So as expected, December comes to nothing, in no small way due to the fact that I've hardly been out. No insects, no interest (although I did see a huge bee on Monday). I suppose that in future 130 species might be looked on as being a decent effort, certainly as breeding birds and winter visitors continue to ebb further away. The lack of cold weather is certainly a factor in the reduction in swans, geese and grebes visiting Grt. M/c., and even GB itself. I feel that birders will drive global warming further as they have to journey further afield to find birds of interest (or just some peace from the thronging masses of our growing population). Whatever, everything in life is what you make it, even our hobbies. Perhaps the event which will turn 'casual' into 'serious' is just around the corner. It just requires a little warm sunshine and all will seem well again with the world: well not quite all.
The rewards of casual birding showed their hand in two different ways. It helped to secure four new birds for the year and thus reach a respectable 130. One of the two involved a trip to a certain local reservoir which, much in the way that 'Macbeth' should not be uttered to actors, cannot be mentioned on this site. It was just a 'let's see what's turned up' visit, without prior knowledge of any birds present. So whilst others travelled in the hope of seeing a Great Northern Diver at Elton, I managed to 'find' one at Reservoir 'X' and have it all to myself (it had been there a few days). This is the kind of thing I mean by 'reward'; a surprise bird rather than one served up for you. But of course it can't always be that way, so I was not going to let yet another shag in the county pass me by (as all the others had). That, though, was not the second reward. That came in seeing a water rail from the hide whilst waiting for 'the' bird to show. Most other 'listers' would have picked that up months ago, but in letting things come at a slower pace, the enjoyment factor can be stretched out for as long as you remain patient. Nothing wrong with going about things in your own way, in a style that suits you. Sometimes, though, you can lose sight of the fact that this is supposed to be a stress-free hobby amidst the frenetic existence that most of us have.
I think seeing anything new in December is going to be down to whether we have a cold snap. Certainly wind and rain are not always going to help as they did in November.
I guess a number of people are totting up their annual lists and perhaps getting a bit twitchy that they are/aren't going to beat some personal record or other. Well I have to say that I am quite enjoying setting what I believe wil be the standard figure for anyone who gets out a bit, but does not lose sleep over not seeing a certain bird (although I thought I heard a stone curlew cry out in the night recently!). At the end of October, I'd seen 126 species in the County; some with a little effort, most just doing what I (and many others) do. I can see that some folk have seen more than that at a single site. However, that 'site' is often a hot-spot visited very frequently. I have no such site or any desire to go to those lengths: I like to be casual, which is what this is about.
It will be a bit of a slog to reach 130 now. Autumn wasn't great, with the lack of those storms (which we were told would be more frequent with global warming) meaning no seafaring oddities (after August). I suppose the odd goose or duck might show, but I am more inclined to think that we will now go into shutdown until next spring. Hope I'm wrong, but if we managed to miss out on all the yellow-broweds (so it seems) that were about, we would have to be very jammy to pick up something worth a trip out. Hope I'm wrong. We all try so hard, and deserve more.
There I was contemplating how to phrase my 'told you so' follow up to my last entry, when along comes today. After a completely 'tickless' June and July (as expected), I was musing that almost everyone in the county comes close to being casual observers during the summer months when along comes another reason why the hobby is so unpredictable. I have been out looking, let me tell you, but as I stated at the beginning, I have just been strolling about viewing the wildlife. The fact that it hasn't been truly great insect spotting weather perhaps should have meant that birds came into the picture a bit more, but no. All I'm telling you this for is to inform that all I am observing would be available to someone perhaps new to the hobby. Anyway, back to today (and something a little less casual). How dare a bird which ought to be miles out at sea spoil my plans! Green sandpiper was therefore demoted to the next-but-one new annual G.M. tick for 2015. With autumn now about to swing onto action, I can honestly say that I have no idea what the future holds, although I'd like it to be a wryneck if anyone can swing it!
I can even predict that my next new year tick will be green sandpiper at Pennington in August when I visit for dragonflies: or can I?
If there are no 'experts' on the future you definitely can't predict this
Cheers John
-- Edited by John Rayner on Wednesday 10th of June 2015 11:16:20 PM
Just going from the last few years John, but note the cagey 'or can I'. I never mind being proved wrong when it means I've underestimated good fortune. I'm also taking into account that I won't be around for a couple of weeks in the intervening period as well. Green sandpiper here I come!!
Even though I saw one of the county's best birds of recent times (and it wasn't stone curlew), May seemed really flat this year, and seeing the pipit didn't altogether substitute for my not seeing cuckoo, arctic tern, whinchat, redstart, wood warbler and so on. Even the poor weather, which aided the arrival of a couple of big county finds, did not lead to the kind of passage involving gulls, terns and waders in the numbers which might be expected. Thus visits to hotspots like Audenshaw, Pennington and Elton were unremarkable. Still, that's what casual observation is about, you see what is there when you visit a site on a planned visit, and that's that if the species you crave are not about on that day. So just nine new birds in May was a dire result, and that's before the long, quiet period now to be expected. I can even predict that my next new year tick will be green sandpiper at Pennington in August when I visit for dragonflies: or can I?
The word 'casual' seemed inappropriate this month as Spring took off (kind of). My claim of non-twitching certain species was also stretched a little as the lure of the ring ouzels proved too much to resist. But what can you do when you have a tool like this website? Waste your time stomping the same old ground or go and see a scarce, special bird? Then there was the hoopoe. Well, who wouldn't? Basically though, I am only doing what I always have done, and still run round my local patches regularly. Anyway, I've now reached 107, which is probably about 30 to 40 behind anyone doing a 'proper' year list, so that is the difference. So we are about half way through migration, which in my opinion has not reached full swing yet (or I hope it hasn't - a lot of birds are still 'missing'), but even at this stage I've probably seen about 75-80% of what will be my total for the year which is a slightly depressing thought. Still, as Simon Barnes once wrote, the whole of May should be a holiday for birdwatchers as it is THE month where most can happen. Here we go!!!
My year list is EXACTLY 80 so far, though I don't rush around like mad for rarities any more and like to get the birds I see as close to home as possible - though my current list includes birds seen at Martin Mere, Burton Marsh and Carsington Water. I only added Rook to my list this week - regular sighting when I used to work at Wythenshawe - and still haven't spotted Goldcrest or Grey Wagtail, for example. I agree that April is better than March but May is always fabulous for spotting the summer visitors besides offering good weather (usually) - being retired means I don't want or need to venture out in driving rain or howling gales, there's always another day!
Neil,
I concur with your last few words almost entirely. I say almost because experience tells me that in Spring it is 'rough' weather that is generally more likely to produce more and scarcer birds than a clear blue sky, so I'm pretty sure I will be getting wet and chilled somewhere in the next couple of months. I note that you say your year list is 80 so far. I don't know if I've made it too clear, but my count is in Greater Manchester alone.
My year list is EXACTLY 80 so far, though I don't rush around like mad for rarities any more and like to get the birds I see as close to home as possible - though my current list includes birds seen at Martin Mere, Burton Marsh and Carsington Water. I only added Rook to my list this week - regular sighting when I used to work at Wythenshawe - and still haven't spotted Goldcrest or Grey Wagtail, for example. I agree that April is better than March but May is always fabulous for spotting the summer visitors besides offering good weather (usually) - being retired means I don't want or need to venture out in driving rain or howling gales, there's always another day!
If a casual observer was to ask me what the slowest (I hesitate to use the word 'worst') month of the year was for birds, I would say March. I always have and nothing about the one just closing has made me change my mind. I would tell the casual observer that the most telling reason for my personal choice would be that the hours of daylight to birds to be seen in those hours ratio was now at its worst (O.K., I will use that word). It's also to do with anticipation of spring and the weather usually holding back incoming migrants. Thus, so far, only chiffchaff has even come close to fitting that description, any other movements have been very limited. For instance, I visited a local reservoir, which shall remain annonymous, a couple of weeks ago and saw zero new year birds. Pennington was more forthcoming with 9 new birds the following day including a 'seen' Cetti's warbler. I mention that as I am only counting birds seen (so green woodpecker remains uncounted so far). This is in keeping with trying to adopt a greater awareness of what is around me by trying to see everything, and also that the 'casual observer' might not recognise every squeek and whistle. As it stands then, I would expect that someone spending the same amount of time in the field, and at the same places that I have, would also as likely have seen 80 species so far. Let's see what April puts in front of us.
Definitely not addicted. I log things, but if anyone asked how many species of butterfly/bird/dragonfly I saw in the county or the UK last year, I wouldn't know. I counted moths because I was trying to get 100 in the garden for the year (so still a little bit 'hooked'), but that went out the window due to it being a terrible year for them. These days, getting good photos means more to me than numbers. I just began to realise that I was starting to let birds slip off of my radar, yet they are still the animal most likely to provide a real 'buzz' moment even though these are now very much spaced quite far apart, sorry to say.
John,
The site looks interesting, but I will never have more than a passing interest in plants/fish or red deer (sorry, they are just something that render me comatose when they appear on 'wildlife' shows). As I say, totting things up doesn't appeal to me except on chosen subjects like the one I've outlined below. If you get too much into numbers it can lead into dangerous ground where certain undesirable traits might reveal themselves. Look at Phoebe Snetsinger and how she became.
I don't do year lists now. I found the stress and frustration to be counter to what i thought birdwatching was supposed to be about.... ...So, I will not be rushing around to see every last visitor to the County, only those that would be lifers to me, or perhaps seen on one or two previous occasions (so not waxwing or long-tailed duck, for instance) will be sought out.
Don't try to deny it, Andy - you're still addicted to counting. Therapy is available - though it's not always successful
I don't do year lists now. I found the stress and frustration to be counter to what i thought birdwatching was supposed to be about. However it cannot be denied that your observational skills can be sharpened by the need to detect every bird present in a given area, and I felt that I was no longer doing this as I turned more to looking for insects at ground level. So I thought of a compromise: count all the species I see in a year whilst just going about my normal wildlife 'duties'. So, I will not be rushing around to see every last visitor to the County, only those that would be lifers to me, or perhaps seen on one or two previous occasions (so not waxwing or long-tailed duck, for instance) will be sought out. Other than that I will go round most of the 'hot-spots' as I normally do on day-trips, or the odd speculative trip when the weather looks favourable. Hopefully at the end I will have the answer to the question that an out of county birdwatcher might ask: 'how many species of bird might I see in a typical year in Greater Manchester without chasing about like a headless chicken?' At the moment I couldn't really tell anyone with too much confidence. As February ends, I've seen 66. So this is to be my 'casual observer' list. A little different I hope you might agree.
