Tuesday 30 July 2013

A lister's progress

My first ever bird notebook entry is from the 13th of April 1991. I was 10 and a half years old, and the first species noted was House Sparrow in my garden in Suffolk. My notebooks quickly evolved into a record of every single bird species I saw, every day of the week. There are few comments, although some notable birds sometimes appear in capitals, and later on, new species are underlined. 

The first 'milestone' I can remember in my birding exploits was to reach my 300th species whilst on a pelagic off Penzance on 20th August 2000. My notebook makes no comment on this, but I can remember the feeling of achievement. The species in question was either Sabine's Gull, Great Shearwater or Wilson's Petrel - not bad, whichever it was. Some lean years whilst I was at university then didn't help in terms of my list being where it should be, so in my late twenties, I set myself the target of getting to 400 before turning 30. 

Although 2008 was a good year (9 ticks, including White-crowned Sparrow, Green Heron and Two-barred Crossbill), 2009 (5 ticks, including Crested Lark, Black-winged Pratincole and Eastern Crowned Warbler) and 2010 (also 5 ticks, including Pallid Swift, Oriental Pratincole and Eastern Olivaceous Warbler) were well off the pace, and on my 30th birthday I was on 379, so I had fallen well short - other things got in the way

Having missed my target, 2011 was also a slow year (5 ticks, including White-throated Robin, Sandhill Crane and Western Sandpiper), but with 400 finally seeming in reach, I picked up the pace in 2012 (8 ticks, including Spanish Sparrow, Dark-eyed Junco and Common Yellowthroat), and after a slow start, have maintained a high (for me) tick rate in 2013 with 8 ticks so far, all in a 3 month period (including Rock Thrush, Dusky Thrush and Pacific Swift). 

So 22 years, 3 months and 16 days after my first notebook entry, I finally notched up my 400th British species - Caspian Tern. And how long before I reach 500? Projecting out from the period 2008 to 2012, averaging 6.4 ticks a year, means it will take me nearly 16 years, which doesn't sound that long - although I will approaching 50 by then! 


Notebook entry from May 1991

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