The year of pestiliential doom began like any other with garden, commute & patch birding through January. At Regent's Park I added Eurasian Teal at the start (2nd) & Eurasian Blackcap at the end of the month (30th), to my site list.

Redwing, a Southgate garden visitor, January.

Thursday 2nd, Tuesday 21st …

London patch visits to Regent's Park for plenty of thrushes feeding on berries: Redwing, Mistle Thrush, Blackbird; at Darlands Lake for Tawny Owl, Bullfinch & my first Kingfisher in London!

Tuesday 3rd, Regent's Park--Boating Lake, London, UK.

Sunday 8th, Darlands Lake NR, London, UK.

Wednesday 11th, Regent's Park--Boating Lake, London, UK …

Mostly patch visit this month, with three to Regent's Park and one to Darland's Lake. Most motable at the former was Red Kite and Greenfinch both on 20th. The visit to Darland's was good for Rook (30) and Goldcrest (8) among others.

Monday 4th, Regent's Park--Boating Lake, London, UK.

Wednesday …

A few splendid outings this month. The first was a trip to RSPB Rainham Marshes with Rob and Elaine. Rob is an old uni friend who likes to bird and he's even managed to persuade his wife Elaine to join in. Despite the cold and rainy conditions we had a …

As the features I have added to the garden continue to mature - 2 years for the back 'hedgerow' and coming up to a year for the pond - a few visitors not typically recorded were seen this month.

First of all a Sparrowhawk was quietly observing the garden from the big …

A big month of field trips this month, some specifically for birds, other locations as part of the summer family vacation.

With my family overseas without me, I had some time to use wisely and so I went to Rainham Marshes RSPB Reserve to connect with my first UK Cattle …

I took a lunchtime walk without binoculars around Regents Park--Boating Lake and was rewarded with singing Reed Warbler, and Swift drinking from the pond on the wing. I also saw a Greylag Goose x Canada Goose hybrid, which is not something I've seen before.

A family beach visit to Hunstanton …

Just one trip to Tyttenhanger GPs this month and an unremarkable one, although I did see 40 species. The highlight was a Garden Warbler at the south end of the main pit which I hadn't seen for a while at this location.

Sunday 30th, Tyttenhanger GPs, Hertfordshire, UK.

First outing this 'Magic May' was back to the traditional nightingale haunt at Lee Valley with Isabelle. Unfortunately the satnav took me to a different car-park and from there I didn't know how to get the same spot as last year! However after a longer than usual walk we found …