2024 seen from the saddle

2024 was the first year since I started keeping track (in about 1998) during which I was unable to add to my British list. In fact it was worse than that as it actually shrank, the crunching of three flavours of Redpoll into one reducing the number of species I have seen in Britain from 501 to 499. I sort of decided to knock the twitching lark on its head when I reached 500 but now I have to do it all over again! And possibly several times as the list is about to shrink further still with Green-winged Teal, Hudsonian Whimbrel and Hooded Crow also about to lose full species status. Several opportunities to add new birds arose during the course of the year - any one of Indigo Bunting, Pale-legged Leaf Warbler or Scarlet Tanager would have been a 'tick' - but they were all a bit far away and the thought of travelling a long distance and joining a twitching throng just didn't appeal.

As for the non-motorised year list, which continues to be my main focus these days, that turned out to a bit of a repeat of 2023: namely, a decent start let down by a poor autumn migration season, compounded by a change of job in September which necessarily led to some re-focusing on priorities other than birding. As a result the year list ended on 209, my lowest total of the last four years and distinctly below my average of 221 over the last 3 years. Total mileage was also down on previous years at 1,908, well below my 2021 total of 3,500, but this again tailed off after the new job started, and was still respectable at over 150 miles per month. Month-by-month highlights below.

January: the year began with the traditional foolhardy frolic to Studland in a storm which involved 40 mph tailwinds and freewheeling through hub-deep flood waters. I made my first visit of the year to Portland Harbour on 6th seeing a few good waterbirds in the process, and the birthday present of a new mountain bike was put through its paces on 28th with my first trip of 2024 over the border to Hampshire so see a Glossy Ibis near Ringwood. But the highlight came later in the month when a flock of Waxwing lingered long enough in nearby Upton for me to add them to the yearlist which stood at 99 species by the end of the month, a reasonable return for 152 miles cycled.

Bird of the month: one of eight Waxwing at Upton

Photo of the month: an unusually close Black-throated Diver in Holes Bay

February: February offered the first opportunity of 2024 for a full-fat bike tick in the form of a Red-breasted Goose at Normandy Marsh, over the eastern border of Dorset into Hampshire, my first 70+ mile trip of the year. A good weather day on which the target species showed immediately and even gave a close fly-past. There was an unexpected bonus later in the month when Paul Harris located a wintering Yellow-browed Warbler near Dorchester, one of 22 species added to the year list this month in 164 miles cycled.

Bird of the month: Red-breasted Goose at Normandy Marsh

Photo of the month: another one of the Red-breasted Goose

March: we thought we'd had it for wintering Great Grey Shrikes in these parts but an individual ringed at Lytchett Bay in the autumn was relocated early in the month just up the road in Wareham Forest, twitchable by bike during a lunch break. By mid-month the first spring migrant appeared in the form of a Garganey at Lytchett Bay and at the other end of Poole Harbour I finally caught up with the Long-tailed Duck in Brand's Bay which I dipped in a gale on 2nd January. Another 14 species were added to the year list this month in 172 miles of cycling.

Bird of the month: Great Grey Shrike in Wareham Forest

Photo of the month: Goosander is usually a very shy species in Dorset but this individual in Holes Bay showed very well

April: a family holiday in Scotland at Easter saw me miss the return of the Forster's Tern to the Arne area and I spent a high proportion of my free time over the next few weeks trying to connect with it - without success. Better luck was had with a return to Normandy in Hampshire where a Marsh Sandpiper was my second bike tick of the year, and on the same lagoon as the first. Every year that the Puffins return to Dancing Ledge is something of a relief, but I made my annual pilgrimage to see them on 6th. My first trip of the year to Portland Bill produced a decent haul of year ticks but nothing more exciting on the sea than a Manx Shearwater. Some local excitement was generated on 17th with the discovery by Adam Day of a Bonarparte's Gull within walking distance of my home but it took until early morning on the 18th for me to see it. The month ended with a memorable fall of common migrants on St Aldhelm's Head for me and Phil Saunders including multiple Whinchat, Garden Warbler and a Pied Flycatcher. My second most prolific month of the year for cycling with 250 miles completed, adding a further 14 species to the yearlist. A 'brown birding' highlight came in the form of a backyard Dark-eyed Junco in Gillingham, a Dorset tick for me, which hung around long enough to twitch it by car but not by bike.

Bird of the month: Marsh Sandpiper at Keyhaven

Photo of the month: Bonaparte's Gull, Wareham Common

May: May got off to a flier with a bike tick in the form of two fully spooned Pomarine Skuas on 4th which Joe Stockwell and Paul Harris picked up just as I was passing them on Chesil Beach. A cheeky smash and grab added Roseate Tern to the yearlist at Studland on 8th and four days later I added something even rarer to the bike list: a new county in the form of Wiltshire, when I crossed the border in the New Forest to hear a singing Wood Warbler, possibly one of the last I will ever hear in the area due to their precipitous decline. There was more disappointment at the end of the month when a long ride to Martin Down failed to produce any Turtle Dove but in happier news I repeated the now annual pilgrimage to Maiden Newton on 25th to search for Dipper and was delighted to see a freshly fledged juvenile as well as an adult bird. But the highlights of the month were all much closer to home in the flooded lower reaches of the Piddle Valley where Garry Hayman's Temminck's Stint on 20th was trumped the next morning by Rob Johnson's American Golden Plover - a patch tick as well as a year tick! My most energetic month of 2024 with 16 species added in 352 miles of cycling.

Bird of the month: summer plumaged American Golden Plover in the Lower Piddle Valley

Photo of the month: a lovely Spotted Flycatcher along the River Frome in Maiden Newton

June: just two additions to the year list this month: a local Barn Owl and a more distant Balearic Shearwater at Portland Bill on 23rd, where a long seawatch produced not much else. The lack of miles clocked up on the bike - just 90 - reflected the lack of birds to go for more than lack of willingness to make the effort.

Bird of the month: a typically tatty Balearic Shearwater off Portland Bill

Photo of the month: Barn Owl near Wareham

July: another poor month for additions to the yearlist (just one) and for miles cycled (91), the sole addition being Yellow-legged Gull. Interestingly, this bird - an adult with a missing foot - was also my first Yellow-legged Gull of 2023 when it was in its 3rd year. I photographed it at Swineham just a few yards from where it was first seen last year.

Bird of the month: Stumpy the Yellow-legged Gull at Swineham

Photo of the month: not a bird but a dragonfly - a rarity in the form of a male Scarlet Darter at Silverlake. We also saw what is thought to be the first British record of a female the same day and evidence of mating so there should be more to enjoy next year.

August: a decent month with a Furzey Island Golden Pheasant (yes we still count them!), a Lodmoor Spotted Crake and a Keyhaven Curlew Sandpiper among the 5 additions to the year list in return for 233 miles cycled. The Keyhaven trip turned out to be my last of the year to Hampshire.

Bird of the month: Spotted Crake at Lodmoor

Juvenile Little Grebe on the River Piddle at Wareham Common

September: a disappointing month with just a couple of new birds added to the yearlist - a Red-backed Shrike at Lytchett Fields and, even closer to home, a Pectoral Sandpiper at Swineham. The day the Pec was found was a red-letter day as there was also a Common Scoter on the gravel pit - one of 5 patch ticks in 2022. The change of job also took its toll with just 51 miles cycled this month. 

Bird of the month: Red-backed Shrike found by Ian Ballam at Lytchett Fields

Photo of the month: Blackcap at Swineham

October: a better month which started with a bike tick and one of my most time pressured twitches by bike to see a Red-breasted Flycatcher on Portland - door to door in under 6 hours including less than 15 minutes to look for the bird! A few days later I was chuffed to catch up with a Bittern exploding out of the Swineham reeds at dusk, and just three days after that a Ring Ouzel visited a heavily laden Rowan tree at Middlebere. One of the best birds of the year arrived at the end of the month in the form of a juvenile Velvet Scoter at Longham Lakes. It took two attempts, one before work and one after, for me to see this obliging bird - a total of over 50 miles in the same day. Some of the best birds of the year in Dorset chose the week I was on Scilly to appear, notably the apparent Daurian Shrike at Gillingham which was enjoyed by many. It left the day before I returned and although the bike was packed and ready to go, when a Red-eyed Vireo was located at Durlston I panicked and jumped in the car to see it! Unfortunately I dithered before returning home to attempt a bike tick, missing the Vireo by 10 minutes, searching for 3 hours without success, then returning home only for it to be relocated as I walked in the door. A real low point of the year birding by bike and who knows if I will get another shot at this exotic species. 5 species were added to the year list, a reasonable return for187 miles cycled.

Bird of the month: Red-breasted Flycatcher on Portland

Ring Ouzel at Middlebere

November: Black Redstart was finally added to the year list at St Aldhelm's, a consolation for dipping a Pallas's Warbler found by Phil Saunders - I left it a bit too late in the day to get there unfortunately. A late bonus Wryneck, found by our local Wryneck whisperer James Leaver, was a treat at Kimmeridge on the 10th though I got soaked on the way there. But the month ended on a high on 30th with a hat-trick of year ticks: a Surf Scoter at Middle Beach relocated by Chris Chapleo, a Ring-necked Parakeet pinned down in Studland village by Steve Smith, and a male Hen Harrier on the way home. 5 year ticks was a pretty good payback for just 76 miles cycled in November.

Bird of the month: Surf Scoter at Middle Beach, Studland

Photo of the month: not a great photo but this Ring-necked Parakeet lingering around Studland may be the last of its kind after the other members of the tiny colony there seem to have disappeared.

December: the final month of the year looked like being a write-off with work and family commitments taking the early weekends out of the equation, and illness striking at the start of the Christmas break. Fortunately I recovered just in time for a late spurt, adding Purple Sandpiper at Studland to the yearlist on 29th, dipping Green-winged Teal at Brand's Bay on 30th, and closing out the year in style with a Snow Bunting on Hamworthy beach, re-located by Phil Bentley on New Year's Eve after he followed up a Facebook report from the previous evening. So 2 additions to the year list for 91 miles of cycling. 

I indulged in one of only three out-of-county twitches of 2024 in December (the others being dips for a Spotted Sandpiper in neighbouring Somerset and for a Pied Wheatear in Sussex with Phil Saunders), teaming up again with Phil for a fun day out in Kent where we saw both an American Yellow Warbler (my second after the Portland bird in 2017) and a Scops Owl, the latter being my only 'photo tick' of 2024 - the 491st species I have photographed in the UK.

Bird of the month: the charming Snow Bunting at Hamworthy Beach on New Year's Eve

Photo of the month: Purple Sandpipers posing nicely at Sandbanks

So that was 2024, 209 species seen travelling under my own steam (including 5 patch ticks and 4 bike ticks) and a further 20 by motorised means (including 2 Dorset ticks, both American passerines, and a photo tick) giving a respectable 'green' birding ratio of 91.26% of all species seen during the course of the year.

The Longham Lakes Velvet Scoter - first seen in October but photographed here in November

Velvet Scoter showing the white wing panels