A “‘big year’ is an attempt to see as many species of bird as possible in the UK in a calendar year, with the winner being the one who sees the most species of birds during that year. Most birds beyond the 250 mark are either rare or very rare species that are blown off their normal migration route, and it is impossible to tell where and when they may turn up. Doing a “‘big year’ demands most of an individual’s free time, with Andrew spending most of his weekends and holidays birding throughout the UK, from Cornwall to Shetland. The final end of the year declared totals, under British Ornithologists’ Union (BOU) guidelines are as follows;
1st place) Andrew Kinghorn “ Total: 342.
2nd place) Lee Evans “ Total: 335.
3rd place) Andrew Emery “ Total: 317.
The list can be viewed here. If you click on Andrews name you can look through and see details of all 342 species which he saw, including locations and dates.
Andrew had a frantic year and visited every country in the UK except Northern Ireland, with England and Scotland providing the lion’s share of his table topping total.
During a well earned tea break back in TNEI’s Newcastle office, Andrew noted:
“My top five highlights were; Yellow-billed Cuckoo at Porthgwarra in Cornwall (from North America), White’s Thrush on Shetland (usually found no closer than the Ural Mountains), Siberian Rubythroat on Shetland (found no closer than far eastern Russia), Black-winged Pratincole in Durham (normally found in eastern Europe) and Short-toed Eagle in Dorset (found in Spain, but rarely crosses large expanses of water).
The final new bird for the year list was on the 31st December on the Isle of Skye at the ferry terminal, with the bird in question being an Ivory Gull. You can normally see them on documentaries about the Arctic Circle; they are normally running around the feet of Polar Bears. See my picture of the Ivory Gull.
Here’s to 2015, but I am not doing a year list this year! Time for a rest!”.
Congratulations to Andrew from the rest of the team at TNEI. If you would like to find out more about the Ornithological Services we can offer please click here or contact us.
