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

62

March

The first day of the month brought a coal tit to the list - briefly seen at the start of a walk.

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

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.