2021 Focus

Well, time flies when you're incapacitated. It's just a day off five weeks since I had surgery. I'm feeling stronger each week, though I've got a fair way to go and will have to endure some more chemo (probably in the New Year, which I will not find out the details for until mid-December). I can just about sit at the PC for long enough now to do useful stuff to pass some time. In particular I've been pulling through records from Naturespot and iRecord, plus additional records from my own notes/photos/Blog, and updating my personal Mapmate database. I'm also well underway with catching up on transcribing my garden moth records from my digital dictaphone.

Over the last week or so, I have been able to gradually walk a bit further and have starting ambling down the lane with my bins. Getting fresh air and watching a few common birds has been a tonic, with Jay, Sparrowhawk, Skylark, Meadow Pipit, Yellowhammer, Fieldfare, Redwing and Great Spotted Woodpecker all adding interest. I've also noticed a number of regular wild plants that are in flower, or only just gone over - perhaps a sign that the November weather overall was not particularly arduous.

Whilst shuffling along minding my own business, I started mulling over what may be possible in 2021. I probably won't be driving much before January, and currently have no idea what the chemo treatment plan will look like and what the impact will be. But I am sure that I will have recovered sufficiently from the surgery itself, and dealing with life-changing adjustments has so far the least troublesome aspect of recovery. I am sure that I should be able to do something at least locally, and aside from general aims (like staying alive, avoiding novel viral infections and still managing to metaphorically put food on the table), I feel that I need to start setting some targets and personal challenges. Like all naturalist bloggers seem to do in December!

My mind wandered back to the inaugural 1000 species in 1k square challenge. I was surprised when I looked back that it was in 2013 - though it does feel like a long while ago now. I managed to build a pretty good total for the year (1139 species), but looking back the garden moth trap enjoyed a particularly good year which helped. Here's a reminder of the species breakdowns:

I started thinking along the lines that I must (or at least should) be better equipped now than I was then: more literature, even more web resources, more on-line groups and - above all that - more experience and hopefully I've learnt a bit. I also remembered that, at the time, it seemed to be pretty much all consuming and that I was adamant I wouldn't be trying again. But .....

I think there is a manageable but still challenging half-way on this. Back in 2013, my botanical skills were even poorer than they are now. I was also only just getting started with some insect groups. So perhaps in 2021, targeting the same square, I could try and beat my 2013 totals for plants (vascular + liverworts & mosses), coleoptera, diptera, hemiptera and hymenoptera. It would mean getting back out into local areas on foot regularly, bashing and sweeping whilst making a note of what I'm bashing and sweeping. It would also perhaps be a measure of whether I really have have improved my field and ID skills over the eight years. Or it might just be a measure of how much weather patterns and habitat change over time affect what is there to be found! I would no doubt see other stuff, but I would not be trying to beat my 2013 total. I will mull over this a bit more before finally making a pledge to myself as to whether to go for it.

Over the next couple of weeks as I finalise my 2020 records, I will re-assess where I am with some of the 2020 personal targets I set and, no doubt, out of that will come a few more challenges. 

Sunset down the lane - 26/11/2020

I've been listening to some varied stuff lately, including some old prog stuff and some late 70s punk/new wave. But my general favouritism for all things electronica means that decent new releases from Inner City, Faithless, Sub Focus and a couple of tracks from Pendulum have been repeatedly played.