2018 Annual Summary
Annual Summary
173 Species of Birds Seen In UK in 2018
UK Life Ticks in 2018
- Iceland Gull in Tobermory Harbour on 23rd June
- Bonaparte’s Gull at Hoylake 14th August
- Rose-coloured Starling, St Helens 28th October 2018
- Velvet Scoter on High Rid Reservoir near Bolton on 25th November 2018
Monthly Summaries
January was a fairly quiet month for us with only 68 species seen
Another 24 species in February took us to 92 species for the year to date. We did get a good high tide on the Wirral on the 2nd of February and we had a good circuit of as many of our usual sites as we could fit in. In fact we had a few trips up to the Wirral and managed to get some good birding in.
Most of our March was spent in America in San Diego, Hawai’i Island, Maui and San Francisco where we were able to add quite a few more American birds to our world list – such as it is. We did get a couple of birding group days out but the highlight was cetainly our US trip.
As well as the modest six year ticks we got in the UK in March, we were able to add another 22 in April getting our year list up to 120. We started to get good migrating birds, of course, and got nice Bramblings and Black-necked Grebes at Woolston Eyes and Med Gull and Spotted Redshank up on the Wirral. From the 20th onwards, however, was when we got most of our additional species for the year as a result of a southern England jaunt taking in Otmoor nature Reserve, Ham Wall, Shapwick Heath, Steart Marshes, Slimbridge.
May was also a poor month weather-wise so it took us a bit of time to get going. By the middle of the month it was much better and then at the end we had a mini heat-wave that was like a real old-fashioned Summer. Then all we did was lie sunning ourselves in the garden it being far too hot to go out far. This coincided with our nest box (camera fitted) being occupied by a pair of Blue Tits who entertained us for weeks with their brood of six (seven but one died) chicks. We spent far too much time watching and recording their progress. As I write this in January of 2019, I am sure that most of those chicks can still be seen on our feeders as we have a good supply of them this winter.
We had our usual visit to Goyt Valley for Ring Ousel and Pied Flycatcher and Redstart but we didn’t manage to get any of these species ! – pleanty of Spotted Flycatchers, though.
June saw the good weather continuing and we had a really good overnight stay in Anglesey with the birding group which added a lot to our year list. The other big feature of June was a rather wet holiday on Mull where, unfortunately we did not get to see a lot of the birds we wanted to see. However we did get Eagles and a full summary of everything is here. We got our first life tick on MUll – an Iceland Gull in Tobermory Harbour on 23rd June. With another twenty-six species recorded in June our year list stood at 157 by the end of the month
My summary for the month was “nothing to summarise” and this was a combination of two factors. The first was the heat wave that meant it was too hot to do anything but sit in the garden and then, later in the month, we had a cellar clear out, a new boiler and associated plumbing fitted, a shower disaster that caused some flooding which eventually led on to a complete bathroom refit. No new life ticks and not even a new year tick. The end of July saw us still at 157 species for the year.
After a long spell of non-birding as a result of the July heat-wave and some building work on the house, August saw us getting out a bit more and a couple of trips up to the Wirral saw us get some new birds for the year including a juvenile Redstart (really this late before we saw one) and a Ruddy Shelduck. We got a life tick Bonaparte’s Gull at Hoylake 14th August and this took our UK year total, so far, to 162
September ended up being a month of going up to the Wirral and although this did not bring us any new life ticks, we did get some nice year ticks in the shape of Spoonbills at Burton Mere Wetlands on 11th September 2018, Spotted Crake also at Burton Mere Wetlands just a couple of days later as well as Greenshank and Curlew Sandpiper – all on the 13th.
A fairly unexceptional October at least featured a life-tick Rose-coloured Starling which we saw on a wall behind a chip shop in St Helens. By this point in the year we were only getting dribs and drabs of year ticks so our annual UK count was still only at 168
November gave us a couple more year ticks- Brent Goose at West Kirby Marine Lake on 11th November 2018 and Water Rail at Burton Mere Wetlands on 11th November 2018. The highlight of the month, though was the life-tick Velvet Scoter on High Rid Reservoir near Bolton on 25th November 2018
December saw us get winter colds that somewhat spoiled the month, though we did get trips in to Burton Mere Welands, WWT Martin Mere and and a last gasp trip to the Wirral on the 30th of the month. Particularly pleasing year ticks in December were a Great Northern Diver at West Kirby Marine Lake on 2 December 2018 and a Barn Owl at WWT Martin Mere 4 December 2018
THe Total Number of Birds Seen in the UK in 2018 (173)
British Birds
| No | Species | Scirntific Name |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Arctic Tern | Sterna paradisaea |
| 2 | Avocet | Recurvirostra avosetta |
| 3 | Barn Owl | Tyto alba |
| 4 | Barnacle Goose | Branta leucopsis |
| 5 | Bar-tailed Godwit | Limosa lapponica |
| 6 | Bittern | Botaurus stellaris |
| 7 | Black Guillemot | Cepphus grylle |
| 8 | Black Swan | Cygnus atratus |
| 9 | Blackbird | Turdus merula |
| 10 | Blackcap | Sylvia atricapilla |
| 11 | Black-headed Gull | Chroicocephalus ridibundus |
| 12 | Black-necked Grebe | Podiceps nigricollis |
| 13 | Black-tailed Godwit | Limosa limosa |
| 14 | Blue Tit | Cyanistes caeruleus |
| 15 | Bonaparte’s Gull | Chroicocephalus philadelphia |
| 16 | Brambling | Fringilla montifringilla |
| 17 | Brent Goose | Branta bernicla |
| 18 | Bullfinch | Pyrrhula pyrrhula |
| 19 | Buzzard | Buteo buteo |
| 20 | Canada Goose | Branta canadensis |
| 21 | Carrion Crow | Corvus corone |
| 22 | Cattle Egret | Bubulcus ibis |
| 23 | Cetti’s Warbler | Cettia cetti |
| 24 | Chaffinch | Fringilla coelebs |
| 25 | Chiffchaff | Phylloscopus collybita |
| 26 | Chough | Pyrrhocorax pyrrhocorax |
| 27 | Coal Tit | Periparus ater |
| 28 | Collared Dove | Streptopelia decaocto |
| 29 | Common Gull | Larus canus |
| 30 | Common Sandpiper | Actitis hypoleucos |
| 31 | Common Scoter | Melanitta nigra |
| 32 | Common Tern | Sterna hirundo |
| 33 | Coot | Fulica atra |
| 34 | Cormorant | Phalacrocorax carbo |
| 35 | Corncrake | Crex crex |
| 36 | Crane | Grus grus |
| 37 | Cuckoo | Cuculus canorus |
| 38 | Curlew | Numenius arquata |
| 39 | Curlew Sandpiper | Calidris ferruginea |
| 40 | Dunlin | Calidris alpina |
| 41 | Dunnock | Prunella modularis |
| 42 | Eider | Somateria mollissima |
| 43 | Fieldfare | Turdus pilaris |
| 44 | Fulmar | Fulmarus glacialis |
| 45 | Gadwall | Anas strepera |
| 46 | Gannet | Morus bassanus |
| 47 | Garganey | Anas querquedula |
| 48 | Goldcrest | Regulus regulus |
| 49 | Golden Eagle | Aquila chrysaetos |
| 50 | Golden Plover | Pluvialis apricaria |
| 51 | Goldeneye | Bucephala clangula |
| 52 | Goldfinch | Carduelis carduelis |
| 53 | Goosander | Mergus merganser |
| 54 | Grasshopper Warbler | Locustella naevia |
| 55 | Great Black-backed Gull | Larus marinus |
| 56 | Great Crested Grebe | Podiceps cristatus |
| 57 | Great Northern Diver | Gavia immer |
| 58 | Great Spotted Woodpecker | Dendrocopos major |
| 59 | Great Tit | Parus major |
| 60 | Great White Egret | Ardea alba |
| 61 | Green Sandpiper | Tringa ochropus |
| 62 | Green Woodpecker | Picus viridis |
| 63 | Greenfinch | Chloris chloris |
| 64 | Greenshank | Tringa nebularia |
| 65 | Grey Heron | Ardea cinerea |
| 66 | Grey Plover | Pluvialis squatarola |
| 67 | Grey Wagtail | Motacilla cinerea |
| 68 | Greylag Goose | Anser anser |
| 69 | Guillemot | Uria aalge |
| 70 | Hawfinch | Coccothraustes coccothraustes |
| 71 | Hen Harrier | Circus cyaneus |
| 72 | Herring Gull | Larus argentatus |
| 73 | Hobby | Falco subbuteo |
| 74 | Hooded Crow | Corvus cornix |
| 75 | House Martin | Delichon urbicum |
| 76 | House Sparrow | Passer domesticus |
| 77 | Iceland Gull | Larus glaucoides |
| 78 | Jackdaw | Corvus monedula |
| 79 | Jay | Garrulus glandarius |
| 80 | Kestrel | Falco tinnunculus |
| 81 | Kingfisher | Alcedo atthis |
| 82 | Kittiwake | Rissa tridactyla |
| 83 | Knot | Calidris canutus |
| 84 | Lapwing | Vanellus vanellus |
| 85 | Lesser Black-backed Gull | Larus fuscus |
| 86 | Lesser Redpoll | Carduelis cabaret |
| 87 | Lesser Whitethroat | Sylvia curruca |
| 88 | Linnet | Carduelis cannabina |
| 89 | Little Egret | Egretta garzetta |
| 90 | Little Grebe | Tachybaptus ruficollis |
| 91 | Little Ringed Plover | Charadrius dubius |
| 92 | Little Tern | Sternula albifrons |
| 93 | Long-tailed Tit | Aegithalos caudatus |
| 94 | Magpie | Pica pica |
| 95 | Mallard | Anas platyrhynchos |
| 96 | Mandarin Duck | Aix galericulata |
| 97 | Marsh Harrier | Circus aeruginosus |
| 98 | Meadow Pipit | Anthus pratensis |
| 99 | Mediterranean Gull | Larus melanocephalus |
| 100 | Merlin | Falco columbarius |
| 101 | Mistle Thrush | Turdus viscivorus |
| 102 | Moorhen | Gallinula chloropus |
| 103 | Mute Swan | Cygnus olor |
| 104 | Nuthatch | Sitta europaea |
| 105 | Oystercatcher | Haematopus ostralegus |
| 106 | Peregrine | Falco peregrinus |
| 107 | Pheasant | Phasianus colchicus |
| 108 | Pied Wagtail | Motacilla alba |
| 109 | Pink-footed Goose | Anser brachyrhynchus |
| 110 | Pintail | Anas acuta |
| 111 | Pochard | Aythya ferina |
| 112 | Puffin | Fratercula arctica |
| 113 | Purple Sandpiper | Calidris maritima |
| 114 | Raven | Corvus corax |
| 115 | Razorbill | Alca torda |
| 116 | Red Kite | Milvus milvus |
| 117 | Red-breasted Merganser | Mergus serrator |
| 118 | Redshank | Tringa totanus |
| 119 | Redstart | Phoenicurus phoenicurus |
| 120 | Redwing | Turdus iliacus |
| 121 | Reed Bunting | Emberiza schoeniclus |
| 122 | Reed Warbler | Acrocephalus scirpaceus |
| 123 | Ringed Plover | Charadrius hiaticula |
| 124 | Ring-necked Parakeet | Psittacula krameri |
| 125 | Robin | Erithacus rubecula |
| 126 | Rock Dove / Feral Pigeon | Columba livia |
| 127 | Rock Pipit | Anthus petrosus |
| 128 | Rook | Corvus frugilegus |
| 129 | Roseate Tern | Sterna dougallii |
| 130 | Rose-coloured Starling | Pastor roseus |
| 131 | Ruddy Shelduck | Tadorna ferruginea |
| 132 | Ruff | Calidris pugnax |
| 133 | Sand Martin | Riparia riparia |
| 134 | Sanderling | Calidris alba |
| 135 | Sandwich Tern | Sterna sandvicensis |
| 136 | Scaup | Aythya marila |
| 137 | Sedge Warbler | Acrocephalus schoenobaenus |
| 138 | Shag | Phalacrocorax aristotelis |
| 139 | Shelduck | Tadorna tadorna |
| 140 | Shoveler | Anas clypeata |
| 141 | Siskin | Carduelis spinus |
| 142 | Skylark | Alauda arvensis |
| 143 | Snipe | Gallinago gallinago |
| 144 | Song Thrush | Turdus philomelos |
| 145 | Sparrowhawk | Accipiter nisus |
| 146 | Spoonbill | Platalea leucorodia |
| 147 | Spotted Crake | Porzana porzana |
| 148 | Spotted Flycatcher | Muscicapa striata |
| 149 | Spotted Redshank | Tringa erythropus |
| 150 | Starling | Sturnus vulgaris |
| 151 | Stock Dove | Columba oenas |
| 152 | Stonechat | Saxicola rubicola |
| 153 | Swallow | Hirundo rustica |
| 154 | Swift | Apus apus |
| 155 | Teal | Anas crecca |
| 156 | Tree Pipit | Anthus trivialis |
| 157 | Tree Sparrow | Passer montanus |
| 158 | Treecreeper | Certhia familiaris |
| 159 | Tufted Duck | Aythya fuligula |
| 160 | Turnstone | Arenaria interpres |
| 161 | Twite | Carduelis flavirostris |
| 162 | Velvet Scoter | Melanitta fusca |
| 163 | Water Rail | Rallus aquaticus |
| 164 | Wheatear | Oenanthe oenanthe |
| 165 | White-tailed Eagle | Haliaeetus albicilla |
| 166 | Whitethroat | Sylvia communis |
| 167 | Whooper Swan | Cygnus cygnus |
| 168 | Wigeon | Anas penelope |
| 169 | Willow Tit | Poecile montana |
| 170 | Willow Warbler | Phylloscopus trochilus |
| 171 | Woodpigeon | Columba palumbus |
| 172 | Wren | Troglodytes troglodytes |
| 173 | Yellowhammer | Emberiza citrinella |