New Years Birding Resolutions
Popped out to Upton Warren yesterday morning, primarily in search of Siskins for a late year tick, as somehow they still remain an embarrassing omission from our 2007 year list. Didn’t see any despite our best efforts and we were dismayed to hear we'd missed a flock of 50+ near The Flashes by an hour (whilst we were still chasing round the Moors Pools for them!). We had also missed a Brambling.
Despite the Siskin disappointment we did enjoy watching a pair of GS Woodies, lots of Goldcrests and a pair of Bullfinch. I heard three Cetti's Warblers around The Moors. Anyway here's my list of Birding New Years Resolutions, which I hope are acheivable targets and will bring me lots of enjoyment and also help improve my skills in 2008.
- To reach the coveted milestone of 200 on my life list. Not too far off now - it should be achievable (hopefully!) to get 20 new birds within the year. My game plan is to target specific common birds that I’m missing and spend time trying to stake them out and also go to a few twitches (within reasonable distance).
- To have confidence in my own abilities and to try to look on the positive side; i.e. not get so frustrated when I dip a bird or fail to clinch an ID before the bird clears off. Its all part of the birding experience (or so I keep telling myself
).
- Spend more time birding in Woodland habitats; I want to see new woodland birds like Woodcock, Crossbill and Hawfinch.
- Join West Midlands Bird Club; something I’ve been putting off for some time. I’m planning frequent visits to Belvide and Blithfield, both great places which turn up many a good bird, looking forward to checking out some of their other reserves too.
- Find a Black Redstart…it will happen this year, it will, it will.
- Improve on Gull identification. I’m ok with most adult gulls and the smaller juvy ones (as long as I get a good look). Need to improve on the juvs of the larger Gull species and also to practice with ID-ing Gulls in flight.
- A lot of the birds I want for my list are seabirds, Great Skua, Shearwaters, Puffin, Black Guillemot, Razorbill and Little Auk. Last year we booked to go on a Puffin Cruise with the RSPB, but it was cancelled due to stormy seas. Definitely planning to visit a seabird colony this year, most likely to be Bempton Cliffs in East Yorkshire. Also to practice seawatching whenever the chance arises.
- Some revision of bird songs and calls is definitely in order.
- To get out more and get up earlier, we did well last year to start off with but became more lazy as the year wore on. Hopefully we can keep up a better momentum this year.
Well that should be enough to be getting on with for now. Happy New Year and happy birding to everyone! 