There goes 2019...

Well, there goes 2019 and what a cracking year it was on the Patch.

Although I visited the patch infrequently during the end of the year I did manage to scrape a few more species, with a Snow Bunting at the end of October and both a Barn Owl and Woodcock on the 21/12.  This meant that I eventually finished the year with a ridiculous patch total of 124 species and a whopping 116.98%...

Best bird of the year was undoubtedly the Savi's on 23 April and again two weeks later; this being only the third record for mainland Scotland.  Highlights during the spring included a stunning summer plum white-billed diver, a drake garganey and a couple of red-backed shrikes and bluethroats.   The 'not so great pool' actually produced decent variety of waders including knot, green sand and a couple of Temminck's stints, all first's for the patch.

Over the course of the year there were 11 full fat patch ticks including, after six years of searching, Canada goose.

There were plenty of birds 'missed' that could and should have been got if only I could be bothered spending anytime looking at the sea, which, if I had, I reckon would have produced at least half a dozen additional species, with the likes of red-throated diver, common scoter, long-tailed duck, red-breasted merganser and Arctic skua all absent in the 2019 total.  Birds like Fieldfare, garden warbler and pied fly would also have boosted the yearly total. Luckily though all this means is that I've a chance to do better in 2020, which of course I won't but with my target based on the last three years now standing at  112.6 species, I still reckon there's a chance of retaining the trophy for a further year.


Happy New Year to you all and Happy days

Bushveld