Birds, Leps, Observations & Generalities - the images and ramblings of Mark Skevington. Sometimes.

Tuesday 1 January 2008

On this day .. 01/01/1995

New Year's Day birding was always something I particularly enjoyed when staying in Devon, and something I've always not bothered with when staying at home in Leicestershire! The Devon day lists have always been good with an excellent variety of waders, wildfowl and common birds if you know where to look. There is also a good chance of returning or wintering scarcities like the almost ever-present Ring-billed Gull in Barnstaple through the 90s, regular wintering Spoonbills and Little Egrets on the Taw Estuary and a Hoopoe in Barnstaple on 01/01/1998. However, best day was 01/01/1995 when first birding stop of the day was the Kenwith Nature reserve in Bideford, where a Dusky Warbler was wintering along with a Yellow-browed Warbler and a few Chiffchaffs including a very good contender for tristis. Not birds you would expect on the first day of the year!

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

I do hope all this renewed bird interest doesn't mean that we're losing one of our cental moth-trappers?

Not that I should discourage you until you're fully equipped with the right gear :-)

Anonymous said...

I wish I could type properly !
:-((

Skev said...

No worries Keith. Birding and mothing really ought to mix fairly well as the peak moth interest clashes with the dullest birding months.
The only thing likely to switch me off of moths long-term would be another couple of shite summers :-(