300 species in a year - A birder's reflections on 1994

In 1994 I managed to see over 300 species in Great Britain. Here is a month by month account of some of the highlights of the year.

January 1994

New Years Day dawned, as it did for many birders, on the island of Anglesey, where a Killdeer, a North American plover, had set up temporary residence. The bird had been found on 30th December and was quite elusive on 31st, but by the 1st had settled in a field by the road on the outskirts of Holyhead, by the road to South Stack RSPB Reserve.



A big surprise, and a bonus bird, on the way home came in the form of a maritime, first-winter drake Blue-winged Teal on the rising tide off Llanfairfechan promenade, near Bangor, in Gwynedd. The Teal had presumably been brought in across the Atlantic by the same weather systems as the Killdeer.



Lots of local birding during the month saw some over-wintering rarities such as the Little Bunting near Eccleston Mere, St.Helens and Kentish Plover at Rossall Point, Fleetwood in Lancashire.



At the end of the month I made my first trip to South England to see the over-wintering Olive-backed Pipit at Wat Tyler Country Park in Essex and the first-winter Ring-billed Gull at Greatstone-on-Sea in Kent. Also, many hours were spent scouring the European White-fronted Goose flocks on the Isle of Sheppey in Kent. The object of the search - adult and 1st-winter Lesser White-fronted Geese - were seen by many birders, but not by me!

February 1994

A trip to Scotland produced 3 drake Surf Scoter off Ruddons Point in Fife, a Waxwing in a garden near Perth, and rare geese - a white-phase Snow Goose amongst the Pink-footed Geese on Tayside, and the regular adult Red-breasted Goose amongst the Barnacle Geese at Caerlaverock Wildfowl and Wetlands Trust in Dumfries and Galloway.

Two trips to the East Anglia region saw many East Anglian specialities and several over-wintering rarities aswell - a Hoopoe near Norwich in Norfolk, a Spotted Sandpiper at Fen Drayton Gravel Pits and a Rustic Bunting at Fowlmere RSPB in Cambridgeshire, and a Great White Egret at Linford Lakes in Buckinghamshire.

March 1994

The month began with a trip to Tyne and Wear for superb views of the adult Ross's Gull around Sunderland Docks. This was followed later in the month by one closer to home, another adult, in Lancashire which I saw roosting on Rossall Golf Course, Fleetwood.



Early in the month, incredible news came that there was a first for Britain in Greater Manchester! A first-winter Black-faced Bunting was feeding amonst the wintering buntings and finches at a feeding station in Pennington Flash Country Park near Leigh. Being close to the site I managed to see the bird amongst a small crowd of birders on the day the news broke and didn't have to queue for hours like the hundreds of birders who came to look for the bird over the first weekend of its' stay.



Another revelation came towards the end of the month when a smart drake Bufflehead was found on the main lake at Colwick CP in Nottinghamshire.



Around this time, I also caught up with the long-staying Cattle Egret in fields near Gloucester.

April 1994

After the excitement of March, things quietened down a lot in April. A trip to East Anglia early in the month produced an adult Lesser White-fronted Goose amongst a flock of Pink-footed Geese on the marshes by the sea-wall at Burnham Norton in Norfolk, and also Stone Curlews and Woodlarks in the Norfolk Brecklands.

May 1994

A trip of Dotterels near Goole, and a superb male Subalpine Warbler at Spurn Point in East Yorkshire got the month off to a flying start.

My first ever Spring trip to the Isles Of Scilly was great - I watched a confiding female Little Bittern down to a few yards in a ditch oposite Porthloo Duck Pond for many uninterrupted hours, a Squacco Heron gave superb views at Lower Moors and another lifer came in the form of a drake North American Black Duck on Tresco Great Pool.

On the way home, we made a detour and went to see a roosting adult Night Heron on Woodstock Pond in Gwent.

The end of the month produced the biggest twitch of the Spring - several Corncrakes were calling and sometimes showing well in fields just outside North Cave in East Yorkshire. Whilst at this twitch news came through of a Purple Heron at Flamborough. On arrival the Heron was stood at the side of a field with a Grey Heron for company.

Also on this trip I dipped the Lesser Crested Tern which visited Beacon Ponds, Spurn on it's way north to the Northumberland. However, there was a likelihood I would see it later in the year if it returned to the Farne Islands as in previous years...

June 1994

The highlight of the month was a Great Reed Warbler at Cley NNT, which was singing and showing in the reeds by the Beach Road.

Also, the first Ruddy Shelducks of the autumn appeared. I saw my first of the year - one at Spike Island, near Widnes, on the River Mersey in Cheshire, then saw flocks of 5 at Chew Valley Lake in Avon (in July), 7 at Seaforth NR in Merseyside (in August), 8 and 3 at Frodsham Marsh No4 tank in Cheshire (in August and November) and 6 on the Hayle Estuary in Cornwall (in October).



At least some of these birds were thought to be genuine vagrants and part of a large influx into Western Europe.

July 1994

'Elsie' the Lesser Crested Tern was seen on a day-trip to the Farne Islands. Also on this trip to Northumberland, we went to see an eclipse drake Hooded Merganser, which we saw at long range, skulking under the over-hanging vegetation on Whittle Dene Reservoir, on the south-east side of Kielder Forest.

A great day out in South-West England/South Wales was made special by a summer-plumaged Whiskered Tern at Llangedfedd Reservoir in Powys. We spent hours watching and photographing this superb bird.

Later in the month I went to Shetland to try and catch up with 'Alberta', the legendary Black-browed Albatross at Hermaness. On the journey up we saw the eclipse drake King Eider roosting amongst the Common Eiders at the mouth of the Ythan Estuary.

We spent several days at Hermaness watching the Gannet covered cliffs, hoping Alberta would return, but, in fact she was not seen again at Hermaness during 1994! However, I did manage to see her the following May...

The Shetland Islands are beautiful and hold many other birds. We had breath-takingly close views of an Alpine Swift on the Island of Noss, as it careered back and forth along the cliff-tops above the seabird colony, and also saw several delightful Red-necked Phalaropes at the Loch of Funzie on Fetlar.

August 1994

After one or two reports of a Marsh Sandpiper on the River Clwyd between Rhyl and Rhuddlan, Chris Done and I decided to investigate. After a lot of searching we managed to find the bird, and a bonus adult Glaucous Gull, along the banks of the river and these were enjoyed by many observers over the next few days.

Also in North Wales, a superb adult Rose-coloured Starling stayed for over a month at Moelfre on Anglesey.

Towards the end of the month, we made a pilgrimage to the South-West. One of the highlights of this trip was a pelagic run by Paul Flint of Birdnet into the mystical 'Wilson's Triangle' in the Western Approaches off the Isles of Scilly. Here I saw 3 new birds - the magical Wilson's Petrel, Great Shearwater and Sabine's Gull. All these birds were seen at close quarters in still conditions on a relatively small boat. To add to the sea-bird list we also saw a Cory's Shearwater and Mediterranean Shearwaters flying past Porthgwarra.

Aquatic Warbler and Spotted Crake were seen at Marazion Marsh RPSB Reserve near Penzance, and North American waterbirds seen on the trip were a Pied-billed Grebe at Stithians Reservoir and a Ring-necked Duck at Loe Pool, Helston.

September 1994

The month started with a double-dip in Cheshire on Yellow-breasted Bunting and Semi-palmated Sandpiper. Both the Bunting on Hilbre Island at the mouth of the Dee Estuary, and the Sandpiper on the Weaver Bend at Frodsham had been showing well the day before, but had disappeared before a full-scale twitch could take place...

Mid-month I made my first ever trip to North Ronaldsay, the furthest north of the Orkney islands, having heard of it's growing status as one of THE Northern Isles to find rare birds in the autumn...

A real mega was on the island when we arrived - a Steppe Grey Shrike, and during our stay we saw several rare and scarce birds, including a Citrine Wagtail, a confiding Short-toed Lark, Melodious Warbler (a very rare bird for Orkney), Wryneck, Yellow-browed Warbler, Bluethroat, as well as plenty of Sooty Shearwaters passing off-shore.

October 1994

The week I went to Scillies (2nd week) was quiet; a Radde's Warbler at Lower Moors was a lifer, and other good birds were Red-throated Pipit and Red-breasted Flycatcher. We came off Scillies to find lots of the fun happening on the mainland...

We went straight to Seaforth NR in Merseyside where a North American passerine had appeared - a Song Sparrow. Later in the day we arrived at Rockcliffe Marsh in Cumbria where we walked along the River Eden to secure views of the Greater Yellowlegs.

The next mega to appear was a Red-flanked Bluetail at Great Yarmouth in Norfolk. As I hadn't seen the well-twitched Dorset bird of 1993 I was very keen to see this bird and left straight away. We didn't get there until after dusk, but luckily the bird was still there the next day and gave some stunning views.

A flock of 3 Red-rumped Swallows at Clumber Park in Nottinghamshire brightening up a dull late October day were part of a national influx of these elegant hirundines.

November 1994

Westerly winds brought a North American Yellow-rumped Warbler to the small island of Ramsey off the Dyfed coast. An overnight drive and a boat-trip across Ramsey Sound was required to get crippling views of this superb first-winter male.

Yet another mega appeared - an Alpine Accentor, on the Lincolnshire coast at Rimac. As with many of the years' rarities, this was a very confiding bird, seemingly appreciating its' audience and showing off to the masses.



More locally another confiding rare passerine appeared, this time in Lancashire - a first-winter male Desert Wheatear in Blackpool. I saw it in a Tesco's car park - quite an incongruous place for such a rarity!

A very late first-winter White-winged Black Tern at Ellesmere in Shropshire was an unexpected late year-tick, and was seen on the mere with a first-winter Mediterranean Gull!

December 1994

News came of a Grey-tailed Tattler - only the 2nd for Britain - on the shore at Burghead Bay in Highland.



As the news broke on a Sunday evening, it meant large numbers of birders were phoning in 'sick' to work on Monday morning from the site, as they enjoyed crippling views of this mega-wader! Nearby an adult drake King Eider was on the sea off Lossiemouth.



As could be expected, the wildfowl theme continued through until the end of the month, with a first-winter drake Lesser Scaup and a drake Red-crested Pochard amongst the large numbers of Aythyas on Pine Lake in north Lancashire, and the returning drake Ferruginous Duck on picturesque Brother's Water in the Lake District in Cumbria.

Reflections on the Year

A year-list of over 300 species in Britain is a good achievement in any birders book and I am very pleased that I did it. I saw some gorgeous birds, and visited many stunning areas of natural beauty that I hadn't visited before.

However, it is not something I am likely to attempt again - it required a lot of time, money and patience, and was also quite environmentally unfriendly in the use of fossil fuels to get to sites, although all transport for this year-list was lifts, as I didn't have a driving license at the time.

Thanks

Many thanks to all of my birding partners at the time, to everyone who gave me a lift or pointed out a bird to me, and especially to Birdnet Ltd [www.birdnet.co.uk] for the support and information given to me during the year.