Top of the Flops 2020

While 2020 was a terrible year in so many awful ways, it was, somewhat perversely, a truly memorable birding year with many UK firsts, blockers unblocked and large autumn influxes of generally rare birds. Although a year list of 219 is very modest by my previous standards in did include an incredible 25 new UK lifers. So, without further ado, here is my birding year in review

 

Dip of the year

 

As usual this is the most keenly fought award with many worthy contenders but there is one dip that really is head and shoulders above the rest. The Rufous Bush Chat is a legendary blocker in British birding circles. In this regard blocker means a bird that has not been seen in the UK for many years and hence is regarded as a blocker on many birders UK list. The last record of any kind was in Jersey in 1998 and the last really twitchable bird was 57 years ago in Lincolnshire. So to say that considerable excitement was generated in twitching circles when one was found in Norfolk in October would be a considerable understatement! With my usual excellent timing I had been at Stiffkey the day before it was found there on a Saturday. Various other commitments stopped me going until the Tuesday by which time it had become much more elusive and I did not see it. It was again seen on the Wednesday so, being a glutton for punishment, I also spent the whole day looking for it on Thursday in vain. In total this was some 16 hours of driving for the delights of starting at a bramble bush in the cold for around 20 hours – what do you mean silly hobby!

 

The Lord Snowdon one pixel photograph award

 

By a truly remarkable coincidence, this year’s star photography prize is awarded to a stunning photograph of exactly the same bird as last years award, a Collared Pratincole. The first picture is this year’s winner and the second is last years. What a stunning bird portrait showing the most remarkable detail!  The fine detail of the plumage and the way the bird has been captured in this lovely natural pose is, I sure you would agree, truly incredible!

 

Now to the much less serious awards!

 

Photograph of the year

 

This was a tough one as I was lucky enough to capture good images of a few birds that were on my wish list this year, a good example being the Red-flanked Bluetail depicted above. In the end I went for this image of a Wryneck taken in the autumn at Spurn in Yorkshire. I’ve said it before so at the risk of repeating myself, Wrynecks are my favourite UK birds. What they lack in eye catching colour they make up for in the intricate beauty of their subtle plumage and, as an added bonus, they are absolutely full of character!

The runner-up is this picture of a Common Whitethroat. I had been trying to get a half image of this summer migrant to our shores for some time. When I was still living in Standlake I usually took my two dogs on an early morning walk around Dix pit. In early April I became aware that several territories were being claimed by male Common Whitethroats in an area of their favoured scrubby habitat. The Whitethroat's song, a fast and scratchy almost scolding short burst, is a key indication to me that spring has well and truly sprung! Many hours hidden in a bush with my camera was eventually rewarded with this shot.

 

Bird of the year

 

I’m going to declare this one a dead heat between two birds. 

 

On the 6^th June this year I was driving towards Norwich on a quest for a UK life tick in the form of a  Savi’s Warbler when I stopped for a coffee and checked my bird alert service. Blimey!! A mega rare Asian Desert Warbler had been found way up on the North East coast at Holy Island. Given this was some 5 hours drive from my current location, I was in a real quandary about what to do. In the end I decided to continue to the Savi’s Warbler site where I managed to get some decent views and a few record shots of this rare Locustella warbler. A major issue with birding on Holy Island is that the tide cuts off the access causeway for large parts of the day. A quick calculation indicated that if I set off immediately I would have 2 hours on the Island to find the bird, so, rather insanely, off I went. Some 5 hours later I was looking at this little gem in some bushes just over the causeway into Holy Island. 

 

This twitching day, however, had a real sting in its tail and was mega in one very unwelcome and unexpected additional way. As I approached Leicester on the M1 coming home in dreadful driving conditions, of course I was sticking to the speed limit, the rear drive shaft snapped on my F-type Jag and after multiple collisions with the central reservation and a pirouette across the motorway that would have done strictly come dancing proud I was fortunate to walk away with just a few bruises but my F-type was well and truly bu**ered!

 

My joint bird of the year is the famous first summer Lammergeier that spent most of the summer gracing the hills around the peak district. Lockdown restrictions meant that I had not seen my lovely middle daughter, Rachel, for 6 months. So with the easing of restrictions we decided to meet up for a walk and picnic somewhere between Rachel’s home near Manchester and Oxford.  I somewhat tongue in cheek mentioned we could meet up in the peak district to try and see the Lammergeier. Much to my surprise, Rachel was very enthusiastic and so on the 16^th of July we met in a car park below Back Torr, one of the vultures favourite hangouts. After an hour or so of moderately strenuous climbing we reached the rock outcrop of the Torr and settled down for our picnic lunch while keeping an eye out for the vulture and checking my bird alert services for any recent sightings. After a couple of hours we were starting to feel this was not going to be our day when my phoned pinged with a recent sighting a mile or so away to the North. We were scanning the horizon when excitement amongst the other birders present alerted us that the avian giant was heading our way. It slowly glided over the Torr and continued serenely on its way without a single wing flap, a true master of the skies. What  a stunning experience that we will both never forget! What are the chances of seeing a wild near 3m wingspan vulture flying over your head in the UK!

 

So that’s 2020 done and dusted. It just remains for me to wish all my readers (actually my only reader – cheers Nick!) a very happy and bird filled 2021.

 

Footnote – my blogs are posted with sometimes rather imaginative spelling and grammar due to my extreme dyslexia!