2024 - a year of wonders

Where do I start? 2024 has opened my global wildlife eyes even further.  Somehow I have been on 21 planes and visited four continents in that time. I still can't quite believe it.

The year began down in the Somerset Levels with swirly whirling Starlings and hundreds of Cattle Egrets and even a life tick with the secretive Northern Waterthrush in Maldon in Essex on the way home – my only UK new bird in 2024.  Short-eared Owls, Cranes and some interesting winter waterfowl in East Anglia kept me out and about while late winter trips to the Brecks suggested at the spring to come with powerful Goshawks, secretive Hawfinches, melancholy Woodlarks and my first Great Grey Shrike down here for some time.

Starlings

Cattle Egrets - part of 450 in this one field

Whooper Swans in a Broadland potato field

Cranes and a Short-eared Owl - St Benet's Abbey

 

Great Grey Shrike near Weeting

The Northern Waterthrush in a Maldon ditch

Long-eared and Short-eared Owls watched us from a Fenland hedge line while more Cranes and muddy Swans fed in the fields and nearly 100 Roe Deer were counted that day too. The Black Scoter gave itself up on the Norfolk coast amongst a drift of Commons and Velvets on a day when Red-breasted Goose, Shorelarks and even a flock of Twite made it feel like a winter’s birding day of old.  Purple Sandpipers graced the Lowestoft seafront as usual.

Short-eared Owls in the Nene Washes

Red-breasted Goose at Blakeney

Purple Sandpipers in Lowestoft

Having successfully given away over three tons of shingle from the front garden there was even time to put in a pond with the hope of converting a barren desert of stone into a proper wildlife haven.

Vaulted Earthstars and

Eyelash Cups were found on local walks

Back down to Somerset in the middle of March where the Baikal Teal reappeared before my eyes and four Ring-necked Ducks, bugling Cranes, booming Bitterns and breeding plumaged Great White Egrets all obliged while the Forest of Dean gave us Goshawks, Dippers, Hawfinches and two sow Wild Boar with their piglets.

Wild Boar in the Forest of Dean

Ring-necked and Tufted Ducks at Shapwick

Dartford Warblers closer to home were singing on the Suffolk heaths

Warmer climes beckoned east for the first big trip of the year and suddenly I was in a hot and sultry Sri Lanka for two weeks of eye opening wonder as we toured the southern half of the island moving between the various habitats that enabled us to see all 35 endemic bird species along with over 200 others, a wealth of insects and reptiles and 19 species of mammals.  I so wanted to see a Jungle Fowl and Peacock and they did not disappoint and Malkohas, Frogmouths, Pied Thrushes and a host of Babblers and Bulbuls made it an amazing experience.

Asian Green Bee-eater

Chestnut-backed Owlet

Indian Blackbird

Indian Peafowl

Indian Peafowl

Indian Pond Heron

Medium Egret

Serendip Scops Owl

Sri Lanka Blue Magpie

Sri Lanka Grey Hornbill

Sri Lanka Jungle Fowl

Sri Lanka Spurfowl

Sri Lanka Red-backed Woodpecker

Tickell's Blue Flycatcher

White-breasted Kingfisher

Sri Lanka Sharma - elevated to the 35th island endemic later in the year

Yellow-eared Bulbul

I had never ever seen a wild Elephant before let alone three Leopards, huge Flying Foxes, Water Buffalo, Fishing Cats and giant Sambar. 

There were so many Butterflies and Dragonflies! The people were delightful, the food fabulous and the colonial cultural aspect was a true step back in time. 

Leopard

Tufted Grey Langur

Hump-nosed LIzard

Green Vine Snake

Water Monitor

Asian Elephant

Asian Elephant with calf

Wonderful Nepenthes Pitcher Plants

Ceylon Tree Nymph

Back in time to welcome in April before a week escape to Lesvos which as ever was a joy with its eastern Mediterranean passage of shrikes, warblers, waders and terns along with the breeding specialities that everyone comes to see.  Seeing three Pygmy Cormorants and the hoped for Dalmatian Pelicans was a real treat.  It is always good to be back with the place and people that I call my second home.

Pygmy Cormorant

Glossy ibis

Black-headed Wagtail

Ruppell's Warbler

Ladybird Spider

Early May saw some local exploration with a male Dotterel, a host of insects, Stone-curlews, a flighty Hoopoe with a Bee-eater calling overhead, Nightingales and showy Bitterns before an few days guiding along the Yorkshire coast.  The weather was challenging at times but it was good to be back at Bempton once again amongst the sounds and smells of that mightiest of seabird colonies.  Frampton Marsh delivered on eth way up and back down with Red-breasted Goose, Lesser Yellowlegs and Black-winged Stilt!

Razorbill

Razorbill

Northern Gannet - bird flu survivor

Puffin

Northern Gannet

Northern Gannet - another bird flu survivor

Red-breasted Goose at Framton - not seen one for years and then had four encounters!

Time to breathe for a few days and then off to Hungary for a venture into the steppes with their Great Bustards, Rollers, Bee-eaters, powering Sakers and majestic Eastern Imperial Eagles.  The woods were full of Woodpeckers including my first Syrians and there were Collared Flycatchers and Icterine Warblers with colonies of vociferous Red-footed Falcons around the edges.  Golden Jackels and Wild Cat were encountered and at a marsh we even found a Steppe Eagle while looking at Penduline Tits, and Ferruginous Ducks.  The weather was trying and dampened the Bükk Hills but not the experience of wandering in a truly ancient undisturbed forest where Wolf tracks were found following those of Red Deer.

If only all wires had Bee-eaters, Rollers and Cuckoos

Bee-eaters

Hungarian Grey

White-tailed Eagle

Saker

Honey Buzzard

Red-footed Falcon

Red-footed Falcon

Black Woodpecker

Syrian Woodpecker

White-backed Woodpecker

Queen of Spain Fritillary

Lesser Purple Emperor

Back at home the garden was coming on a treat and seemed to have changed after every work trip away.  It was buzzing with life and a taste of what I hope I can achieve in the coming years.

Blue-bordered Carpet

the amazing Bufftip

Early June saw me off to Estonia for a week of almost continuous daylight where it all got a bit blurry around the edges but oh wow it was magnificent.  It started with a Moose with here two calves as we made our way from the airport – I could have gone home happy even at that point. It was another world over there with woodlands and marshes alive with birds.  The wild edges and hedges held Thrush Nightingales, Barred, Booted, Greenish, River, Icterine, Marsh and Blyth’s Reed Warblers with sky dancing Montagu’s Harriers and White-tailed Eagles overhead, leaping Great Snipe, crexxing Corncrakes (I had never heard one before!), Citrine Wagtails, large and small Spotted Eagles, a lake of Red-necked Grebes and Black Terns, Ural and Pygmy Owls and plenty of Woodpeckers with Three-toed giving excellent views. A last few hours in the magnificent old town Tallinn rounded up a wonderful trip and I am looking forward to a return visit next October.

Common Gulls

Common Cranes

Moose

Scarce Fritillary

Citrine Wagtail

Penduline Tit

Blyth's Reed Warbler

Crested Tit

Three-toed Woodpecker

Red-breasted Flycatcher

Booted Warbler

Northern Pygmy Owl

Green Eyed Hawker

Greenish Warbler

I was back for a day and straight off to Speyside where the weather once again tried its upmost to spoil things but we persevered and found Crested Tits and Black Grouse, both Golden and intimidating White-tailed Eagles, Ospreys, Pine Martens and a wealth of northern Orchids and other special botany in amazing scenery.

Findhorn

Red Squirrel

White-tailed Eagle

Twinflower

Pine Marten

I returned into the heart of the Mothing season and my garden was beginning to draw in plenty of interest especially with the success of the previous winter’s planting.  There was some local Dragonfly hunting and then a dragonfly hunter with an immature male Red-footed Falcon that spent a couple of weeks floating around Carlton Marshes.

Red-footed Falcon

A trio of Leopards

Lunar Hornet Clearwing

Privet Hawkmoth

A flock of over 30 Spoonbills and a Glossy Ibis were regular Breydon Water drive bys during July but all too soon the next adventure was on my and I was on my way to Uganda although just quite how we got there on three planes from Norwich on the day that Windows had a major airport disabling meltdown I am not quite sure.

People have asked me to pick out my favourite trip this year but I honestly can’t and this was no exception.  It was a cultural shock (unlike Sri Lanka) with levels of poverty I had never ever witnessed, sitting amongst obvious affluency.  The wildlife was mesmerising and in those two weeks we experienced nearly 500 species of bird and over forty mammals.  There were mighty Saddle-billed Storks, no less than 17 little brown Cisticolas, Pittas, Barbets big and small, 22 Sunbirds in an array of colours, many Lapwings, Francolins, Coursers and Bustards, Finfoots and smart little Finches.

Black-headed Gonolek

Shoebill

African Pygmy Kingfisher

African Finfoot

White-browed R|obin-chat

Black-crowned Cranes

African Dwarf Kingfisher

Brown-chested Lapwing

Red-throated Bee-eater

Rock Pratincole

Ross's Turaco

Green Breasted Pitta - Aditya Viswanathan

Grauer's Broadbill - Roman Werpachowski

My Elephant double for the year was achieved along with my first Hippos, Lions, Giraffes and Zebras.  All my safari park trips as a kid had become a reality.  Waking in the dark to the sound of churring Nightjars, roaring Lions and laughing Spotted Hyenas was truly unforgettable.

Burchell's Zebra

Warthog

Le Hoest's Monkey

African Lions

Spotted Hyena

African Lion

African Elephants

African Elephant

Hippopotamus

African Elephants, White-breasted Cormorants & Maribou

Olive Baboon

Rothchild's Giraffes

African Elephant

Rothchild's Giraffe

Cape Buffalo

Hippos

White Rhinoceros

Black and White Colobus

Oh and the Great Apes – did I forget those?  An hour with Happy the Mountain Gorilla’s placid family was an emotional experience; even if the journey to get there was the toughest thing I have ever done. Standing back while the raucous Chimpanzee troop went about its daily business was memorable for a whole host of other reasons. 

'Happy'

'Happy'  the Eastern Mountain Gorilla Silverback

and one of his two, nine month old offspring

Chimpanzees

Chimpanzees

I am discovering that I am not a collector of places or the wildlife that lives there.  I want, no, need to go back and do everything all over again.  These adventures give me a taste of what the country has to offer and I spend two weeks trying to absorb as much information as I can but the trouble is that sponges leak and I have the desire to top it up and keep learning.

Guiding down in the New Forest and the Dorset coast was troubled but yet more cool and wet weather and we had to work hard to find our Lulworth and Silver Spotted Skippers and dancing Blues but Dragons were slightly more accommodating.  Following Dartford Warblers in the rain was somewhat challenging for the crew though!

Lulworth Cove - looks lovely but it soon changed!

Chalkhill Blue

Silver Spotted Skipper

Lulworth Skipper

Lesvos drew me back in September but I reckon that that one actually counted as a holiday as I did not have any clients.  It was a little quieter than usual but the summer had been scorchingly hot for months and even the local people were as frazzled as the poor Fig trees.  There was time to explore some new areas and be amongst the relative cool of the olives where Willow Warblers and Spotted Flycatchers amassed. There were still Shrikes and plenty of Pipits and Chats and the Raptors did not disappoint with Pallid and Montagu’s Harriers, Levant Sparrowhawk, Lesser Spotted Eagle, Black Kite and heaps of Honey Buzzards. I found more Wrynecks that in all my previous visits put together while down at the saltpans there were hulking Dalmatian Pelicans and Red-footed Falcons around our glorious Pela.   If only it was affordable to get to the island out of the tourist package season but £5-600 to fly to somewhere in Europe is really not on. I would love to do a full winter trip.

Short-toed Eagle

Crimson Speckled

Plain Tiger

Willow Warbler

Black-necked Grebe

Goshawk

Red-backed Shrike

Spotted Flycatcher

Kruper's Nuthatch

The end of September and early October saw me guiding up in Norfolk which was hard going but there were rewards with erupting Bearded Tits, Greenish and Yellow-browed Warblers, Red Kites and the returning Pallid Harrier.  Shortly afterwards there was actually a glorious autumn day of blue sky where a short pop up to the Broads gave stunning views of my first Desert Warbler for over 30 years, a front garden Hoopoe and a peachy Siberian Stonechat but almost nothing else whatsoever.  It was a very strange autumn – at least for me. 

Pallid Harrier

Common Cranes - so good to see them on many of my Broadland visits

Pink-footed Geese

Snow Bunting

Desert Warbler

Hoopoe

Siberian Stonechat

Merveille de Jour

Olive Tree Pearl and Gem

Ying and Yang -  a Black Rustic and Delicate

Northern Wheatear - it was good to catch up them on my Pakefield local patch

Putting the pond in in February

and at the end of October - happy with the progress

The Auroa Borealis danced, Comet A3 Tsuchinshan Atlas blazed across the heavens, Starlink vaguely terrified and southern autumnal migrant moths arrived as October wore on and there was the chance for some quality leaf miner searches amongst the fading leaves.  Autumn petered out in the grey that seems to now be the norm and I have to admit that the imminent Costa Rica trip was a great comfort.

Comet A3 Tsuchinshan Atlas

As you will probably have seen in the previous umpteen blog posts, Costa Rica was, as ever, astonishing although the unseasonably persistent rain made birding all day in a poncho a sweaty affair and the sheer volume of water caused flooding, road closing landslides and the shutting of many national parks, reserves and rivers.  Somehow, we still managed to experience a huge number of birds and other wildlife. Forty-one Hummingbirds was quite a tally and included three new ones for me and we were even fortunate enough to find an Army Ant swarm complete with Ocellated, Spotted and Bi-coloured Antbirds.  As for finding two Baird’s Tapirs grazing at the roadside in daylight…  I can’t wait to go back in March 2026.

Green Honeycreeper

Red-eyed Treefrog

An 88 with a superiority complex

White-faced Nunbird

Keel-billed Motmot

Harris's Hawks

Prothonotary Warbler

American Pygmy Kingfisher

Rufous Motmot

Great Green Macaw

Owl Butterfly

Red-headed Barbet

Black Guan

Pacific Scarlet Macaws

Mangrove Hummingbird

Willets

Blue-throated Emerald Toucanet

Lesser Violetear

Slaty Flowerpiercer

Flame-coloured Tanager

Fiery-throated Hummingbird

Fiery-throated Hummingbird

Heliotrope Volcano Hummingbird

Heliotrope Volcano Hummingbird

Baird's Tapir

Green-fronted Lancebill

Snowcap

Green Thorntail

Snowcap

Ferruginous Pygmy Owl

Lineated Woodpecker

Lesser Ground Cuckoo

Resplendent Quetzal

As November waned there was just time for a short trip to the Solway in south-west Scotland with the Marlybone Birdwatching Society in a search for wildfowl.  Perversely, it was the most wonderful weather I have had on a trip all year with crisp, cold mornings and still air.  The Barnacles and Greenland White-fronts gleamed in the sharp sunshine and the normally turbulent Loch Ryan was mirror calm and covered in winter seaduck.

Hair Frost

Greenland White-fronted Geese

Knot

Barnacle Geese

December, well, it has been a month of wind and rain and dull leaden skies with little impetus to get out and explore but my one short seawatch off the patch at Pakefield did start with two whirring Little Auks and end with 24 Eiders heading north. 

Time to recharge for the year to come. I tallied up a few figures for the last 12 months and have experienced just shy of 1500 species of bird of which about 600 were new to me.  Can I pick out just one bird from so many? So very difficult but the vision of that male Indian Peafowl with his full train expanded and shimmering with eyes in the sunshine while Asian Elephants walked behind still keeps coming to the fore but I could easily find something from every trip that I have done.

And of course it is never just about the birds.  I saw over 100 mammals including 17 primates, 15 squirrels, 18 ungulates and two Elephants along with over 60 reptiles and amphibians and I am still trying to work out just how many butterflies and dragonflies I encountered along the way.

I am indebted to the teams at Bird’s Wildlife and Nature and Oriole Birding for giving me opportunities I could only have dreamed off just a couple of years ago and to the expert guiding, tutelage and friendship of those on the ground in each county. So thank you Saman (Sri Lanka), Paul (Uganda), Gabor and Andrea (Hungary), Tarvo (Estonia), Simon (Scotland) and Jose and Ramon (Costa Rica) for making my world a richer place.

A Robin for some festive cheer