Photo challenge finale
How did the Hampshire 150 team fare during what was a tough year in many ways?
Well what a year 2020 turned out to be for the Hampshire 150 team. None of us ever expected the twists and turns of the Covid-19 pandemic that has swept the globe and restricted so many of us from travelling. Fortunate then that the team are based in various different parts of the county, enabling them to stand a chance of reaching their target while respecting the lockdown restrictions. However, the imposition of the second national lockdown over the course of November curtailed any real chance of adding to the total reported last month, which stood at 162.
As followers of this challenge will know, Keith Betton has pulled some real rabbits out of the hat of late, his contributions of the rarer and trickier species to find in the county proving invaluable. Perhaps it is fitting then that he managed to add the very last species to the list, number 163, with a photograph of a beautiful male Brambling.
As the national lockdown effectively ended the challenge early, we thought we would use the opportunity to take a look back at the amazing birds we have seen and photographed over the course of the year, and celebrate this by sharing a few of our favourites.
There has certainly been an emphasis on concentrating on the wildlife on our own doorsteps, this year, and many of us have welcomed the opportunity to get reacquainted with our wildlife neighbours. Paul Sterry certainly enjoyed the birds in his own garden over the spring, and was delighted when a male Cuckoo became a surprise and very welcome regular, enabling some great flight shots as well as adding to his photographic garden list. Paul chose his image of the Cuckoo in flight as his ‘photo of the challenge’.
Staying with photographs taken in our own gardens, Andrew Cleave photographed a young male Sparrowhawk though his kitchen window; the colours in the background provide a lovely hint of suburbia – and he captured an amazing, piercing, yellow eye!
Rob Read found making a choice of photograph difficult, especially as the year gifted two new species for his UK list in the shape of Great White Egret and Wilson’s Phalarope. He finally chose the former, having spent a couple of mornings with this very cooperative bird and obtaining some great images both of it fishing in the lake and preening in a nearby tree.
As well as notching up Brambling for this month, Keith has added some amazing species of late, including White-tailed Eagle, but perhaps choosing the most colourful of our native birds, the Kingfisher, is a great way to end.
● The team would like to thank everyone who has helped us find and photograph all these birds over the months of the challenge in what has been the most difficult of years. We would also like to thank Bird Watching magazine for supporting the challenge and enabling us to raise £2,000 for Birds on the Brink, a charity that supports grassroots conservation projects. To make a donation visit birdsonthebrink.co.uk