2020

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, Tuesday 28th, Thursday 30th, Regents Park--Boating Lake, London, UK.

In February, between patch visits to Regent's Park & Grovelands Park for winter regulars, I went to Walthamstowe Wetlands in an unsuccessful attempt to see Bearded Tits in London, but I did see Common Goldeneye (below) for the year.

Tuesday 4th, Regent's Park

Wednesday 19th, Walthamstowe Wetlands

Friday 21st, Grovelands Park

The viral miasma thickened in March but during the last office weeks (weird to think of now) in Regents Park I saw Kestrel & was shown the Little Owl in its tree by Adam (gnome birding); also a trip to the US Embassy snagged a Great Black-Backed Gull.

11 Mar 2020 Regent's Park

Then that was that! From 23rd March, the viral hysteria & insane over-reaction, mismanagement & casual authoritarianism began & everyone was obliged to stay at home & things would never be the same again.

By now though, I had been running an eBird checklist streak & being forced to stay home motivated me to keep it going for the duration of the lockdowns, however long it lasted.

From 15th March through to 21st May, I logged checklists at only 4 sites: my garden (71), Grovelands Park (14), Southgate Station (1) & Woodcroft Wildspace (1)!

Hybrid Canada x Greyland, Grovelands Park, March.

The house arrest begun for an initial 3 weeks which, along with fine weather, was good for the garden list. In March I recorded flyover Little Egret, & in April I duly added Rook, Red Kite & Buzzard, just from looking about the garden & the airspace above. Grovelands Park was a decent local space to spend more time in & I benefitted with a Treecreeper, my first for London. At the start of May, an early 6am visit to Grovelands Park yielded a cracking couple of Hobby for site-tick. In the garden, Peregrine was another flyover as I had lunch in the sun on the lounger, & a Barn Swallow flew right through the garden during another lunch-break.

Rook - 07 Apr 2020 Ridgemead--Southgate

Eurasian Treecreeper - 12 Apr 2020 Grovelands Park

Swallow & Peregrine - 14 May 2020 Ridgemead--Southgate

Mandarin chick, Grovelands Park, May.

Initially I stayed local as ordered, but after a few weeks the data showed the real picture & so on 22nd May I went to Lee Valley Park for my usual Spring specialities: Cuckoo & Garden Warbler, but unfortunately no Nightingales.

22 May 2020 Lee Valley Regional Park--Fishers Green NR

Mistle Thrush, Grovelands Park, May.

In June, with the first lockdown easing, I augmented my usual patch visits with Darlands Lake which was lovely with Lesser Whitethroat the pick.

21 Jun 2020 Darlands Lake NR

Eurasian Nuthatch, Darlands Lake NR, June.

For July, it was out of London & up to Norfolk again, visiting 3 times & bumping the year list by 24 species, with Nightjar & Bullfinch at Roydon & Titchwell respectively.

Eurasian Nightjar - 30 Jul 2020 Roydon Common NNR

Eurasian Bullfinch - 30 Jul 2020 B1110--Broom Green

With overseas travel heavily restricted a domestic family holiday to Norfolk was the next best thing!...so, off we went to a Great Yarmouth static caravan, reliving similar trips to Caister during my own childhood. From the caravan I could scope very comfortably offshore & that's what I did most evenings, picking out Arctic Skua & Little Tern.

16 Aug 2020 Haven Seashore--Seaview 24

Visits to Winterton Dunes, Breydon Water & Hickling Broad were new places for me, the best sightings Green Sandpiper & out of season Pink-Footed Goose at the latter.

European Stonechat, Winterton Dunes NNR, August. [(https://ebird.org/checklist/S72565586)]

22 Aug 2020 Hickling Broad NNR--Upper Thurne Broads and Marshes

Pink-Footed Goose, Hickling Broad NNR, August. ]

Another trip to NW Norfolk, with Titchwell on the 30th producing a classic, memorable outing. 57 species in rough conditions where an excellent passage of skuas lessened the sand-blasting effect of the wind on the beach (which later necessitated a strip-down of my scope's eyepiece afterwards!). Arctic Skua & GREAT SKUA, a lifer, were both positively identified with at least 8 more skuas passing offshore. Inland were Little Stint, Curlew Sandpiper, Green Sandpiper & Whimbrel.

30 Aug 2020 Titchwell Marsh RSPB Reserve

Into autumn & an early morning visit to Grovelands Park turned up a fantastic passage Spotted Flycatcher which flew the length of the field before perching atop a tree for long enough for me to walk across & get a few photos! A migrating Meadow Pipit passed through just after as well as the usuals on a nice sunny morning.

Spotted Flycatched, Grovelands Park, September.

06 Sep 2020 Grovelands Park

Later in September, Siskins turned up at Grovelands, & an always good for me Redpoll at Tyttenhanger GPs in October; a couple weeks later I was at Rainham Marshes for the reliable Rock & Water Pipits.

10 Sep 2020 Ridgemead--Southgate

25 Oct 2020 Rainham Marshes RSPB Reserve--Riverside

Common Goldeneye, Rainham Marshes RSPB, October.

Back up to Norfolk at the end of October & one of the most memorable outings for the year at Thornham Harbour. An early arrival & lots of activity including an unusual (escaped) Bar-Headed Goose flyby with Greylags, then a Merlin & Peregrine had a brief duel with the former being forced from the sand where it had taken a Starling. Also good numbers of shorebirds including Grey & Golden Plover for the annual list, all against a backdrop of a beautiful morning dawn turning red in the face of coming rain which eventually forced me homeward.

29 Oct 2020 Thornham Harbour

As winter began I returned to Tyttenhanger for Tree Sparrow, then picked off Caspian Gull (Eagle Pond), Black-Necked Grebe (Mansfield Park viewing KGV Reservoir), Goosander (Forty Hall) & Red-Crested Pochard (Finsbury Park). I then twitched Greater White-Fronted Goose & Cattle Egret at Cornmill Meadows, Lee Valley.

08 Nov 2020 Tyttenhanger Gravel Pits

Eurasian Tree Sparrow, Tyttenhanger Gravel Pits, November.

Red-crested Pochard - 29 Nov 2020 Finsbury Park (The Park only)

Goosander (below) - 27 Nov 2020 Forty Hall Country Park

Black-necked Grebe - 15 Nov 2020 Mansfield Park

Caspian Gull - 15 Nov 2020 Eagle Pond

Greater White-Fronted Goose (below) & Cattle Egret - 06 Dec 2020 Lee Valley Regional Park--Cornmill Meadows

In December, one of the highlights, a Short-Eared Owl (below) in Enfield, Gunpowder Park drew several people including a couple of "toggers" who insisted on getting closer to it despite it sometimes being no more than 30ft away!

20 Dec 2020 Lee Valley Regional Park--Gunpowder Park

I also went out to get more year birds, Barnacle Goose & Corn Bunting (plus more "Shorties"!) at Rainham.

27 Dec 2020) Rainham Marshes RSPB Reserve, SSSI and LNR (includes Stone Barges and riverside walk)

I got Smew at Bowyer's Water before pushing the final tally with another trip to Norfolk where I caught Barn Owl, Eider, Common Scoter, Red-Breasted Merganser, Spotted Redshank, Red-Throated Diver & Brambling (Thornham & Titchwell respectively).

29 Dec 2020 Lee Valley Regional Park--Bowyer's Water

30 Dec 2020 Thornham Harbour

31 Dec 2020 Titchwell Marsh RSPB Reserve

Spotted Redshank, RSPB Titchwell Marshes, December.

Considering the awfulness of the year, the plague & the worse over-reaction, I had a good year. 157 species in all, but better than the "stats" were a couple of "blockbuster" outings, Titchwell & Thornham in particular. It was my joint fifth best year in the UK, only 20 behind my best of 177. I also submitted a list for every day of the year & was intent to keep it going into 2021.