Made it with 30 days to spare: on 1 December I notched up my 2 hundredth species of the yr within the UK, a good-looking cock Black Redstart (above). For these readers who dwell in additional bird-rich locations, 200 might not sound like quite a bit, however right here in Britain it’s a pleasant spherical determine that offers a critical problem to the birding yr. To see 200 isn’t tough, but it surely does require some effort and a bit little bit of luck. If I had ventured north of the border into Scotland it will have been a lot simpler, as a spring journey there would have added various range-restricted species, similar to 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 might have been No 200 right here within the UK, it was a hen 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 hen was an opportunity encounter. My birding pal Andrew wished to try to see a Purple Sandpiper, so he recommended 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’d advocate visiting (until you need to try to see a Purple Sandpiper). To get to it, you must thread your method 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 searching 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 possibly the hen 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 the hunt for the redstart. We had virtually given up and have been making our method again to the automobile when Andrew gave a shout: he had noticed a showy grownup male with an intensive white flash in its secondaries. It was a fittingly good-looking hen for my 2 hundredth species.
A number of pairs of Black Swans now breed in Britain. This hen was at Abbotsbury, Dorset, in July
Although this was formally my 2 hundredth species, it was technically my 204th, as throughout the yr I’d notched up 4 birds that have been more likely to have escaped from captivity and even intentionally launched: Harris’s Hawk (an escaped falconer’s hen); Peacock (a hen that’s effectively established and breeds in a feral state near my house); Black Swan (a hen 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 effectively established feral inhabitants of Indian Peacocks not removed from my house
I photographed this juvenile Purple-breasted Goose, blended in with a big flock Darkish-bellied Brent Geese, at Cley in Norfolk on 22 January
My 200 species did embody a number of rarities. The primary of the yr was a juvenile Purple-breasted Goose, blended 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 yr’s rarities, a Lengthy-billed Dowitcher. I’d seen this particular person hen 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 recurrently in Britain, a mirrored image of the truth that they’re extending their vary west. White-tailed Eagles was once nice rarities in East Anglia, however I had two surprising encounters in Norfolk early within the yr. One was a tagged hen 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’d have been sure to have seen a number of Lesser Noticed Woodpeckers throughout the yr, however these diminutive woodpeckers are actually practically extinct in East Anglia and I did not see any. Nevertheless, I now anticipate to see three species of egret – Little, Cattle and Nice White – on my birding excursions to Norfolk, one thing not possible even 5 years in the past.
A Nice White Egret, with Canada Geese; Titchwell, September
I did little or no twitching, however one hen 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 develop into extra common in Britain lately: the primary report was as lately as 1987. It was fascinating to match the Lesser Scaup with the Tufted Geese they have been consorting with – they’re very comparable birds in each measurement and behavior.
Nice Gray Shrikes have develop into more and more tough to seek out lately. I noticed just one within the UK throughout 2024, in Thetford Forest
Nice Gray Shrikes was once comparatively simple birds to seek out in East Anglia within the winter, however lately they’ve develop into more and more scarce, so I did take the time to go and see the one hen reported domestically 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 hen.
I had no bother selecting up virtually the entire migrant breeding birds that improve our transient summers. Nightjars nested this yr simply three miles from house, 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 number of birds in Norfolk.
I photographed this Turtle Dove in my backyard in 2006. This yr 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 an excellent mid-summer enhance to my record, with such additions as Puffin, Guillemot, Purple Grouse and Dipper. Gannet wasn’t new for my yr record, but it surely was nice to have shut encounters with nesting birds at Bempton Cliffs – I normally see Gannets coasting by, half a mile out to sea.
Bempton Cliffs in Yorkshire is a good place to {photograph} Gannets
I’ve to go north to seek out Purple Grouse. This hen, a feminine, was in Yorkshire
This Cirl Bunting was essentially the most notable addition to my record throughout every week in Dorset in July
Autumn migration is a good time for selecting up scarce migrants to spice up the record, 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 fantastic). I managed to overlook seeing a Yellow-browed Warbler, even supposing dozens of those pleasant migrants from Asia have been recorded in East Anglia.
By November I used to be beginning to really feel optimistic that I’d attain the magic 200, as my record 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 hen, none had been recorded this autumn. Intriguingly, it’s Taiga Bean Geese that historically used to winter right here, however my hen was clearly a Tundra Bean (rossicus), with only a small orange patch on its beak.
What did I miss? I didn’t do effectively 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 considered one of Britain’s rarest birds, on practically 90 events, however solely noticed Bullfinches 5 occasions.
Fifty years in the past Marsh Harriers have been Britain’s rarest breeding hen. Not any extra – I noticed them on practically 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 yr was 1986, once I notched up over 1,000 species due to journeys to Africa (Kenya and The Gambia), Australia and several other European nations. That was the yr I noticed 292 species in a day (throughout a hen race in Kenya), which places into sharp perspective my 200 in 335 days in England. Nonetheless, it’s been a enjoyable yr. Will 2025 show any higher?
