, Pied-billed Grebe, Great Reed Warbler and Arctic Warbler I definatly wouldn’t have believed you! So who knows! Already seen Oriental Turtle Dove, didn't see that one coming!
Reasonable possibilities in Yorkshire 2011: Should be able to get Spoonbill at Blacktoft Sands July/Aug, as long as you aren't back in Brum! Blacktoft is also good for Water Pipit. Dotterel often stop over for a couple of days in E Yorks in May & Autumn. Spurn (or Flamb) should yield Yellow-Browed Warbler & R B Shrike. Nightingales are easily visible in Lincs in late April. You can estimate the likely dates you may get Roseates through Spurn by checking old reports & I think we had some of them on one of the Skua/Shearwater Cruises last Autumn. Good luck!
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