Review of my birding year 2019

Not a spectacular year but a memorable one for many reasons. My first year as a fully retired birder! It still didn't mean I had anymore time though!

Highlights included the famous Shetland Tengmalm's Owl that put on a superb display for us at Bixter in February. See here for details here

A fantastic bird and probably on most peoples most wanted list.

Lifers were few and far between this year but it was more quality than quantity. I was in Madeira during when Britains 1st Brown Booby turned up but unbelievably a 2nd bird was found at Kynance Cove, Cornwall, whilst  I was sat in the airport at Funchal waiting for my return flight - subsequently I virtually got straight off the plane and drove to Cornwall overnight. See blog post here.

I had to wait until October for my next new species. Probably one of the least inspiring birds missing off my British list - Eastern Yellow Wagtail! Luckily this one was closer to home and we duly mafde the short trip to Cemlyn on Anglesey. See here

The final new bird for 2019 was also in Cornwall when, incredibly, Britains (and the Western palearctics) 1st Paddyfield Pipit was identified firstly by sonogram analysis and confirmed by DNA in November. Playing it cool Fred and I left it until the day before it departed (or was killed by the local cat) before making yet another overnight trip to Cornwall. See Strange Pipits.

My now annual Shetland trip took a twist this year with the sad destruction of the bird observatory on Fair Isle. We'd already booked flights so decided to try Fetlar  - a place we'd often talked about spending a week on and trying to find our own birds. We certainly did that when I turned up a male Siberian Rubythroat! Without a doubt the best bird I've ever found. A dream bird and my third (all males) in the UK and my third in Shetland!

Photo by Jason Atkinson.

Closer to home I added Puffin to my Cheshire list with a bird off Hilbre with the only other new addition being Siberian Stonechat in December. From a garden perspective I added both Little Egret and Barn Owl to the garden list (both had been seen on my local patch but not from the garden).

I've done a fair bit of ringing this year - including a memorable few days on Fetlar where we caught a good number of Bramblings in the garden of our accomodation! Not much ringing has been done in our garden but with the addition of a whoosh net endorsement to my permit we've spent a lot of time catching Starlings in Janes garden and House Sparrows with Barry. Later in the Autumn I used a lure to mist net Redwings and the whoosh net to catch and ring a few Fieldfares. Puffin Island trips are always a highlight and this year we were blessed with good weather. Other highlights included a trip to Cemlyn ringing Sandwich Terns and The Skerries for Arctic Terns.