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 2025

67

April

The start of the month has seen (or heard) increasing numbers of chiffchaffs joined by singing blackcaps. My first sighting of House Martins were two very high in the sky on the 5th. Still listening for willwobs. The Country Park has installed what looks like a Sand Martin nesting thingy, although I have only ever seen Sand Martins there once, ever. My first Willow Warbler of the year arrived on the 10th, in the garden on a morning when I was wfh, and on a day that I don't usually wfh. Win win.

Notable Birds 2025

My second ever Water Rail at the Country Park (bird 45 heard, not seen, on 4th January).

Bird 50 was a beautiful Great Spotted Woodpecker - just outside my window - looking amazing on the silver birches.

I know some who have to live near the skwaky green parrots hate them, but they are rare enough for me right now that I loved seeing the Ring-necked parakeets flying around Bloomsbury on a freezing cold grey January day. February and March were unremarkable, with chiffchaffs appearing early, and blackcaps on the same day as the previous year.

March

The first day of the month brought a coal tit to the list - briefly seen at the start of a walk. Chiffchaffs have been calling a couple of weeks earlier than usual, and the blackcaps appeared right at the end of the month. Otherwise it has been quite a quiet month really, with five new birds added bring the total to 65.

February

The first week of February has been notable for a lack of new birds (although those that are about are singing more now that there is a bit more daylight. The second week was also very dull and completely lacking in new birds. Week three of February brought a bit of sunshine and some new birds for the list including a skylark singing away - earlier than I heard it last year. I finished the month on 60 birds and am still annoyed about missing the bittern.

January

January got off to a slow start because I didn't leave the house. Since the first though I have made more of an effort. I went for a walk round Becket's park which is a place that I know is frequented by Mistle Thrushes and wasn't disappointed. I've also had a couple of visits to Daventry Country Park - the goosanders are there in good numbers, and I also managed to see some Pochard and a pair of Goldeneye. I used the Merlin app to discover a Water Rail in a bit of the park extension that I never heard them in before. Bird number 47 was a nuthatch, heard but not seen (but the arcade game call is unmistakeable). This wouldn't be remarkable but I didn't see or hear one at all in 2024. Bird 50 came on the 18th January, and was soon followed by bird 51. A Black Redstart was apparently seen very close to where I live - missed that (it would have been a lifetime first for me) and I haven't seen the Red-crested pochard yet that are apparently still at the local country park. My trip to London did allow me to add in Ring-necked parakeets which I haven't seen locally for a couple of years, as well as pheasants from the train. A flock of lapwing in a dusk sky over a motorway junction on my commute home brought the January total to 56. Lapwings remind me of my childhood and trips out to the farmland dominated countryside.