2022 Review: My Top Birding Moments of the Year

Jack Snipe (Beddington Farmlands, 1st January):

I found this Jack Snipe with my naked eye whilst rushing with Arjun and Jack Bartley to see a Great White Egret that Duncan Bulling had found elsewhere on the site - a great bird to see on the first day of the year here. Once I had spotted this beauty we aborted our mission for the GWE and all enjoyed the ridiculous views of this usually inconspicuous bird for 20 minutes before leaving it in peace. By this point the GWE was gone but I think we all agreed that we were happier to get views like this of a Jack Snipe than we would have been seeing a GWE, which we were bound to get later in the year anyways.

Ravens (Beddington Farmlands):

It was a great privilege to see Ravens on 28 of my visits to the Farmlands last year. From the vismig spot on the mound two potential nest sites in early spring could be seen in the distance. To think before my time these were still local rarities!

Searching for Russian Common Gull Candidates (Wanstead Flats, 15th January):

Early on in the year I headed off to Wanstead Flats to scrutinise the Common Gulls for potential Russian Common Gull candidates. I did a blog at the time, see here.

Bramblings (Reigate, 29th January):

This is easily the biggest flock of Bramblings I have ever seen. Their constant calling and chattering, as well as the sound of their wings when they all took off was just incredible. Again, a blog going into more detail about the day can be seen here.

Long-tailed Duck (Shoreham-by-Sea, 17th February):

After failing to see the reports of this bird, it was a wonderful surprise to spot my first ever Long-tailed Duck with my mum at Southwick Ship Canal at the end of a walk along the coast from Brighton.

Female Long-tailed Duck

Garganey (Beddington Farmlands):

On 22nd March Dave Warren found me my first ever male Garganey whilst I was stood next to him in the Wet Grassland hide looking for Caspian Gulls. Then in April, Nick Gardner found 3 Garganey (2 males and 1 female), which were present for a couple of weeks and showed very well at times.

Male Garganey (9th April) above and below

Black Redstart (Beddington Farmlands, 26th March):

This stunning spring male Black Redstart on patch with Glenn Jones was my first in the UK, having previously seen them in Menorca many years ago.

Male Black Redstart

Marsh Harriers (Beddington Farmlands):

I found my first Farmlands Marsh Harrier on 7th April, which was also the first site record in over a year. It put all the gulls up and the corvids went bonkers, which is what drew my attention to it. Luckily it circled once, allowing me to see what it was and also get a record shot, before continuing north. Then on 28th July, I was stood talking with Peter at Mile Road gate when I picked up a ridiculously high-gliding Marsh Harrier in clear blue skies. It circled several times high over the North Lake before continuing north.

Bar-tailed Godwits (Beddington Farmlands, 23rd April):

Another UK lifer found on patch, and again with Glenn Jones. The only previous one I had seen was a non-breeding bird in Madeira in 2018, so it was a great privilege to have had such close views of these birds in summer plumage. This pair stayed until the next day and Dodge and I enjoyed photographing them too.

Bar-tailed Godwits below:

Arctic Tern (Beddington Farmlands, 27th April):

Roger Booth found this Arctic Tern at 10:30 but the news did not go out onto the Beddington Farmlands "Path News" WhatsApp group until 4pm when I asked after being sent the Birdguides report from a Rainham birder! Luckily it was still present and so Anand Ramesh, Jack Bartley and I all managed to connect with it - a first for all of us on patch.

Arctic Tern below:

Ring Ouzels (Beddington Farmlands):

I saw a Ring Ouzel on 6 separate days on patch last year. On two of the days I saw a minimum of 3 individuals and altogether I have now seen most plumages of the different ages and sexes which is good.

Male Ring Ouzel (27th April)

1st winter presumed female Ring Ouzel (18th October) below:

Osprey (Beddington Farmlands, 2nd May):

Growing up, Osprey had always been the bird that I really wanted to eventually see. Last year I finally did that, and what better place to do so than on patch. After a few quick panicked photos I called Dodge, who was just south of me on the mound but had missed it coming in. I could not stop smiling for the rest of the day!

Osprey

Black-winged Stilt (Beddington Farmlands, 3rd May):

After starting the morning well with a flyover Cuckoo with Dodge (the only site record in 2022), Anand and I went on to joint find a female Black-winged Stilt - only the 2nd ever record here at Beddington Farmlands! It was great to share the bird with most of the rest of the Beddington Farmlands Bird Group (BFBG) and despite initially intending to stay only until midday I ended up accidentally birding for 14 hours. More on the find here.

Female Black-winged Stilt

Glossy Ibis (Beddington Farmlands, 7th-8th May):

On the Surrey Bird Race day, Glenn found this Glossy Ibis on 100 Acre - sadly he wasn't a part of our Beddington team so we couldn't claim the prize for best team find of the day. It showed extremely well and since my bridge camera had broken on 3rd May Anand kindly let me use his camera to get some shots of it, to go alongside my phonescope attempts. The following morning it was still present and had been joined by a Wood Sandpiper too.

Glossy Ibis phonescope

Glossy Ibis using Anand's camera below:

Purple Heron (Beddington Farmlands, 5th June):

This whole day was just one massive birding highlight - see more here. Self-found lifer on patch and 4th site record!

Adult Purple Heron above and below

Hobbies:

In 2022 I managed to find a Hobby nest close to my school. Unfortunately, the only possible view of the nest was from directly underneath and not much could actually be seen. Also I was cautious that standing beneath the nest might have been disturbing the adult birds so I left them to it and only rarely checked in on them.

Little Gull:

I was just sat on the promenade at Walton-on-the-Naze eating an ice cream when I spotted a 1st summer Little Gull feeding offshore. Blog post here.

Barn Owl:

Nightjars (Ockham Common, 7th August)

Steve Shimwell was kind enough to drive Tomos, Claire, my mum, and me to Ockham Common to watch the Nightjars. They put on quite a show, swooping around our heads and being quite vocal too.

Nightjar below:

Dartford Warblers (Beddington Farmlands):

On 13th December I finally managed to confirm that the 3 Dartford Warblers were actually at least 5 - the highest ever site count - and possibly even 6.

Dartford Warbler (17th October)

Spurn, 15th August-2nd October:

So many fantastic moments at this place! See more here and here.

Menorca, 8th-15th October:

View my eBird trip report from Menorca here.

Hoopoe

Starlings

Male House Sparrow

Adult Audouin's Gull

Adult Yellow-legged Gull

Cattle Egrets

Glossy Ibis

Osprey

Egyptian Vulture

Eurasian Scops Owl

Great White Egret

Lincolnshire, 11th-13th November:

Beth gave me a wonderful tour of some of her local patches in Lincolnshire and the birding was great! More here.

Goosander (Beddington Farmlands, 19th November):

This was the only site record in 2022 and the longest staying of my three records here.

Golden Plover (Beddington Farmlands, 13th & 16th December):

The cold spell brought a few goodies. I found the site's first Golden Plover of the year and then a few days later had one (possibly the same individual) showing well too.

Golden Plover (13th December)

Woodcock (Beddington Farmlands, 14th December):

Also found in the cold snap, it flew past my head as it appeared to drop down into nearby vegetation before sunrise.