A NEW SURREY YEAR LIST RECORD OF 195

As i said before, it's never over til it's over when you're birding. We gathered at Beddington today in the hope of something special to end the year. I joined T Bros, G Bros, Dodge, Pinpoint, The Brief and Beetleman.

Mid morning and i'd had a Caspo and was going throught the gulls when I heard G Bros exclaim 'Geese!' Followed by a chorus of 'Whitefronts!' as I swivelled round to see two adult Whitefronts approach and fly over the lake heading north west. Yessss !! As I always say 'Beddington will provide', these birds were a Beddington tick for Pinpoint after twenty five years and also for T Bros. When there was an influx of Whitefronts to the north and east of us recently we had none and I thought I was out of luck but the thaw seems to be moving stuff around. Later we had another six birds go south which were picked up by Curlewman over his garden in Wallington.

So my year list ends at 195 but what did I miss ? Most glaring omissions were:

Wood Warbler: Sadly gone from Devil's Punchbowl but I was informed about a singing bird elsewhere which I couldn't get to on the day and I stupidly didn't follow up. I later found out it was present for several days. I couldn't find a bird reported at Lonsdale Road Res and dipped another at Headley Heath
Corn Bunting: I missed one by ten minutes at Canons Hill Farm, seeing the pics was little consolation, they're still out there. I couldn't find another seen at Nutfield.
Little Tern: None at the farm this year and I was agonisingly stuck at a meeting when there were three birds twitchable at Walton. They'd gone by the time I finally got there.
Hoopoe: The dip which still makes me very angry. I would have seen this bird had the information services not put out the wrong location. When I finally got the correct location, I rushed over and missed it that evening and spent the next day looking, grrrr.
Gannet: I spent eight hours at Beddington that day hoping for something then left when it didn't materialize. Others went back when they heard of Gannets kettling in the mouth of the Thames and scored, I was too far away by this time.
Temminck's Stint: Twitched one at Walton where I searched with Ninja but we couldn't re-locate it.
Bean Goose: 4 birds were at Holmethorpe for an hour and a half. Would have been a Surrey tick for me but the finder had left his mobile at home !

Also:

Turtle Dove: None at Beddington this year and I heard of no lingering birds in Surrey. I did go out and specifically look for them in places i've seen them in the past and other suggested places but no luck. They are becoming very scarce which is such a shame for such a beautiful bird.
Goshawk: Seen in Surrey this year and I know they're out there but couldn't find the location of any displaying birds.

There will be other species reported which I didn't see but one thing is for sure, there have been over 200 birds recorded in Surrey this year so it could be possible to hit the 200 year list mark. I could have done this year but you can't do a year list without missing something.

I recorded 160 species at Beddington

I'd like to thank all the Surrey and other birders for their help and support throughout the year. It's great to get out and about and meet them in their natural habitat, it's also great to see them at Beddington for a good bird, long may it continue.

I will end for now by announcing that I'm doing back to back Surrey year lists so I'll be out again tomorrow, clocking up my 2011 Surrey year list. All help greatly appreciated.

A Happy New Birding Year to you all. I hope there's many an exciting birding moment in 2011 for all

Johnny Allan

NEW SURREY YEAR LIST RECORD 195

'AND A PARTRIDGE ON MY YEAR LIST'

Over the farm as per usual today when some incredibly bad luck involving my phone apparently being in a reception black spot meant that three of us missed a Hen Harrier less than fifty yards away from where five others were watching it. I didn't need it for Surrey this year but it would have been my 160th bird of the year at Beddington. I was gutted, I don't like missing a good bird at the best of times but being on site is even worse (like the time I missed the Whitefronts).

I felt bad but luck comes and goes and, a little while later, I received a call (thank god my phone was actually working), from Jeremy 'The Wrecclesham Bird Jeweler' Gates informing me of two Partridge in a field near Compton. To the Badgemobile !

The traffic was surprisingly heavy between me and the A3 but once on the A3, progress was much quicker. I arrived spot on site, thanks to Jeremy's excellent directions, looked out into the field and saw the two Grey Partridge picking about in a shallow furrow straight ahead. Excellent ! I couldn't count the Nutfield birds as they were obvious releases but I'm having these boys. One more day and as I said before, I've had Gannet at Beddington on the 31st before (one was seen flying west this morning over the Thames in east London), so it's not over til it's over. I remember the Red-throated Diver turned up at Frensham on December 31st last year, what about a Black-throated Diver this year ?
NEW SURREY YEAR LIST RECORD 194

A NEW SURREY YEAR LIST RECORD

In the two weeks since the Iceland Gull, with the interesting weather conditions, I'd been hoping for something special to beat my previous year list record. There were Whitefronts around but no more over Beddington and none in the rest of Surrey. Time for a banker so off to Oaks Park today to pick up one bird that I'd not bothered with so far.

At least two birds were calling shortly after arrival and after a little patience, I picked up Tawny Owl which is my 193th species of the year and a new Surrey year list record ! Two days to go, I've had Gannet on December 31st before and, apparently, a Guillemot flew west over Unstead on Boxing day so never say never.
NEW SURREY YEAR LIST RECORD 193

BUS TWITCH

My car was in for a service today so made my way to Beddington on a Bus. No one else present so looked (in vain), for Long-eared Owl in spots where they've been seen before then returned to the lake to check the Gulls. Could find nothing special other than a Caspo and no Iceland Gull yet. I left about one o'clock in the expectation that i'd be going to pick up my car.

Just after 2pm, i'm home and my phone went off, it was a message from Pinpoint, "Iceland Gull on the lake"..... f*ck f*ck f*ck f*ck !!! On a normal day i'd have been there, now i'm in Sutton with no transport and there's an Iceland Gull which I need for the year.

I legged it up the road and was lucky enough to bump into a 151 which takes me all the way from Sutton to Beddington. This was my first Bus twitch and it took bloody agonising ages. I arrived at 2:55pm to find Pinpoint leaving, the bird had been on the lake but everything was up in the air and a few birds were starting to drift off.

The Gulls started to settle down on the frozen lake again and after a bit of scanning, to my relief, I relocated the Iceland Gull amongst them.

Now I had thought that this would be my year list record but Ninja has reminded me that, whilst I recorded 191 species in 2002, Caspo (which I saw but wasn't split at the time), has been added, making my record 192. Still one to go but I have 193 standing by....
SURREY YEAR LIST 192

BEANS MEANS YEAR TICKS

The weather has been threatening to produce something all week, yesterday the continual snow at Beddington made viewing difficult but today, the lack of snow and keen north easterlies looked promising.

In full Arctic gear, I teamed up with T Bros and Dodge and thanked the birding Gods for our hide (just a three sided green corregated tin hut but paradise in the rain, snow, cold wind etc). Nothing amongst the gulls, which seem to like standing on our mostly iced up lakes, we paced up and down like caged bears to keep the circulation going in the feet.

T Bros went out to answer the call of nature around the bushes at the back of the hide and, shortly after, Dodge followed with the intention of snowballing him. A few seconds later I heard Dodge let forth the rallying cry of "Geese"! I ran out into the open, instinctively looking up, and locked on to a flock Geese heading east over the lake, T bros came running, having zipped himself up without injury, Dodge was legging it to his camera.

These were grey Geese but it quickly became apparent that they were not Greylag or Whitefronts, this left two options, both of which I liked. The birds banked now and then, changing direction whilst still heading roughly east, They looked smallish but not as compact as Pink-foots (which I still need for Surrey), and seemingly longer necked. When they banked , the upperwings looked too dark for Pink-foot. The light bouncing off the snow below kind of lit up the birds, were they orange legs we could see ?

I could hear Dodge's trusty Bad Boy rattling off shots like a Gattling Gun. Birds still in view I went for my phone, I tried Pinpoint, who I later learnt was in the Beddington Obs, but his phone went to message, I texted Shaft who lived under the flight path and then the rest of the Beddington Crew whilst looking at Dodge's images. Orange legs etc Bean Geese, probably Tundra ! Not a Surrey but a prized Beddington tick for me, having been away when the last bird occurred. Also a damn good Surrey Year Tick.

I sent out more messages and replied to replies, my hands turning into blocks of ice when Dodge exclaimed Grey Plover ! Sure enough, three Grey Plover were flying over our heads, amazing.

I have now equalled my previous Surrey year list record with plenty of possibilities still to go. Weather looks good for tomorrow.
SURREY YEAR LIST 191