AWARD CATEGORIES
1 Conservation Hero of the Year Feargal Sharkey
The ex-frontman of punk band The Undertones has emerged as an unlikely hero in conservation circles, holding the government to account over sewage disposal into UK waterways and accusing water firms of “committing ecocide in our own backyards”.
Wild Justice
The not-for-profit organisation has launched a petition to reduce the shooting season for Eurasian Woodcock, while also campaigning on water pollution.
John Stimpson
Eighty-year-old Stimpson hit a significant milestone earlier this year when he built his 30,000th Common Swift box since retiring.
Walldorf council
Officials in the German town ordered residents to keep their cats indoors between May and August to help the declining local population of Crested Larks.
UK reserve wardens and volunteers
This collective nomination is to recognise the tough work carried out across the country to battle this year’s catastrophic outbreak of avian flu.
2 Local Hero of the Year
This is your chance to nominate someone you know personally who has made a big difference to conservation or birding – maybe a dedicated fundraiser or volunteer at a local nature reserve, a stalwart of your local bird club, or perhaps a long-standing organiser of/ participator in surveys in your area. The winner will be the nomination that most impresses our editorial team, so please think carefully about who you choose and give as much detail as possible. The winner will receive a free annual subscription to BirdGuides Bird News Pro.
3 Campaign of the Year Reducing the woodcock shooting season
Mark Avery, Chris Packham and Ruth Tingay of Wild Justice want the opening of the Eurasian Woodcock shooting season to be pushed back to 1 December. Their petition has garnered around 60,000 signatures so far.
Leading wildlife charities urge members to fight for UK nature
The short-lived Truss government started what was branded an “unprecedented attack” on environmental laws, with the RSPB, National Trust and Wildlife Trusts mobilising their members in response.
Tarras Valley Nature Reserve project
Described as the largest-ever community buyout to take place in the south of Scotland, more than 4,200 ha of Langholm Moor has been secured for wildlife.
Fundraiser to save Refugio Paz de las Aves
One of South America’s most famous birding reserves was at imminent risk of being sold off for farming, but birders clubbed together to raise the funds for Angel and Rodrigo Paz to buy the land outright, protecting antpittas and plenty more besides.
A Pan-African Conservation Trust (A-Pact)
African leaders have launched an initiative to help finance the continent’s conservation areas to safeguard wildlife and prevent extinctions.
4 Guano Award for Environmental Harm Liz Truss’s government
Although lasting just seven weeks, the Truss-led Conservatives immediately set about threatening to repeal environmental laws in favour of development.
UK water companies
UK watercourses are in a shocking state due to raw sewage being pumped into rivers across the country and high levels of pollution killing off wildlife and damaging our precious chalkstreams.
Norway’s fisheries ministry
A wandering Walrus, nicknamed ‘Freya’, that was seen in numerous European countries including Britain, arrived in Oslo and came into contact with local people. Instead of trying to control the crowds, officials opted to kill the Walrus.
Government of Cyprus
After the government massively reduced the size of fines issued for bird trapping on the island from €2,000 to €200, a major increase in the trapping rate was noted in 2021.
Chris Loder MP
The Conservative MP for
West Dorset could barely conceal his anti-wildlife views when he criticised local police investigating the poisoning of a White-tailed Eagle in his constituency, adding that “Dorset is not the place for eagles to be reintroduced”.
5 Birding News English Hen Harriers have a fantastic nesting season
After several years of awful statistics, this year’s 34 successful nests meant it was the most productive breeding season for English Hen Harriers in more than a century.
Yellowthroat hitches boat ride back to Caribbean from Europe
The extraordinary story of a Common Yellowthroat that was found in northern Spain and then made its way back to its native North America aboard a cruise ship.
Bar-tailed Godwit flies non-stop from Alaska to Tasmania in 11 days
A juvenile godwit flew more than 13,500 km across the Pacific Ocean without a rest in October, breaking the record for the longest non-stop flight by the species in the process.
Ring-billed Gulls solve string-pull test
Researchers have highlighted the intelligence of the larid, which is the first example of a waterbird solving the cognitive test.
Bee-eaters breeding in Norfolk
One of the high points of an extremely hot and dry summer, at least three chicks fledged from a nesting attempt at Trimingham.
6 Rarity of the Year Blackburnian Warbler
Although the fourth British record, this stunning ‘Yank’ on Bryher, Scilly, was the first of its kind ever to be twitchable and consequently was hugely popular throughout its protracted stay in October.
Least Bittern
A first for Britain always takes some beating, and for the 200 or so birders that managed to see this diminutive American heron on Shetland’s South Mainland in early October, it will live long in the memory. Sadly, the exhausted bird died in care overnight.
Common Nighthawk
The first American landbird of the autumn is usually expected in Scilly or Shetland – not on a garden fence in an Oxfordshire town! Yet that’s exactly what happened on 26 September, with this nightbird being the first of its kind to be twitchable on the British mainland and attracting a massive crowd throughout the day.
Cape Gull
Another first for Britain, this time from sub-Saharan Africa. While this species had been hoped for on British shores, few could have predicted that it would appear at Grafham Water in landlocked Cambridgeshire. Thousands are thought to have paid homage to it during early August.
American Robin
The first major new rarity of the year, this beauty gave fantastic views in the suburbs of Eastbourne, East Sussex, for an extended period in February.
Eleonora’s Falcon
Another of the year’s most popular birds, the pale-morph Eleonora’s at Worth Marsh in late May was extremely confiding and drew four-figure crowds to the Kent coast. This was the first twitchable individual ever recorded in Britain yet, incredibly, was followed by another in Norfolk in August.
7 Site of the Year Sandwich Bay, Kent
The Sandwich Bay and Worth Marsh area has attracted a fine list of rare and scarce visitors during 2022, including Yellow-browed Bunting and two different Eleonora’s Falcons.
Grafham Water, Cambridgeshire
This man-made reservoir has had a brilliant year, with Britain’s first Cape Gull, plus Lesser Scaup and Pectoral Sandpiper seen alongside fantastic numbers of the more expected migrant and wintering species.
Loop Head, Co Clare
The western Irish hot-spot produced no fewer than four individual American landbirds in the autumn, including Baltimore Oriole and Myrtle Warbler – as well as Co Clare’s first Olive-backed Pipit.
Idle Washlands, Nottinghamshire
This inland site had another strong year, with many birders ticking Caspian Tern there in the summer and a strong supporting cast of quality migrant waterbirds.
Potteric Carr, South Yorkshire
The Yorkshire Wildife Trust reserve near Doncaster hosted breeding Black-winged Stilts this year.
8 Product of the Year Canon EOS R7 mirrorless camera
A long-awaited cropped-sensor mirrorless camera from Canon, which has been massively popular with birders since its release in the summer.
Olympus OM System OM-1 mirrorless camera
Olympus has upped its game with this release, which has won the plaudits from plenty of birders and bird photographers.
Swarovski ATC/STC telescope
This innovative new travelscope delivers a sharp image and high build quality, despite its overall lightness.
ZEISS SFL binocular
The SFL is another optics product that prides itself on being lightweight and portable, while maintaining crisp and vivid image quality.
Updated BirdTrack app
The new BTO recording tool has been hailed as a huge step forward, being more sophisticated to use while in the field and offering a range of new features.
9 Book of the Year Collins Bird Guide
The third edition of what many would argue is the best field guide ever produced was released at the end of the year, incorporating revised taxonomic thinking, as well as new and updated plates.
Vagrancy in Birds
An educational and thought-provoking book written by ornithologists Alexander Lees and James Gilroy that explores one of the most fascinating aspects of our hobby.
Gulls of Europe, North Africa, and the Middle East
Gulls may not be to everyone’s taste, but this annotated photo guide from some of the world’s top ‘gullers’ has certainly helped to make a challenging subject far more accessible.
Europe’s Birds: An Identification Guide
Around 4,700 colour photographs document some 900 species in 640 pages, making this the most comprehensive single-volume photo guide to Europe’s birds ever produced.
Into the Red
A follow-up to 2020’s Red Sixty Seven, this collaboration between 70 authors and 70 artists provides a richly descriptive and deeply poignant take on 70 Red-Listed species.
10 Discovery of the Year A retrospective British first: Taiga Flycatcher at Spurn
Photographs came to light this autumn of an East Asian mega at the Yorkshire hot-spot. However, they had been taken in 1976 – a full 27 years before the species was seen again in Britain.
Genetics suggest redpolls are one species
Although world taxonomies still retain at least two species, this DNA study hints that we might have just one redpoll on our lists in the near future.
Genetics confirm Lesser Sand Plover as two species
A detailed study into the world’s sand plovers showed that the mongolus group of Lesser is in fact more closely related to Greater, rather than the atrifrons group of Lesser.
Research suggests two new endemic robins for Canary Islands
Genetic studies continue to throw up surprises, with DNA work on the European Robins of the Macaronesian archipelago suggesting that those on Tenerife and Gran Canaria merit full species status.
New storm petrel species described from South Pacific
New Caledonian Storm Petrel is thought likely to be very rare and possibly already Critically Endangered – and its breeding grounds haven’t yet been found.