MEET THE TEAM
Mike Weedon, assistant editor, is already feeling nostalgic for the birding year just past, and wants to share his happy memories.
Mike Roberts, production editor, is hoping to start the new year with a Waxwing sighting – will they head to his area soon?
Happy New Year, everyone. Yes, it has come round in the blink of an eye, once again. And so, another year list starts, and there is barely time to reflect on the glories of the year gone by. But, here goes, anyway.
I hope 2019 was a good birding year for you. For me, it was a year packed with wholesome birdy goodness. As ever, this was just about all on my birdwatching doorstep in the Peterborough Bird Club recording area (PBC area). Though not quite reaching the dizzying heights of 2018 (when I set my record total of 195 bird species in a year in the PBC area), it came mighty close, with my second best ever figure of 190.
And such was the wealth of the avian riches, that the rest of this column is going to seem something like a list in itself. Please forgive me, and instead try to see and hear (with your mind’s eye and ear), the lovely birding experiences I am about to relate.
So, here goes with the highlights, in a slightly haphazard order. Firstly, I added one bird to my all time PBC list: the spectacular Baikal Teal. There may well be arguments about whether this gaudy eastern drake on the Nene Washes was ‘plastic’ or ‘real’, but it elevated my all-time local list to 250 birds.
I had a couple of welcome local ‘find ticks’, too, with Red-necked Grebe (in December) and Curlew Sandpiper (September), taking my all time PBC find list to 214 (I know: could do better!).
Other decent personal finds included Tree Pipits in spring and autumn (a bird which was, for many years, a PBC a big bogey bird for me); a couple of Sandwich Terns; and a Cattle Egret during one of my morning autumn ‘vis mig’ sessions. I found an Osprey very close to home; and a summer-plumaged Black-necked Grebe; and I could argue for a piece of a Purple Heron (which, like a fool, I initially called as a Bittern!). I also found three of the five Redstarts I saw locally in 2019.
But there have been so many other exciting birdy things going on around here: it was the first year I have seen two different Hooded Crows, locally, for instance. There was a delightful singing Wood Warbler; a lovely, long-staying insect-picking Kittiwake; and there were two Roughlegged Buzzards (the king of winter raptors); a glorious summer-plumaged Red-necked Grebe, a couple of Tundra Bean Geese and a dozen or so White-fronted Geese. I saw four Ring Ouzels, five Cattle Egrets, three Hen Harriers and three Ospreys, locally, during the year, as well as perhaps a dozen Merlins!
Twenty-eight species of PBC area wader during the year included an incredible 25-plus Wood Sandpipers, a couple of Little Stints, a handful of Knots and Turnstones; small groups of my favourite wader, the Bar-tailed Godwit; and a very obliging Whimbrel.
In addition to these local rarities, though, there have been some wonderful ‘better-than-a-tick’ birding experiences, which will live long in the memory. In the dark of a midsummer night, I was perhaps 15m from an unseen duetting pair of Spotted Crakes, ‘whipping’ for all they were worth. And there were the ‘dancing’ and gyrating baby Long-eared Owls, who were later warned away from the ‘intruding’ birder by a yelping adult.
Most encouragingly, in this age of population declines, I am pleased to say that breeding Spotted Flycatchers, Lesser Spotted Woodpeckers and Corn Buntings are still hanging on around Peterborough.
Best of all, it was very heartening to see our local Turtle Doves finally turning a corner, and seemingly flourishing, with multiple pairs found for the first time in years, near the villages north of Peterborough.
The year has not been all about birds, either; 2019 will be remembered (by me at least) as a great mammal year. I saw at least 10 Otters, including family groups at three sites, and encountered some wonderful Badgers, Stoats and Weasels. We even had a Muntjac taking up residence in our city garden for several weeks, and a family of Foxes have also taken a liking to our back yard.
And it was a great summer for butterflies around here, notably with burgeoning populations of Dark Green Fritillary and Purple Emperor. And, dragonflywise, 2019 will be remembered as the year Willow Emerald Damselfly conquered Peterborough.
What will 2020 bring? Watch this space.
It was heartenIng to see our local turtle Doves fInally turnIng a corner
Mike Weedon is a lover of all wildlife, a local bird ‘year lister’, and a keen photographer, around his home city of Peterborough, where he lives with his wife, Jo, and children, Jasmine and Eddie. You can see his photos at weedworld. blogspot.com