Tick 'n' go Birding: 2015 Review ending on 268 year list + 15 new lifers.

The most friendly bird of the year the Elmley Merlin

So another really great year out & about birding with the boys. I have seen 268 birds on our travels around Britain & added 15 new birds to my British life list.
We had a couple of dips along the way & we never got over to Skomer Island this year & that cost Jimmy & I a couple of ticks, this was the first year that we missed out on Puffin & Chough & we also missed going to one of our favourite places that being Dinas.
We did get to Cardiff Bay & Glamorgan for the Lesser Scaup & Little Bunting at Forest Farm.
The best twitch had to be at Dungeness when I get to see the Acadian Flycatcher, the only down side was that the boys were not with me to see this little beauty, but I have to thank Jimmy for the phone call that sent me to see a great lifer knowing that he would probably not get to see for himself.
That was by far the biggest crowd of the year with people just arriving from everywhere,when the call went up that the bird had been seen I have never seen a crowd form so quickly, & just so many faces that I knew.
The happiest twitch just had to be in Chesterfield for another lifer in the Crag Martin that flew around St Mary's church. It looked like it was going to be a dip with a lot of disappointed people that had travelled a long way to see this bird starting to get ready to head home after a few hours waiting, when a great big roar went up as the Martin appeared. I have not heard anything like this while out birding & then we see people walking about with great big smiles on the face's a really good feeling on this twitch.
The most friendly bird was at Elmley when a Merlin gave us really close up photos & made that trip special for us.
Lemford Springs with Jimmy gave us a really nice day out watching the Green Sandpipers & a trip to Kelham bridge to get our first ever Willow Tit was very memorable indeed.
At this point I would like to thank Brian for doing all the driving & spotting most of the birds that I see.
The birds that we dipped were Ptarmigan & Capercallie while in Scotland but we didn't try to hard for them this year.
The one that hurt the most was missing a Pallid Harrier by minutes on two occasions, one at Sandwich & the other at Flitcham, I also missed out on the one at Snettisham so three dips is not good on a bird that would have been a lifer for me.
The lifers of the year were. LITTLE BUNTING IN GLAMORGAN
WILLOW TIT IN LEICESTER
HARLEQUIN DUCK ABERDEEN
WHITE-BILLED DIVER PORTSOY
GREATER-YELLOW LEGS TITCHFIELD HAVEN
BROAD BILLED SANDPIPER SOUTHWOLD
HUDSONIAN WHIMBREL WEST SUSSEX
WHITE-RUMPED SANDPIPER AT OARE
ACADIAN FLYCATCHER DUNGENESS
ISABELLINE SHRIKE BEESTON REGIS
OLIVE-BACKED PIPIT MUCKLEBURGH HILL
RED-FLANKED BLUETAIL WELLS WOOD
SIBERIAN STONECHAT CAISTER
CRAG MARTIN CHESTERFIELD
RED-RUMPED SWALLOW HOLKHAM

Fifteen lifers in all & some of them I never thought I would get to see in fact I had never even heard of some of them.
The Red-rumped Swallow was the biggest relief, picking up our bogey bird was a great bonus near the end of the year.
Being a bit lazy cost us a few birds the most noticeable being Hoopoe & Nightjar.
But I have had another great year birding & meeting new & old faces & going to new places with the boys.I am very lucky to have family that share the same hobby & take me with them all over the country to look for & photograph birds & wildlife. We never seem to have any downs but plenty of ups & many many laughs on the way, so thanks to everybody that we meet & share our great hobby with. I wish you all the very best for the new year & happy birding to all.