Now if I'm truthfully honest I stopped doing lists years back. However I feel obliged this year, only because a few of my friends on the Swindon Birds and Wildlife Blog, have unbeknown to them, influenced me into having ago. If you're reading this you know who you are. Now it's not a challenge in seeing who gets the most birds in one year, just simply a log of what I've seen on my travels. However and it does happen, on the very odd occasion I might go and have a look at something of interest, but I won't be twitching every rarity that comes into our area.
The Great Northern Diver was a treat and when its just 15 minutes from your door, it would have been a shame not to have paid it a visit. So I have a 2016 list, which is the first one since 2006.
A few birds I would love to tick off my Life List, but not necessarily this year, are Dotterel, Rose-coloured Starling and Common Rosefinch. A few birds I would love to see again in the UK would be Golden Oriole, Wryneck, Waxwing, Red-rumped Swallow, Turtle Dove, Bee-eater and Hoopoe. Lets hope for some decent weather then.
Anyway on my walk around Stanton Park I recorded: Mute Swan, Mallard, the Chocolate Magpie x Mulard duck, 1 pair Teal, 4 female "redhead" Goosander, Moorhen, 5 Black-headed Gull, 1 Lesser Black-backed Gull, Wood Pigeon, 1 Great Spotted Woodpecker, Dunnock, Robin, Blackbird, 16 Redwing, Song Thrush, Mistle Thrush, Goldcrest, Long-tailed Tit, 2 Marsh Tit, Coal Tit, Great Tit, Blue Tit, 1 Nuthatch, 1 Treecreeper, Wren, Rook, Carrion Crow, Jackdaw, Chaffinch, 30+ Siskin and 30+ Goldfinch.
And here are some very poor looking images. The Canon PowerShot SX 50 HS is a lovely bridge camera but not brilliant in low-light conditions.
One of the 4 female Goosanders
Chocolate Magpie x Mulard duck
An adult Lesser Black-backed Gull
Same bird in flight