New Year Bird Race

Saturday 5th January 2008


I spent the day birding from dawn to dusk, with Andy and Mark, seeing how many species we could tick and to give our year lists an early boost. We clocked up a total of 96 species, the highlights being:

  • A Tawny Owl at Elmore (first tick of the day at 7.25am)

  • Two Water Rails and two Common Sandpipers at Frampton

  • The Cattle Egret at Fretherne

  • A female/immature Black Redstart at Sharpness

  • A Little Stint, the Tundra Bean Goose, five Ruff, a Spotted Redshank, a Black-tailed Godwit, two Lesser Redpolls and 20+ Siskins at Slimbridge WWT

  • Six Turnstones and two Rock Pipits at Berkeley shore

  • At the Cotswold Water Park, a drake Smew, eight Red-crested Pochards and three Goosanders (2 m) on pit 44, five Goldeneyes, a Yellow-legged Gull, 24 Red-crested Pochards, four Little Grebes and a Chiffchaff at pit 57, nine Goosander (7 m) and a Smew on pit 41

  • A Tree Sparrow at Harnhill

  • A Little Owl, seven Red-legged Partridges and two Ravens at Stonebench.
  • Also a Roe Deer at Eastington


(Photos: Berkeley shore looking north, top, and Rock Pipit, above)

The full list (location where the first of the day was seen in brackets):

  1. Little Grebe (CWP)
  2. Great Crested Grebe (CWP)
  3. Cormorant (Sharpness)
  4. Grey Heron (CWP)
  5. Little Egret (Fretherne)
  6. Cattle Egret (Fretherne)
  7. Mute Swan (Frampton)
  8. Bewick's Swan (WWT)
  9. Tundra Bean Goose (WWT)
  10. European White-fronted Goose (WWT)
  11. Greylag Goose (Berkeley shore)
  12. Canada Goose (Berkeley shore)
  13. Barnacle Goose (Berkeley shore)
  14. Shelduck (Berkeley shore)
  15. Wigeon (Berkeley shore)
  16. Gadwall (WWT)
  17. Teal (Berkeley shore)
  18. Mallard (Frampton)
  19. Pintail (WWT)
  20. Shoveler (WWT)
  21. Red-crested Pochard (CWP)
  22. Pochard (WWT)
  23. Tufted Duck (WWT)
  24. Goldeneye (CWP)
  25. Smew (CWP)
  26. Goosander (CWP)
  27. Buzzard (Frampton)
  28. Kestrel (Hardwicke)
  29. Peregrine (Sharpness)
  30. Red-legged Partridge (Stonebench)
  31. Pheasant (Berkeley Shore)
  32. Water Rail (Frampton)
  33. Moorhen (Frampton)
  34. Coot (Frampton)
  35. Lapwing (Frampton)
  36. Golden Plover (WWT)
  37. Snipe (Berkely shore)
  38. Black-tailed Godwit (WWT)
  39. Curlew (Frampton)
  40. Spotted Redshank (WWT)
  41. Redshank (WWT)
  42. Common Sandpiper (Frampton)
  43. Turnstone (Berkeley shore)
  44. Little Stint (WWT)
  45. Dunlin (WWT)
  46. Ruff (WWT)
  47. Common Gull (Berkeley shore)
  48. Great Black-backed Gull (Berkeley shore)
  49. Herring Gull (Frampton)
  50. Yellow-legged Gull (CWP)
  51. Lesser Black-backed Gull (Frampton)
  52. Black-headed Gull (Fretherne)
  53. Feral Pigeon (WWT)
  54. Stock Dove (Frampton)
  55. Wood Pigeon (Elmore)
  56. Collared Dove (Frampton)
  57. Tawny Owl (Elmore)
  58. Little Owl (Stonebench)
  59. Great Spotted Woodpecker (WWT)
  60. Meadow Pipit (Berkeley shore)
  61. Rock Pipit (Berkeley shore)
  62. Pied Wagtail (Frampton)
  63. Grey Wagtail (Eastington)
  64. Wren (Frampton)
  65. Dunnock (Frampton)
  66. Mistle Thrush (Berkeley shore)
  67. Song Thrush (Frampton)
  68. Redwing (Frampton)
  69. Fieldfare (Frampton)
  70. Blackbird (Elmore)
  71. Robin (Frampton)
  72. Black Redstart (Sharpness)
  73. Stonechat (Driffield)
  74. Chiffchaff (CWP)
  75. Goldcrest (CWP)
  76. Great Tit (Frampton)
  77. Blue Tit (Frampton)
  78. Long-tailed Tit (Frampton)
  79. Treecreeper (CWP)
  80. Jay (Frampton)
  81. Magpie (Frampton)
  82. Jackdaw (Frampton)
  83. Rook (Frampton)
  84. Carrion Crow (Elmore)
  85. Raven (Stonebench)
  86. Starling (Frampton)
  87. House Sparrow (Frampton)
  88. Tree Sparrow (Harnhill)
  89. Chaffinch (Frampton)
  90. Greenfinch (Frampton)
  91. Goldfinch (Frampton)
  92. Lesser Redpoll (WWT)
  93. Siskin (Berkeley)
  94. Linnet (WWT)
  95. Bullfinch (Berkeley shore)
  96. Reed Bunting (Frampton)

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