Beautiful Birds (39): 2012 Species List

Mute Swans near Mistley Towers and Manningtree, Essex, UK

I think I won't count numbers so much this year as species. The species marked thus: [L] are my 'lifers' or first (conscious) sightings. There are, for example, so many pigeons outside our window that I have decided to list each species of bird only once at the time of my earliest sighting.

This was my list for January and February 2011. I don't imagine the next couple of days will find me seeing many of the following which were on the list a year ago and which I have yet to see in 2012:

Snipe | Dunnock | Nuthatch | Teal | Redstart | Shoveler
 Treecreeper | Little Grebe

Chaffinch (I might yet see this fellow!)
Siskin | Wood Pigeon | Hen Harrier | Greenfinch

Gadwall | Tufted Duck | Wren
Great Spotted woodpecker
Song Thrush | Greenshank | Redshank

The discrepancy for those who are new to my blog is probably largely due to our move last Autumn from South Wales to Suffolk on the east coast of England. It is partly due to my current 'garden-less' lifestyle, to the fact that I was in America for two weeks in January and then pretty much confined to base by the snow and ice.

2012 bird species seen to date  . . .

1. JANUARY Feral Pigeon (USA and Suffolk, UK)
2. Starling (Liberty Island, NY, USA) Jan 2012 [red conservation status in the UK]
3. Egret (wetlands outside New York, USA . . . hard to tell which species, I think 'Little') 
4. Red-tailed Hawk (NY, USA) [L]
5. House Sparrow (Liberty Island, NY, USA) [red conservation status in the UK]
6. Mute Swan (Mistley, Essex, UK)
7. Shelduck (ditto)
8. Bar-tailed Godwit (ditto)
9. Common Sandpiper (ditto)
10. Carrion Crow (ditto)
11. Ring-billed Gulls (rivers Hudson and Delaware, USA) [L]
12. Canada Goose (river Delaware, USA)
13. FEBRUARY Blue-tit (Flatford Mill, Suffolk, UK)
14. Goldfinch - a flock (Flatford Mill, Suffolk, UK)
15. Moorhen (Flatford Mill, Suffolk, UK)
16. Rook (Flatford Mill, Suffolk, UK) 
17. Buzzard (Suffolk, UK)
18. Red Kite (Kirby Hall, Northants, UK)
19. Long-tailed Tits (Suffolk, UK)
20. Robin (Suffolk, UK)
21. Redwing (Suffolk, UK) red conservation status
22. Fieldfare (Suffolk, UK) red conservation status
23. Mallard (Flatford Mill, Suffolk, UK)
24. Blackbird (Flatford Mill, Suffolk, UK)
25. Great Tit (Flatford Mill, Suffolk, UK)
26. Coot (Flatford Mill, Suffolk, UK)
27. Magpie (Suffolk, UK)
28. Greylag Goose (Shotley peninsula, Suffolk, UK)
29. Cormorant (River Orwell, Suffolk, UK) 
30. Pied Wagtail (Ipswich, Suffolk, UK)
31. Black-headed Gull (Ipswich, Suffolk, UK)
32. Herring Gull (Ipswich, Suffolk, UK) red conservation status
33. Lapwing (Orwell Bridge, Suffolk, UK) red conservation status
34. Oystercatcher (Orwell Bridge, Suffolk, UK)
35. Lesser Black-backed Gull (Suffolk, UK)
36. Wigeon (Suffolk, UK)
37. Red-legged Partridge (Shingle Street, Suffolk, UK)
38. Pheasant (Shingle Street, Suffolk, UK)
39. MARCH Brent Goose (a flock on Mersea Island, Essex, UK)

I hope to make a new Wordle list once I reach the end of February.

What else have I seen? Well, not much in the way of mammals or insects.
A quick round-up ...

• Seals (two, off Suffolk coast, UK)
• Grey Squirrel (New York, USA)
• Rabbits (Suffolk, UK)
• Molehills - fresh, but no moles seen (Northants, UK)
• ?Stoat hole (Northants, UK)
• Midges (Along the River Stour, Flatford, Suffolk, UK)
• ?Red Spider Mite (Cambridgeshire, UK)
• Snails (Northants, UK)
• Slipper Shell (Shingle Street, Suffolk, UK)

Have you had any interesting or unusual wildlife encounters in 2012?