Acts of Random Birdwatching

One of my childhood loves was birdwatching. As is the case for many people, this interest disappeared but I have refound it in mid-life. One of my happiest things is to sit and watch birds, or listen to them. Every year I keep a list of the birds I have seen. For the last two years I have seen 91 different species without making a lot of effort. In 2025 I am aiming for 92! I am also going to try recording on BirdTrak (will see how this goes) and learn to identify some more birds by sound. This page will be a log of what I see each month and a list of the bird species I see for the year, along with some random notes.

Current Number of Bird Species for 2026

53

January 2026 - Number of birds 53

The first month of a new year is a joyous affair when bird listing as nearly every day brings new birds. The first three days took me to 26 after a run and a walk. I was surprised to see and hear Ravens in the first few days of the year, as it took until July last year. A walk along the canal upped the number of birds, but the biggest surprise was seeing a Great White Egret perched in some trees with a Grey Heron as I walked home along the Old Railway Track. I have also been happily surprised seeing quite a few Pochards at the Country Park as well, even into double figures. All male as I believe males and females winter separately. I always used to see them in Winter there, but they are a bit hit and miss these days. It took until 24th January to reach 50 birds this year, a week later than last year, but I am not in a hurry.

Notable Birds 2026

Double figure numbers of Pochards have been nice and more regualr sightings of Great White Egrets are always a positive.