I’m a poor naturalist but a half-decent ornithologist and birdwatcher. I haven’t seen many birds this year – certainly in terms of number of species.
Although I know of many who do (overwhelmingly males) I do not keep a bird list for the year. Some of my friends and acquaintances would be able to reel out their birdlist for 2020 and put it in complete context with previous years going back decades. I am not ashamed to say that I cannot do that.
But I have had a quick look at my Birdtrack total species for the last 10 years. At 127 species (an incomplete record, but a decent index of my birdwatching activity) it’s way off the more usual 145-190 UK species. Given that almost half the birds on my 2020 list were seen in my garden that’s a testimony to where my binoculars have been.
The list would have been much shorter still were it not for a few trips (January, February and October) to the Norfolk coast and another to Minsmere (combined with a visit to the World Land Trust) in January.
This year I haven’t seen a Marsh Tit or Willow Tit, haven’t heard a Nightingale, haven’t seen a Wood Sandpiper or Spotted Redshank, haven’t seen a Corn Bunting or a Tree Sparrow. And auks, shearwaters, skuas, Kittiwake, Shag and even Fulmar and Gannet haven’t troubled my retina. I’m not expecting many of them to turn up in my garden today, but if they do, I’ll certainly let you know.
My butterfly sightings have been restricted almost entirely to the garden species and I don’t recall seeing a Fox, Badger, Stoat, Otter, dolphin or porpoise all year.
But none of this is a disaster. In fact, I’ve enjoyed being more local (basically home and garden with occasional forays out) and I’ve appreciated nature in a different way. Not a worse or a better way, but a different way.
I’d like to get out more in 2021 but I can imagine that being more local will be a habit that sticks.
[registration_form]
Unlike you Mark I do keep a UK year list and at 131 this year it is at its lowest since 1968 when I was 17 and I’m 70 in a months time, my usual is 190-230. I only managed one trip in the winter to North Yorkshire, and a couple of autumn trips to the coast here in Wales. I did see an awful lot more than usual in my local “patch” and thoroughly enjoyed it. Butterflies were limited but one of the highlights was finding a Green Hairstreak holding territory on one of our garden Blueberries, downside no garden Painted Ladies. I did more mothing than in any previous year, saw or caught plenty of new or scarce things for me, the highlight being a second Pine Hawk for me, a first for Montgomery and North Wales. All in all a different year with no trips abroad, to Shetland or various UK sites as planned but nature still enthralled as always and insanity was staved off just!
Having time to watch the small things in the garden was a benefit of this spring and summer. We were able to identify ashy mining bee nests and also hosted tree bumblebee and buff-tailed bumblebee colonies. We had our first ever convolvulus hawkmoth and on the larger side had a daytime visit from a young fox.
Sorting photo files made me wonder whether to give up on foreign trips and concentrate on visiting more of the UK when allowed – these are the places I am missing most.
Lyn – thanks for that and thanks for your comments here in 2020. Best wishes for 2021!