Made it with 30 days to spare: on 1 December I notched up my two hundredth species of the 12 months within the UK, a good-looking cock Black Redstart (above). For these readers who dwell in additional bird-rich locations, 200 could not sound like quite a bit, however right here in Britain it’s a pleasant spherical determine that provides a severe problem to the birding 12 months. To see 200 isn’t tough, nevertheless it does require some effort and slightly little bit of luck. If I had ventured north of the border into Scotland it could have been a lot simpler, as a spring journey there would have added plenty of range-restricted species, resembling Ptarmigan and Crested Tit, that may’t be present in England. Most of my birding was in East Anglia (mainly Suffolk and Norfolk), however I did enterprise north to Yorkshire in June, and south to Dorset in July.
This Mediterranean Gull was photographed at Ness level in February
My quest for 200 species wasn’t helped by a number of birding journeys to Europe, so although Black Redstart could have been No 200 right here within the UK, it was a fowl I’d already seen in Andalucía in February. Black Redstarts are widespread and sometimes widespread on the Continent, however right here within the UK they’re scarce breeding birds (round 50 pairs) and passage migrants, so they’re all the time a problem to attach with. My fowl was an opportunity encounter. My birding pal Andrew wished to attempt to see a Purple Sandpiper, so he instructed a fast journey to Ness Level, a favoured wintering website for the species.
Ness Level is the easternmost level on the British mainland, on the sting of the ugly Suffolk city of Lowestoft. The Level itself is unremarkable, and isn’t someplace I might suggest visiting (until you wish to attempt to see a Purple Sandpiper). To get to it, it’s a must to thread your approach by the miserable industrialised sprawl that surrounds the city of Lowestoft. Ness Level itself is located on the evocatively named Fuel Works Highway.
Purple Sandpiper at Ness Level, England’s most easterly level
Arriving on the Level, I noticed a fly-past Purple Sandpiper inside a minute of looking from the ocean wall. Andrew missed it as he was getting his scope out of the automobile. It took us one other 20 minutes earlier than we noticed a distant wader, sitting on the ocean wall, that regarded promising. We walked in the direction of it and found that it was, certainly, a Purple Sandpiper, and doubtless the fowl I’d seen fly previous. These wintering sandpipers favour rocky seashores, of which there aren’t quite a bit in East Anglia, so they aren’t simple birds to seek out.
Earlier than monitoring down the sandpiper we had talked to an area birder who occurred to say that he’d heard a Black Redstart (they do sing sometimes in winter), so with the sandpiper safely ticked and photographed, we set off in quest of the redstart. We had nearly given up and had been making our approach again to the automobile when Andrew gave a shout: he had noticed a showy grownup male with an in depth white flash in its secondaries. It was a fittingly good-looking fowl for my two hundredth species.
A number of pairs of Black Swans now breed in Britain. This fowl was at Abbotsbury, Dorset, in July
Although this was formally my two hundredth species, it was technically my 204th, as through the 12 months I’d notched up 4 birds that had been more likely to have escaped from captivity and even intentionally launched: Harris’s Hawk (an escaped falconer’s fowl); Peacock (a fowl that’s properly established and breeds in a feral state near my dwelling); Black Swan (a fowl that now breeds in Britain), and Reeves’s Pheasant. The latter was on an area capturing property. Although releasing alien species is against the law within the UK, there’s little danger of Reeves’s Pheasant ever changing into established right here, as quite a few makes an attempt have been made, and none have ever proved profitable. They’re exceedingly good-looking birds, and one I get pleasure from seeing.
There’s a small however properly established feral inhabitants of Indian Peacocks not removed from my dwelling
I photographed this juvenile Purple-breasted Goose, combined in with a big flock Darkish-bellied Brent Geese, at Cley in Norfolk on 22 January
My 200 species did embrace a couple of rarities. The primary of the 12 months was a juvenile Purple-breasted Goose, combined with a flock of Darkish-bellied Brent Geese, that I noticed at Cley in North Norfolk in January. Cley additionally offered one other of my 12 months’s rarities, a Lengthy-billed Dowitcher. I’d seen this particular person fowl earlier than, as this North American wader is a long-stayer at Cley, wintering right here then disappearing in the summertime (to the Arctic?) earlier than returning within the autumn. I loved no fewer than three encounters with one other returning rarity, a feminine Pallid Harrier that returned for its third winter in North Norfolk. As soon as an excessive rarity, these harriers are actually seen often in Britain, a mirrored image of the truth that they’re extending their vary west. White-tailed Eagles was nice rarities in East Anglia, however I had two surprising encounters in Norfolk early within the 12 months. One was a tagged fowl from the Netherlands.
A wandering White-tailed Eagle; North Norfolk, 14 March
Birds populations are all the time altering. Thirty years in the past I might have been sure to have seen a couple of Lesser Noticed Woodpeckers through the 12 months, however these diminutive woodpeckers are actually almost extinct in East Anglia and I did not see any. Nevertheless, I now count on to see three species of egret – Little, Cattle and Nice White – on my birding excursions to Norfolk, one thing unattainable even 5 years in the past.
A Nice White Egret, with Canada Geese; Titchwell, September
I did little or no twitching, however one fowl I did go to see was Lesser Scaup – there was a flock of seven on Abberton reservoir in Essex that proved simple to seek out. I’d seen Lesser Scaup in North America, the place I admit I’d taken little discover of them, as they’re widespread. They’ve turn into extra common in Britain in recent times: the primary file was as not too long ago as 1987. It was attention-grabbing to match the Lesser Scaup with the Tufted Geese they had been consorting with – they’re very related birds in each dimension and behavior.
Nice Gray Shrikes have turn into more and more tough to seek out in recent times. I noticed just one within the UK throughout 2024, in Thetford Forest
Nice Gray Shrikes was comparatively simple birds to seek out in East Anglia within the winter, however in recent times they’ve turn into more and more scarce, so I did make an effort to go and see the one fowl reported regionally final winter. It was a protracted hike into the forest to see it, however my spaniel Emma loved the stroll as a lot as I loved the fowl.
I had no bother selecting up nearly all the migrant breeding birds that improve our temporary summers. Nightjars nested this 12 months simply three miles from dwelling, whereas the closest breeding Grasshopper Warblers are solely a 10-minute stroll from my backyard. Turtle Doves introduced extra of a problem, and I did not see any in Suffolk this summer season for the primary time since I moved right here 20 years in the past, however I did see a couple of birds in Norfolk.
I photographed this Turtle Dove in my backyard in 2006. This 12 months was the primary time that I’ve did not see even a single one in Suffolk
It was a visit to Yorkshire in June that gave mid-summer enhance to my checklist, with such additions as Puffin, Guillemot, Purple Grouse and Dipper. Gannet wasn’t new for my 12 months checklist, nevertheless it was nice to have shut encounters with nesting birds at Bempton Cliffs – I often see Gannets coasting by, half a mile out to sea.
Bempton Cliffs in Yorkshire is a superb place to {photograph} Gannets
I’ve to go north to seek out Purple Grouse. This fowl, a feminine, was in Yorkshire
This Cirl Bunting was probably the most notable addition to my checklist throughout every week in Dorset in July
Autumn migration is a superb time for selecting up scarce migrants to spice up the checklist, however I did not capitalise on this by spending a few weeks of prime migration time in Greece, the place the birding was poor (however the sunshine great). I managed to overlook seeing a Yellow-browed Warbler, even supposing dozens of those pleasant migrants from Asia had been recorded in East Anglia.
By November I used to be beginning to really feel optimistic that I might attain the magic 200, as my checklist was now within the excessive 190s. A satisfying addition (No 199) on the finish of the month was a Tundra Bean Goose that I discovered, feeding with Greylags, at Buckenham Marshes in Norfolk, an RSPB reserve. These marshes have lengthy been a standard website for wintering Bean Geese, however few now come, and till I noticed my fowl, none had been recorded this autumn. Intriguingly, it’s Taiga Bean Geese that historically used to winter right here, however my fowl was clearly a Tundra Bean (rossicus), with only a small orange patch on its beak.
What did I miss? I didn’t do properly for sea geese, with each Lengthy-tailed Duck and Velvet Scoter lacking. I did poorly on grebes, too, failing to seek out both Black-necked or Slavonian (Horned), together with Black-throated and Nice Northern Divers. Curiously, I recorded Marsh Harriers, as soon as one in every of Britain’s rarest birds, on almost 90 events, however solely noticed Bullfinches 5 occasions.
Fifty years in the past Marsh Harriers had been Britain’s rarest breeding fowl. Not any extra – I noticed them on almost 90 days in 2024, and at 25 totally different places
Although it took 11 months and a day to get to 200 in Britain, I’d comfortably handed the 300 mark for Europe again in June. Traditionally, my best-ever 12 months was 1986, once I notched up over 1,000 species because of journeys to Africa (Kenya and The Gambia), Australia and several other European nations. That was the 12 months I noticed 292 species in a day (throughout a fowl race in Kenya), which places into sharp perspective my 200 in 335 days in England. Nonetheless, it’s been a enjoyable 12 months. Will 2025 show any higher?