So now what?

So that was Mexico. It seemed to spill out really rather quickly so I took advantage. 25 posts in January must be some kind of record? In fact let me check that...... indeed it is. You have to go back to 2017 to get close, where somehow I spouted out 24 that January. One of those was this one about Redpolls which some of you may remember. In my highly biased opinion it is well worth re-reading, especially as it came true last year!

As I mentioned the real reason for bashing out so many travel posts in quick succession is that I have a lot of juicy photos of Wheatears lined up that I am very keen to publish, all taken with my new Sony setup, but in order to allow myself this treat I pledged that I would first catch up  to the present day. The whole thing is ridiculous. I still have to quickly write up Greece (Novemeber) and Spain (December) , two weekend jaunts at the end of the year but Mexico was in October 2024 so I have made excellent progress as at the end of last year I was still wittering on about June. I am aware that these travel posts don't appeal as much as, say, dipping Yellow Warbler but that isn't really the point. Schadenfreude has always been irrationally popular. 

That said, and I bet I forgot to mention it, I did see the Yellow Warbler. It popped up again a couple of days after I had missed it and I nipped straight down and got it within the hour. And with a much smaller crowd which felt a lot nicer. I think that might have been the last day it was seen, not sure. So 2024 was not afterall a blank year in terms of new UK birds. Clearly my advancement up the UK twitcher leaderboard has slowed to a crawl but I may yet rediscover a thirst for it. Or not as the case may be, and either of those two outcomes is fine by me, I'll just take it as it comes. Right now my priorities lie elsewhere but that could change. As this blog makes abundantly clear I much prefer birding abroad. Or in Scotland. The southeast of England is just really hard work, simply too crowded.

Much of 2025 is expected to be spent here

Anyway, welcome to February. January seems to have passed in a blur - mainly due to location of the photo above - and no doubt this month will too. It is good to be busy. I have a modicum of travel planned but it is another busy month at work and I also have to get the 2023 London Bird Report done, an annual contribution to birding in London that takes a surprising amount of time. No doubt I will end up having to burn the candle at both ends to get it done. On the plus side I have very happily found a successor, and so she and I will tackle 2023 together before I hand over the reins. See you in March!