2022 round-up

Pink-footed goose, Crossens Marsh

I did the traditional New Year's Eve planning for a last-minute birdwatching blitz to see if I could add to my tallies and generally be whizz-bang and whatsit, and just as traditionally concluded I really couldn't be doing with it. There's a garden full of spadgers on one side, gulls in the field on the other and tea in the pot and although all's not well with the world there's still space for rest and quiet contemplation.

Woodpigeon, Beverley

The world pretended to go back to normal once it was decided the pandemic was over and my reaction was to fling myself around on birdwatching jaunts, which brought a lot of new sites onto my radar but led to my neglecting some local sites rather. I'm hoping to achieve a slightly better balance next year. The list of places to visit has grown much faster than I'm getting to visit them and I didn't get round to Dove Holes, Holcombe Moor, much of the Lake District or Llandudno. For reasons I can't fathom I seem to have rather neglected Crosby, Frodsham, Lunt Meadows and Northwich. And for various reasons I've stuck to day trips so there are huge swathes of the country left uncovered. But there have been a lot of new places and I haven't had many truly disappointing trips out.

Little ringed plover, Elton Reservoir

The weather was a feature of the year and definitely had its impacts. A relatively mild, very wet Winter and cold fronts holding Spring migrants at bay for a crucial couple of weeks meant that it was Autumn before I saw the first scaup, long-tailed duck and white wagtail of the year. July and August gave us "Coo, what a scorcher!" in spades. I suspect we'll be seeing more of the same so I'm going to need to revise and adapt, staying at home muttering: "My word it's hot," isn't awfully productive. I think it's safe to predict that whatever the weather's like in 2023 it won't be predictable.

Heron, Leighton Moss

The train services have been another feature of the year with the strike days ironically providing oases of certainty amidst a catalogue of random cancellations, late runnings and unscheduled abandonment. There's no reason to expect any better in 2023.

Two of the lads
House sparrows, Stretford

The aim, as usual, was to get the year list to 200 and see at least 100 species a month and both targets were achieved, 217 on the year list and an average of 113 per month. I hit 200 in September but managed to keep the momentum going to the beginning of December. I toyed with the idea of setting a stretch goal of 220 for 2023 but decided against: it's feasible but given the choice between having an enjoyable day's birdwatching or stressing out trying to make up the numbers I need to opt for the former. 200 pushes me and makes sure I get out of the house for some exercise without getting me fretting about goals and targets. They used to have to pay me for that sort of thing.

Moorhen, Pennington Flash

Let's get a few negatives out of the way. The bogey birds this year were barn owl, little gull and wood sandpiper. Little gulls were recorded the day before and the day after a few visits to likely sites but I had no luck on the day. Barn owls eluded me despite my being in the right places at the right times and even routinely passing by a field next to an active nest site on one of my regular strolls. Just as just because you know where there's a mouse hole there's no guarantee you'll see the mouse so it goes with barn owls, apparently. And I can guarantee that I will have been within fifty yards of a wood sandpiper a few times this year, I just couldn't see them. 

Red-necked grebe, Barrow in Furness

Cattle egret, Marshside

Looking at some of the other missed targets, cuckoos, redstarts and woodcock are always hit and miss for me; Leach's petrels, little owls, crossbills and pied flycatchers weren't where I hoped they would be despite repeat visits; American wigeons and green-winged teals flew away just prior to my arrivals; and I wasn't in the right places often enough — or at all — for a few others, so no skuas, no phalaropes and no grouse. I'd started to take sightings of pectoral sandpiper, long-billed dowitcher and American golden plover for granted so this year's been a useful reminder that they are rare vagrants. Similarly, it seems daft to be thinking in terms of a bad year for cattle egrets but seeing just a couple all year is a reminder there's only about a dozen of them in the Northwest of England, they tend to gang together and they're nearly always where I'm not. My split-second sighting of my second-ever hoopoe would have been a crushing disappointment had it not come late on an otherwise very good day.

Glossy ibis, Cheadle Hulme

Turkestan shrike, Bempton Cliffs

The life ticks haven't slowed down any. Amazingly enough one of last year's predictions came right: a Lapland bunting on Anglesey was a serendipitous discovery, especially as it was the call and not the bird that led me to the correct ID (had it kept quiet it would have been an unidentified small brown bird). The trip out to see the long-staying Baikal teal just outside Beverley was a punt that nearly didn't come off but even if it hadn't it opened my eyes to the accessibility of Bempton Cliffs where I got cracking views of a Turkestan shrike (and a lot of seabirds) and a frustrating glimpse of a black-browed albatross. This was the year when I saw my first lesser scaup and my first white-tailed lapwing on the same day. And the year I saw my first and second lesser yellowlegs. Redcar gave me my first greater sand plover and my second and third velvet scoters, Marton Mere a beautiful red-footed falcon and Elton Reservoir a very nice spotted sandpiper. Surprise of the year would have been the pallid swift at Hoylake. And finally it could have been disappointing to have seen so little of the penduline tit at Woolston Eyes had it not also been an opportunity to revisit a site I last visited a lifetime ago. In most of these cases I'd have laughed had you suggested them last New Year.

Teal and snipe, Leighton Moss

Ruddy shelduck, Widnes

So, at end of play in 2022 the year list is 217, the life list stands at 376, my British list at 295 and my Greater Manchester list at 185.

But it's not about the numbers, it's about the places and the birds.

Woodpigeons, wigeon, teal and Baikal teal, Swine Moor

Eiders and black-tailed godwits, Hodbarrow

Black-tailed godwit, Martin Mere

Snow goose with pink-footed geese, Crossens Marsh

Whinchat, Withins Reservoir

Dipper and grey wagtail, Etherow Country Park

Brambling, Pennington Flash

House Martin, Leasowe

Sanderling. Redcar

Mute swan, Sale Water Park

Snow bunting, Southport

Lapwings, Cadishead Moss

Smew and goosanders, Lapwing Hall Pool

Gannets, Bempton Cliffs

Sedge warbler, Martin Mere

Red-throated diver, Watergrove Reservoir

White-tailed lapwing, Bickershaw Country Park

Lesser scaup, Marshside

Marsh harrier, Leighton Moss

Red-footed falcon, Marton Mere

Lesser yellowlegs, Crossens Marsh

Sanderlings, Meols

Choughs, South Stack

Grey wagtail, Elton Reservoir

Blackcap, Leighton Moss

Red-legged partridges, Burscough

Dunnock, Stretford Meadows

Redshank and greenshank, Meols

Yellow wagtail, Chat Moss

Goosander, West Kirby

Siskin, Leighton Moss

Short-eared owl, Neston

Common scoter, Marshside

Greater sand plover, Redcar

Garganey, Pennington Flash

Sandwich terns, Hodbarrow

Razorbill, Bempton Cliffs

Great northern diver, Scarborough

Stonechat, Meols

As for my predictions for 2023? Let's keep wryneck, little auk, nightjar and great reed warbler on the wish list. The pattern over the past few years is to have a shrike a year but never the same one twice so let's guess at a woodchat shrike for next year. And either king eider or red-breasted goose for waterfowl. I feel that I've shot my bolt with waders so if I bump into anything new it will be a nice surprise. And while I'm wishing, let's have something idiotically outrageous like a griffon vulture commuting between the Peak District and Bolton.

Mandarin ducks, Etherow Country Park