I completed almost no birding during these two months, and high workloads meant the birding year ground to a fast halt.
A late afternoon patch visit on the 4th to the Minnis Bay/Shuart area, followed by an ad-hoc brief stop to visit my first ever local patch, Wrecclesham floods in Surrey, on the 11th was the only activity. Two different blackcaps visited the garden in December.
Over the year, I saw 200 species in Kent. 180 of which were within the 10km patch, centred on Reculver Church. The 180 doesn’t include grey-headed wagtail or black brant because they are sub-species/races. If you include birds I saw beyond Kent, then the total is 220 across the UK in 2022.
I added cattle egret, red-rumped swallow, golden oriole, and grey-headed wagtail (a sub-species) to my self-found list, which I don’t keep a running total of. However, the challenge of setting a Kent-based self-found list, did motivate a much greater birding effort during the year, which did reap its rewards, including additional ‘finds’ of on-patch great white egret, osprey, dotterel, quail, dartford warbler and yellow-browed warbler all within a 10km radius. Away from this, I also found a 2nd yellow-browed warbler and an Iceland gull.
The lesser spotted woodpecker survey work also took a significant step forward in 2022, and together with Paul Cox, we covered a much greater area than in 2021, and in a much more systematic way. There are still some improvements needed, and I hope 2023 will build on the work to date. I also contributed to the turtle dove survey work in the nearby TDZ (Turtle Dove Friendly Zone), and also realised how hard it can be to balance work and life to the point where I have only just managed to complete the 2022 Turtle Dove survey forms ready for submission.
I have no idea whether anyone is reading this blog, and I realise blogs are an outdated form of communication. As I finish these belated monthly summaries, I am more determined to carry on blogging. Whilst it would be nice if people read this, for this specific blog an audience of one (me) is sufficient to continue writing…
Dr Dave's Birding Blog 