So another year gone.

The last day of a great year birding with the boys.  we have been all over this great country of ours, we have seen some fantastic birds & been to some really nice places along the way, we have meet many many nice people, I can't remember ever meeting anybody that I disliked while birding,odds & sods & plenty of fruitcakes maybe but on the whole nice people.
The last twitch of the year at Portland Harbour was the biggest that I have been on, with over a thousand birders turning up for the Brunnich's Guillemot.
The wettest twitch was at Hayling Island when we caught the tail end of the Hurricane, but it did give me my 300th lifer with the Semipalmated Plover so worth it.
The best day out we had was when we went to Somerset for Pied-billed Grebe at Hamwall, we then drove over to Devon for our first Cirl Buntings, stopping on the way to pick up Lesser-yellowleg Gull & Rose- coloured Starling plus the American Wigeon, a long drive but four lifers in a single day made this a day to remember.
The Capercaillie & Ptarmigan in Scotland made that a really great trip as well, we thought we had missed out on the Caper for the second year but picked it up on the last morning of the trip a right bonus that.
The best bird for me was the European Roller seen at Horsey a really colourful bird & not one I thought I would ever see.
A trip to the Isle of Wight for the Wilsons Phalarope meant that we meet Dave Aitken from Bempton Cliffs which was nice as we have meet him on other twitches since then & we keep an eye on his Bubo list to see where he has been to & what birds he has seen,although the birds seem to keep heading up near his patch that makes it easier for him, but to be fair he does put in a lot of miles for the sake of his hobby, I think maybe we are a bit jealous of where he is stationed. Also nice to bump into John at a lot of the twitches, who I spent a nice day with watching the  the Otters at Thetford one of the few times Robert has been able to make it this year.
The friendliness bird was the Red-backed Shrike in Essex that kept coming back & posing in full view for some great photos. A night trip to the Brecks to see & hear Nightjar was something special,  that sound was unbelievable to me who had never heard it before.
My target bird for the year was the Long-eared Owl that had eluded me for the last couple of years, was seen at Minsmere, glad that one is out of the way.
So I end the year on 265 birds seen this year, that is my top score so far in the four years that I have been listing I started with the first year 220 the second year ended with 223 the third year gave me a total of 252 so a great effort this year to finish on the 265. this is way behind the big boys but I am really happy to have achieved this many with the pleasure that I have got from being out & about with the boys.
On the first day of 2013 we listed 89 ticks at & on the way to Tichwell, the first bird seen was a Barn Owl the same as the year before at almost the same sport, so up early tomorrow to start it all again.
Hope to meet up with old birders that I have meet over the past few years & look forward to meeting some new ones, & maybe some more lifers along the way. so the last thing to do is wish everybody a very happy new year & good birding.