January 2025

31st. I stopped at Dozmary Pool on the drive to Cornwall and saw the pair of ring-necked ducks together with 2 goldeneye and a pochard. Next stop was Trenance Boating Lake in Newquay to see the first-winter female long-tailed duck.

I arrived at the railway bridge on the A394 near Marazion and watched the booted eagle fly in at around 15.47h, giving great views in the evening light. The viewing area is unpleasant, with cars hurtling past at high speed.

A small murmuration of ca. 210 Starlings around St Ia’s Church in St Ives. 

26th: Garden birdwatch is atrocious rainy and windy weather: singles of blackbird, magpie, carrion crow, wood pigeon, feral pigeon, blue tit, great tit and jackdaw.

25th: Slimbridge - only one Bewick's swan came in at the evening feed. There were about 20 on the Tack Piece. Other birds included about 20 white-fronted geese, hundreds of golden plover, about 10 ruff, 11 cranes and a spoonbill.

22nd: Tiercel peregrine on the incinerator at St Michael's Hospital, falcon flying around.

17th-21st. Cornwall. Good number of common dolphins in St Ives Bay.

20th: A glossy ibis was at Marazion Marsh together with 2 chiffchaff. There were lots of divers in Mount's Bay viewed from Boat Cove, Perranuthnoe towards St Michael's Mount. I saw the Pacific diver, which looked diminutive alongside the great northern divers (about 20 present). Three black-throated divers were also present.

19th: 2 chough Botallack.

We arrived at around 15.45h on 17th and tried to see the booted eagle going to roost without success. A tawny owl was calling in central St Ives.

On Saturday 18th a female-type black redstart was on Barnoon Hill. I had reasonable views of the juvenile pale-phase BOOTED EAGLE mid-morning over Crowlas, especially when it moved to Cockwells.

16th: Steart Marshes WWT: avocets, 6 golden plover, 2 little stint, the LEAST SANDPIPER (until flushed by a peregrine around midday), a male hen harrier, male sparrowhawk, and 10+ skylark.

11th: Chew Valley Lake: drake red-breasted merganser, female scaup, 2 Egyptian geese, black-necked grebe, marsh harrier and a barn owl.

9th: Great northern diver, 2 purple sandpipers from The Island.

8th: St Ives Island: Great northern diver, 5 purple sandpipers. Trewyn Gardens: 19 collared doves. Female-type black redstart from the house.

7th: The Island, St Ives: 08.30-10.00h. Red-throated diver, 2 Manx shearwaters. Hayle, Lelant Saltings: 1 adult ring-billed gull, 4 goosander, 1 dark-belled brent goose, 1 spoonbill, 14 grey plover, 10 bar-tailed godwit, 2 adult Caspian gulls, 2 adult yellow-legged gulls. Marazion: 28 common scoter, 2 red-throated diver, 3 great northern diver, 1 marsh harrier, 1 water rail. 

6th: Woodcock in flight next to A30 17:18h over Connor Downs.

3rd: Clifton Down: 2 sightings of firecrests, ca. 10 long-tailed tits, bullfinch, flyover greenfinch.

2nd: birds on a sunny Clifton Down included peregrine, jay, blackcap, bullfinch, 2 singing song thrushes and two probable firecrests.

2024 was a good year for me birding in Britain, and I saw 225 species. However, only three of these were new - South Polar and long-tailed skuas and honey buzzard. Waxwings remained into the New Year, and we caught up with a flock on Rodborough Common. The male peregrine disappeared from the Avon Gorge and no breeding happened there for the first time in recent years, though a new male arrived, and a pair nested on the incinerator at St Michael's Hospital - I could see the birds regularly from my office. A yellow-browed warbler showed briefly at Yate, and the bluethroat returned to Slimbridge. The drake Baikal teal returned to Greylake, and I saw a green-winged teal on the same day. We had a lovely day in the New Forest, seeing Dartford warblers, cuckoos and redstarts, and I heard on Twitter about a last minute cancellation to stay on Skomer for two nights,. It was amazing having the island almost to ourselves, watching puffins at sunset and Manx shearwaters on the ground and calling at nighttime. I returned to Skomer the following week during the last field course that I will teach, and once again had splendid weather. A short break in Norfolk in February was great as ever, with pallid harrier alongside short-eared owls, hen and marsh harriers at Warham Greens, 13 shore larks and another green-winged teal at Holkham, and 15 twite at Salthouse. I saw my first tree sparrows in years at Welney on the way back. One of the highlights of the year was watching up to 3 honey buzzards at relatively close range in West Sussex. Although I'd seen several in Italy previously, these were the first I'd seen in Britain. Most of the bird highlights were from Cornwall - the now expected Caspian gulls at Hayle, the returning ring-billed gull there too, and 2 approachable Bonaparte's gulls at Marazion. I also had my best ever views of water pipit at Marazion, and saw green-winged teal and a juvenile semipalmated sandpiper at Hayle, with an adult bird of this species at Marazion. Other highlights included a juvenile red-backed shrike at Marazion, melodious warbler at Cape Cornwall, pectoral sandpiper at Davidstow airfield, a white-winged tern at Bude, snow bunting at Longrock, rosy starling in Lizard village, a turtle dove near Polgigga, and American golden plover at Sennen. Two Cornwall highlights were the showy Azorean yellow-legged gull at Newlyn, and the rough-legged buzzard (probably the American subspecies) at Skewjack. Around the St Ives area I had great views of a juvenile Kumlien's gull, a passage of over 500 great shearwaters, choughs on the Island, 3 skua species including my first long-tailed, 5 shearwater species and nearby ring ouzel and Dartford warblers. My favourite trip was a short one to Scilly, setting off after a beautiful sunrise in St Ives. I spent about 26 hours at sea, with great views of the usual seabirds, my first South Polar skua, Wilson's petrel, Caspian gull, Sabine's gulls, tuna boils and a splendid Milky Way at the end of my first day there. Cetaceans included Risso's dolphin off St Ives, and great views of common dolphins from the Marine Discovery. We saw the perfect pasque flowers and fritillaries in Gloucestershire and Wiltshire. The sky at night was tremendous at times - the biggest solar storm in 20 years producing a spectacular show of the aurora in May, a second show in October, and the comet photographed from the decking in Bristol. I made my first trip overseas since the 2020 lockdowns, doing a PhD viva in Wageningen. I sold almost all of my Canon EF mount lenses as I transition to becoming totally mirrorless.