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Friday 1 March 2013

Review to Feb

Well, an interesting year so far with some concerns over lack of bonus birds at my main patch of Inverkeithing. No new birds added to either Cullaloe or Inverkeithing, but a couple of tough-to-get species are on the board and Hill of Beath is going stormingly.

Cullaloe
15 complete lists on Birdtrack, 355 records, 54 species. 54% of target. Not bad, and with Merlin, Dipper and Pochard on the board it's a decent start. Even if I don't snag the likes of Whooper Swan now I have another bite at the end of the year, so nothing lost and it's all under control.


Inverkeithing
30 complete lists in Birdtrack, 869 records and 67 species. 54% of target. Even though the result is in line with Cullaloe regarding target I feel like I haven't done so well on bonus birds with only LT Duck and Moorhen in the tough-to-get category. Although the number is up on last year I had managed to snag Iceland Gull and RN Grebe by this time - still time for Grebes though. I'd like to see a couple more good 'uns before I feel I'm not behind the curve. I did manage to get a Green Woodpecker this morning, which was a nice addition.



Hill of Beath
Although not part of my Patchwork Challenge this has been a big success as a spin-off. 44 complete lists (I list the area by OS square) and 692 records, with a few new species added to my life list for the area, reaching my target of 80 with Teal a week or so ago. At 57 species for the year this is already 81% of my estimate. Considering my estimates for CUL and INK ought to be pretty good maybe this number indicates a potential for the site of closer to 100 species for the year, so I'm adopting that as a new target. The only trouble is I can't guess which "unexpected" species will have to show up for me to make that figure. Add to that encounters with Whooper Swans and several Waxwing records and it's been a good year so far.



I had a great start to March this morning with 45 species at Inverkeithing, including a Green Woodpecker which perched calling from the top of a fir tree and was still there when I left. Not bad for my 100th complete list of the year.

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