New Year, new start

Another year of listing has ended and I am quite glad that it has. 2011 in the PBC area was good for some, there were some cracking birds seen, but not by me! A juvenile Night Heron was seen by 3 local birders, but by the time me and Chris Orders had arrived on site, the bird had vanished ; a Pied Flycatcher was found in a local garden and I was away ; a couple of Bean Geese were seen near Langtoft and a female Scaup on Deeping High Bank and again both had vanished by the time I had arrived on site! All in all, a pretty miserable year for my local list, a paltry 169 species were seen, but some goodies were in there, including Raven, Wood Warbler and White-fronted Goose. Maybe this year will be better?

January 1st is traditionally a day when birders are out and about starting their lists. Not for me, as it is Lisa`s birthday and so she, quite rightly, comes first. We went out locally on the 2nd and got a few birds, the White-fronted Goose is still at Ferry Meadows CP and a lovely Kingfisher was seen, but my year list will start with a vengeance at the weekend.