2018 Annual Summary

Annual Summary

 173 Species of Birds Seen In UK in 2018

UK Life Ticks in 2018

1. Iceland Gull in Tobermory Harbour on 23rd June
2. Bonaparte’s Gull at Hoylake 14th August
3. Rose-coloured Starling, St Helens 28th October 2018
4. Velvet Scoter on High Rid Reservoir near Bolton on 25th November 2018

Monthly Summaries

January 2018

January was a fairly quiet month for us with only 68 species seen

February 2018

Another 24 species in February took us to 92 species for the year to date. We did get a good high tide on the Wirral on the 2nd of February and we had a good circuit of as many of our usual sites as we could fit in. In fact we had a few trips up to the Wirral and managed to get some good birding in.

March 2018

Most of our March was spent in America in San Diego, Hawai’i Island, Maui and San Francisco where we were able to add quite a few more American birds to our world list – such as it is. We did get a couple of birding group days out but the highlight was cetainly our US trip.

April 2018

As well as the modest six year ticks we got in the UK in March, we were able to add another 22 in April getting our year list up to 120. We started to get good migrating birds, of course, and got nice Bramblings and Black-necked Grebes at Woolston Eyes and Med Gull and Spotted Redshank up on the Wirral. From the 20th onwards, however, was when we got most of our additional species for the year as a result of a  southern England jaunt taking in Otmoor nature Reserve, Ham Wall, Shapwick Heath, Steart Marshes, Slimbridge.

May 2018

May was also a poor month weather-wise so it took us a bit of time to get going. By the middle of the month it was much better and then at the end we had a mini heat-wave that was like a real old-fashioned Summer. Then all we did was lie sunning ourselves in the garden it being far too hot to go out far. This coincided with our nest box (camera fitted) being occupied by a pair of Blue Tits who entertained us for weeks with their brood of six (seven but one died) chicks. We spent far too much time watching and recording their progress. As I write this in January of 2019, I am sure that most of those chicks can still be seen on our feeders as we have a good supply of them this winter.

We had our usual visit to Goyt Valley for Ring Ousel and Pied Flycatcher and Redstart but we didn’t manage to get any of these species ! – pleanty of Spotted Flycatchers, though.

June 2018

June saw the good weather continuing and we had a really good overnight stay in Anglesey with the birding group which added a lot to our year list. The other big feature of June was a rather wet holiday on Mull where, unfortunately we did not get to see a lot of the birds we wanted to see. However we did get Eagles and a full summary of everything is here. We got our first life tick on MUll – an Iceland Gull in Tobermory Harbour on 23rd June. With another twenty-six species recorded in June our year list stood at 157 by the end of the month

July 2018

My summary for the month was “nothing to summarise” and this was a combination of two factors. The first was the heat wave that meant it was too hot to do anything but sit in the garden and then, later in the month, we had a cellar clear out, a new boiler and associated plumbing fitted, a shower disaster that caused some flooding which eventually led on to a complete bathroom refit. No new life ticks and not even a new year tick. The end of July saw us still at 157 species for the year.

August 2018

After a long spell of non-birding as a result of the July heat-wave and some building work on the house, August saw us getting out a bit more and a couple of trips up to the Wirral saw us get some new birds for the year including a juvenile Redstart (really this late before we saw one) and a Ruddy Shelduck. We got a life tick Bonaparte’s Gull at Hoylake 14th August and this took our UK year total, so far, to 162

September 2018

September ended up being a month of going up to the Wirral and although this did not bring us any new life ticks, we did get some nice year ticks in the shape of Spoonbills at Burton Mere Wetlands on 11th September 2018, Spotted Crake also at Burton Mere Wetlands just a couple of days later as well as Greenshank and Curlew Sandpiper – all on the 13th.

October 2018

A fairly unexceptional October at least featured a life-tick Rose-coloured Starling which we saw on a wall behind a chip shop in St Helens. By this point in the year we were only getting dribs and drabs of year ticks so our annual UK count was still only at 168

November 2018

November gave us a couple more year ticks- Brent Goose at West Kirby Marine Lake on 11th November 2018 and Water Rail at Burton Mere Wetlands on 11th November 2018. The highlight of the month, though was the life-tick Velvet Scoter on High Rid Reservoir near Bolton on 25th November 2018

December 2018

December saw us get winter colds that somewhat spoiled the month, though we did get trips in to Burton Mere Welands, WWT Martin Mere and and a last gasp trip to the Wirral on the 30th of the month. Particularly pleasing year ticks in December were a Great Northern Diver at West Kirby Marine Lake on 2 December 2018 and a Barn Owl at WWT Martin Mere 4 December 2018

THe Total Number of Birds Seen in the UK in 2018 (173)

British Birds