2015 review
2015 review
For me, 2015 was a superb year, with many highlights. As in recent years, the bird highlights were not so close to home. Hampshire seems to have stopped giving me unusual bird sightings for the last few years, but this was made up for with some excellent sightings abroad..
Portugal:
A trip to Donana was a brilliant day with Savi's Warbler and all the classic Donana birds showing well.
Even better for me was a trip inland and a brief sighting of Polecat in the car headlights.
Scandinavia:
My 2015 trip to Lapland was the best so far for me in terms of self-found species. Only White-billed Diver eluded me from my wish list, and I had plenty of bonuses too:
Ural Owl, Hawk Owl, Pine Grosbeak, Siberian Tit, Siberian Jay, Little Bunting, Jack Snipe, the stand out birds, along with Orca plus Sperm Whale.
100 in a day:
Finally broke this barrier with an exhausting romp around Hampshire. No surprises, but most of the regular birds showed up for me, and I crept over the finish line at Hurst Beach waiting for the final few species to fly past me. Who says Birders aren't athletes!
Dragonflies:
An unexpectedly enjoyable hunt for Dragonfly species got me plenty of nice photos, and about half of the UK species. One or two commoner species eluded me, but to see any new species it looks like I will need visits to "known sites".
Vis-mig:
Finished the year with many dawn visits to my local Trigpoint. On private land which I was fortunate to arrange access. Better views from this hill gave me good numbers of Yellow Wagtails (~50) in total, plus the pretty much annual sightings of Osprey, Hobby, Tree Pipit, Crossbill, Hawfinch, Brambling, Redpoll, throughout the season.
Best Bird was a Great White Egret seen on multiple days flying along in the Test Valley, Others would see it from Fishlake Meadows,
For much of November, I witnessed first hand, the amazing Woodpigeon spectacle, for which I saw 188,000 birds... 188,000!
For me, 2015 was a superb year, with many highlights. As in recent years, the bird highlights were not so close to home. Hampshire seems to have stopped giving me unusual bird sightings for the last few years, but this was made up for with some excellent sightings abroad..
Portugal:
A trip to Donana was a brilliant day with Savi's Warbler and all the classic Donana birds showing well.
Even better for me was a trip inland and a brief sighting of Polecat in the car headlights.
Scandinavia:
My 2015 trip to Lapland was the best so far for me in terms of self-found species. Only White-billed Diver eluded me from my wish list, and I had plenty of bonuses too:
Ural Owl, Hawk Owl, Pine Grosbeak, Siberian Tit, Siberian Jay, Little Bunting, Jack Snipe, the stand out birds, along with Orca plus Sperm Whale.
100 in a day:
Finally broke this barrier with an exhausting romp around Hampshire. No surprises, but most of the regular birds showed up for me, and I crept over the finish line at Hurst Beach waiting for the final few species to fly past me. Who says Birders aren't athletes!
Dragonflies:
An unexpectedly enjoyable hunt for Dragonfly species got me plenty of nice photos, and about half of the UK species. One or two commoner species eluded me, but to see any new species it looks like I will need visits to "known sites".
Vis-mig:
Finished the year with many dawn visits to my local Trigpoint. On private land which I was fortunate to arrange access. Better views from this hill gave me good numbers of Yellow Wagtails (~50) in total, plus the pretty much annual sightings of Osprey, Hobby, Tree Pipit, Crossbill, Hawfinch, Brambling, Redpoll, throughout the season.
Best Bird was a Great White Egret seen on multiple days flying along in the Test Valley, Others would see it from Fishlake Meadows,
For much of November, I witnessed first hand, the amazing Woodpigeon spectacle, for which I saw 188,000 birds... 188,000!
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