That Was The Year That Was

One of the hardest things is picking the order for the Top Ten. Picking the Ten themselves is [hopefully] fairly simple, but deciding which was better? Not always so. This time, however, there was a clear winner. Can you guess?



No cheating.



Right then;

10.  Minke Whale at Hope's Nose
The very first entry and it's not a bird! Sheer spawny delight at a) seeing a whale on my Patch, b) seeing it from the Nose - not the best viewpoint, and c) seeing it in that swell.
My other Minke was in a rough sea, too [Prawle, though - bit different!]


9.  8 Roseate Terns at Dawlish Warren
Eight of them [and there were more that I didn't see], eight of them! Plus a brilliant supporting cast including five Little Terns, and they were all bombing about together at point blank range. I sat and watched them and it was wonderful.


8.  The Thing at Berry Head and Hope's Nose
If anything, I'm less sure about what it was now than when I first saw it. But this is why it's such a biggie; a bird that is living proof that you can't ID them all, no matter how well or often you see them. Maybe one day I'll see a I still can't type the name and then I'll go "Ohhhh it was!" or "Ohhh it really wasn't!" Until that day, it goes into the Whisky Tango Foxtrot category.


7.  Vulcan! at Walls Hill
Not a bird again - well, sort of a bird, I suppose - but it was in the air and it was incredible....


6.  Bluethroat at Portland Bill
Another of those birds that are so hard to see if you don't live in the east. Also a proper twitch with having to work a bit for the bird and then it showing fabulously!


5.  Brünnich's Guillemot at Portland Harbour
Rock up, there's the bird at less than 25'. Sweet. Then get to see it giving the crowd the runaround. Not to mention all the other great birds in the area; Black Guille, Eider, BTD, Hooded Merg, Bearded Tits, Glossy Ibis. Then finish things off with some long-awaited stones in a setting that can only be described as spectacular. Job's a good 'un.


4.  76 Divers and a Black Guille at Hope's Nose
The seawatch was wonderful, the joy at finally getting something other people can share.. priceless.


3.  White-billed Diver at Brixham Harbour
What. A. Bird. Brevity of sighting alone demotes it.


2.  Lesser Yellowlegs at Trew's Weir, Riverside Valley Park
Almost speechless at how well this incredible little wader showed, despite all the civilians and their dogs.



1.  Fea's Petrel at Hope's Nose.



So, 2013... Interesting year. But more importantly, will 2014 be the year I finally get Kentish Plover?


Or Stone Curlew?


Or Grotfinch?