They think it's all over...

Peering through the trees at Blunham

Barring any last-minute miracles, I'm going to have to declare my score at 80 species of a target total of 95 (I just checked and I'd missed off the Shelducks I saw on the 5th), so 84.2%

97 species were recorded on my patch during the month, so my guess wasn't too far off... Not too bad for Bedfordshire, is it?

Aside from walking to work, my last Foot It outing was on Sunday. A Smew had been seen at Blunham the day before, so I dragged myself out there to peer through the trees from behind a barbed-wire fence. No Smew for me, but I did get terrible views of a few Shoveler, so it wasn't entirely a wasted journey (a round trip of nearly 8 miles).

The route I'd taken to the lake had been pretty terrible (unkempt footpaths littered with canine deposits) so I decided to return through town. It turned out to be a good call as I bumped into seven Waxwings by accident - extra pleasing as I'd found 15 a week earlier but while I was in the car...

World's worst iPhonebinned, Flickr-filtered Waxwing photo

I'm pretty happy with my score - should have got a few more but ran out of time. Commuting aside, I walked nearly 29 miles (all in a new pair of Muck Boots - they are awesome), explored some footpaths I should've done a long time ago, and got to know my local area a lot better. I also found Otter tracks not far from home, which might even be my highlight of the month.

It's got me thinking about maybe trying to do a patch year-list - I think 150 could be possible in theory - but we'll see...

Thanks, Foot It!

(Full list follows, if you're interested)


What I saw:

1. Black-headed gull
2. Blackbird
3. Blue tit
4. Bullfinch
5. Buzzard
6. Canada goose
7. Carrion crow
8. Cetti’s warbler
9. Chaffinch
10. Chiffchaff
11. Coal tit
12. Collared dove
13. Common gull
14. Coot
15. Cormorant
16. Corn bunting
17. Dunnock
18. Fieldfare
19. Gadwall
20. Goldcrest
21. Golden plover
22. Goldfinch
23. Great crested grebe
24. Great spotted woodpecker
25. Great tit
26. Green woodpecker
27. Greenfinch
28. Grey heron
29. Grey partridge
30. Grey wagtail
31. Greylag goose
32. Herring gull
33. House sparrow
34. Jackdaw
35. Jay
36. Kestrel
37. Kingfisher
38. Lapwing
39. Lesser black-backed gull
40. Lesser redpoll
41. Linnet
42. Little egret
43. Little grebe
44. Long-tailed tit
45. Magpie
46. Mallard
47. Meadow pipit
48. Merlin
49. Mistle thrush
50. Moorhen
51. Mute swan
52. Nuthatch
53. Pheasant
54. Pied wagtail
55. Pochard
56. Raven
57. Redwing
58. Reed bunting
59. Robin
60. Rock dove
61. Rook
62. Shelduck
63. Shoveler
64. Siskin
65. Skylark
66. Snipe
67. Song thrush
68. Sparrowhawk
69. Starling
70. Stock dove
71. Tawny owl
72. Teal
73. Treecreeper
74. Tufted duck
75. Waxwing
76. Wigeon
77. Woodcock
78. Woodpigeon
79. Wren
80. Yellowhammer

Target species that other people saw on 'my' patch but I didn't:

1. Crossbill
2. Firecrest*
3. Jack Snipe
4. Red Kite
5. Red-legged Partridge
6. Smew
7. Stonechat
8. Water Rail

Extras which I didn't expect and didn't see, but other people did:

1. Barnacle Goose
2. Bearded Tit
3. Egyptian Goose
4. Goosander
5. Pink-footed Goose
6. Pintail
7. Ringed Plover
8. White-fronted Goose*
9. Woodlark

*single observer