A Review of 2018

As 2018 draws to a close most birders have written a summary for their year, so here's mine.


Although 2018 was largely disappointing for birding for me, and I didn't get out as much as I'd like to, there were obvious highlights that still made it a decent year: 

1) Brownsea Island, 2-4th February
    When I joined the Urban Rangers - a group of young rangers between 11-24 years old - run by the GAP (Green Academies Project) at Morden Hall Park in January, I was expecting to learn about the practical and conservation work that the National Trust does on my patch, and how to get involved. With my first session on the 27th January, I was given the opportunity to go on a free trip to Brownsea Island in Poole Harbour, Dorset, where the group were going to be helping maintain the island's natural habitats. The 3 day trip was brilliant, as I got to know more young people with similar interests, take part in fascinating activities and spend time away from work and on a stunning island. Me being me, I managed to help the team of boys lose every race and game as I was birding. I had the time of my life, spotting Red-breasted Mergansers, Black-throated Diver, Spoonbill, waders, Tawny Owls, Red Squirrels, Sika Deer, a 2cy Glaucous Gull and Red-necked Grebe out in the harbour, as well as enjoying biscuits and BBQs. February was undoubtedly the best month of the year, despite being without my broken camera...
https://wildthingsandwings.blogspot.com/2018/02/brownsea-island-nt-urban-rangers-day-2.html

Red-breasted Mergansers and more from a top day on Brownsea

2) Greece, 5th-12th April
    School trips are either great or awful - to me that's if it's indoors or outdoors. But towards the end of 2017 my mum asked me whether I wanted to go to Greece on a Classics trip or to Iceland on a geography trip, and for multiple reasons I decided against my favourite subject Geography and to go to Greece. Over the course of 8 days, in the company of great friends and teachers who sometimes took an interest in what I was seeing, I got to learn about interesting ancient history/myths in some great locations. A non-birding trip abroad resulted in 76 bird species, 16 lifers for my WP list. However these were insignificant to me - some of the birds were so great to watch, with my favourites being the Yelkouan Shearwater, Rock Nuthatch, Crested Lark, terns and gulls, Alpine Swifts, warblers etc. 
https://wildthingsandwings.blogspot.com/2018/06/greece-day-8-grand-finale-in-athens.html

Crested Lark

Rock Nuthatch

Yelkouans Shearwaters

more or less a summary of quality Greek birding; Alpine Swift over Athens

3) People's Walk for Wildlife, 22nd September/Wild Night at the Royal Geographic, 14th December


    As I've got older I've started to try and get more involved with not just birding but conservation work as well. I decided to go along to the 'Peoples Walk for Wildlife' in September, and I thoroughly enjoyed meeting other people and listening to speeches by people and celebrities, who were all united to protest against the lack of support wildlife gets. I managed to enjoy it with other young birders that I'd befriended from Twitter over the year, and it was a top, hopeful day for nature-enthusiasts. 
This wasn't the only wildlife-related, yet not birding event I went to in 2018. Recently, and I haven't had a chance to write a blog post on it yet, I went to an event at the Royal Geographic in London led by Steve Backshall and Helen Glover, where celebrities would be speaking to audiences to raise money to save an area of land, essential for wildlife, in Belize. During the evening from 7pm-10:30pm, myself and my family enjoyed a range of speeches from Leo Houlding, Lowri Morgan, Will Greenwood, Sean Conway and more. I felt privileged to meet Steve at the end of an entertaining, inspirational night.
https://wildthingsandwings.blogspot.com/2018/12/the-peoples-walk-for-wildlife-hope-22nd.html

People's walk for wildlife

Leo Houlding at the Wild Night with Steve

Wild Night at the Royal Geographic

4) Ebro Delta, Catalonia, 2nd August 2018
   This year my parents booked a holiday for the summer quite late, and it took a while to pick a place that we'd definitely go to. After deciding to go to Catalonia, I researched the best places for birding there, and the place I couldn't miss was the Delta del Ebre. What I saw on a day's trip birding was beyond my expectations, with some incredible birds at a range of habitats. The marshland had waders such as Curlew Sandpiper, Little Stint, Kentish Plover, Stilts and more, while the paddyfields had Squacco Herons, Glossy Ibis, Whiskered Tern, Little Tern etc, while the coastal area had gulls, terns, waders and passerines. An awesome 4.5 hours of birding resulted in 91 species of fairly common birds for the area, and it was one of the obvious highlights for the year. 
https://wildthingsandwings.blogspot.com/2018/11/catalonia-part-2-ebro-delta-mindblown.html

Squacco Heron

Whiskered Tern

Little Stint and LRP

Audouin's Gull and 2cy Med Gull

5) Oare Marshes, Kent, 31st October
    I was slightly undecided about my number 5 for the year, and although I was half tempted to put some other days like the twite twitch in January I went for a more recent, more enjoyable day out. Number 2 on my list of places to visit on the UK mainland was Oare Marshes, and with weather looking good for Halloween I was able to have an unbelievably good day with Calum M, who I've become good friends with since meeting in July. It was an outrageously good, yet small site and the birds there - though not particularly rare - blew me away. Getting my 200th UK bird was just a small reason as to why I liked it, and in the future I'm sure to return there just for the sheer Oare of it.

1st winter Eurasian Black Tern

Golden Plover etc

Little Stint 200

However, arguably the greatest highlight of the year wasn't a single trip or holiday abroad. After joining the Urban Rangers at Morden Hall I began to get more and more involved with activities and fun days, and volunteering has meant I have got to know my patch much better. The past year has meant I've probably visited Morden Hall close to 20 times, spending multiple hours there, so close to 200 hours overall. This isn't actually that much, but I've grown to enjoy the commoner species of wildlife more, and finding a new bird there for myself is much more satisfying than a brief glimpse of a rare bird. Finally getting a patch Snipe recently was as good as a UK rare. My patch list for all time has now reached 84 which I'm pleased with (80 for the year,) and the target is to reach an eventual 100. Some of my favourite patch moments were:

- Ticking Black Redstart while at Morden Hall, in an urban rangers session in the paddock. 


- Spending a day out with Sam Levy in August, and finding migratory warblers like Whitethroat, Willow Warbler etc.
- Leading a birdwalk with a member of the nature group at the Fun Palaces event, and getting a flyover Golden Plover
- Finding up to 6 Common Snipe on the newly made marshland (massive success as of yet)

m Reed Bunting

f Grey Wagtail

4/6 of recent Snipe

m Kingfisher

And finally, I managed to tick some bogey birds this year, although I still haven't seen a Little Owl despite trying over 15 times in various locations...

• Dartford Warbler - 27th January at Beddington Farmlands thanks to David Campbell (saw another in February.)
• Marsh Tit - 18th February. Saw tons this year due to DofE though my first was on the worst birding day of the year, where I saw 0/400+ Hawfinch...
• Black Redstart - 27th February. Another patch mega I pulled out, thanks to the volunteering.
• Golden Plover - 4th March. At Beddington during the Beast from the East. Then saw hundreds at Oare. 
• Caspian Gull - 17th November. The last blog post says it all.

My 2019 Bogey Bird List is, unless a SEO or Woodcock flies over my house:
   1. Little Owl
   2. Woodcock 
   3. Kittiwake
   4. Puffin
   5. Short-eared Owl
   6. Spotted Redshank

So overall, it's been a mixed year for birding and all my nature stuff. Joining Twitter has been a huge benefit, as I've befriended numerous other people (especially young birders,) that I would never have done otherwise. I've seen some good birds, with a variety of enjoyable trips around Europe and England, as well as several memorable experiences locally. Despite having a poor year for new birds and rarities, I'd say that 2018 hasn't been a disaster so bring on 2019!

Also, thank you to all those that read and reply to my posts, helping me to learn all the time. 

I wish all my readers a belated Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year :)