A quiet end to this year from a birding point of view with the last week or so being principally around home with family and friends with the exception of a couple of muddy walks around the area. On Boxing Day, towards Furnace Pond with highlights being a large flock of finches in the big arable field, which is currently been left with a clover cover-crop, 200+ Chaffinches, 150 Linnets, 6+ Greenfinch and at least 2 Brambling, otherwise 14 Redwing and 3 Marsh Tit, Treecreeper and Nuthatch the only other obvious birds in the quiet woodland. Another surprise at home last night when I went outside quite late to close the chickens coop, there was a Little Owl calling continuously for 5 minutes from somewhere in the gulley. A mega-rare bird a home with only one previous sighting back in 2013.
The year has been busy. My final bird list was a massive 1,322 Species and the majority of these were in the first 6 months with trips to the Philippines, Columbia, Portugal and Alaska and really was a magnificent highlight. The second half of the year was all in the UK with a few days at Portland Bill and Spurn and a week on the Scillies. It was probably more than I thought would be enjoyed and perhaps more than I would expect from future years, but lets see what next year holds.
HAPPY NEW YEAR !!
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