Birding Review 2016

We had a good year birding passing the 100 species mark locally again with another thirty on our Reserve visits further afield.We only added a few new species to our lifers list these being Fulmar, Merlin, Juv Mediterranean Gull and a female Black Grouse.
The New Year starts tomorrow so we'll be re-setting our lists and hopefully there will be plenty to see,photograph and report on.
In the meantime lets take a look back at the birds that have just for fun made our top ten of 2016.

Happy New Year to all our readers and birders out there searching for something special in 2017.

10.Redstart - Always good to see these passing through on migration, Harden Moor has been turning them up for us, here is a female pictured in August.

female Redstart, Harden Moor 27/8/16

9.Whitethroat - Again on Harden Moor where they spend the summer, this one is pictured with a couple of Juveniles proving breeding success in this location.

Whitethroat with a couple of youngsters 19/6/16

8.Buzzard - The Buzzard is a bird you often see soaring in the distance but on this occasion it flew low over me  near Hewenden Reservoir giving me chance of a good picture.

Buzzard 19/4/16

7.Black Grouse - We see plenty of Red Grouse locally but on this occasion a fellow birder put me on to a female Black Grouse a first for me and great to get a record picture.

female Black Grouse, Slippery Ford 17/10/16

6.Ring Ouzel - another bird that is generally seen on migration as it passes through but a bit of luck is needed to spot them.This bird is in the same field as the Black grouse above at Slippery Ford.

Ring Ouzel 28/4/16

5.Cuckoo - the cuckoo is one of my favourite birds but it is only a brief visitor to our shores in late spring and early summer.We have been lucky enough to hear it on Harden Moor and occasionally get a brief glimpse and the rare picture too.

Cuckoo 12/5/16

4.Spotted Flycatcher - Another bird seen as it passes through our area and for the first time we spotted one on Harden Moor and got a decent picture.

Spotted Flycatcher 14/8/16

3.Juvenile Mediterranean Gull - The Med Gull is one that has proved to be elusive for us but when a Juvenile was ID up at Redcar Tarn we went to see if we could pick it out in amongst the other Gulls.
This we did and got a picture of it for the blog.

Juv Med Gull 3/9/16

2.Fulmar - On our many visits to Bempton Cliffs we have always missed out on spotting the Fulmar, well this year we broke our duck and got some decent flight shots.

Fulmar 5/5/16

1.Marsh Harrier - We have seen the Marsh Harrier a number of times during our visits to Leighton Moss but during this visit we got some really good close views.The bird came so close at one point that I could even get a decent flight shot making this the stand out event for me during 2016.

Marsh Harrier 3/5/16