The Big Year: 2022
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This year has been incredible so far. A couple of days into January I realised that it had been my best start to a year list ever and I decided that I would push on and see how it played out. I plan to post some individual blog posts on some of the days birding I have had so far. So far I am torn between my best bird so far this year and that is between Greater Sand Plover and Eurasian Bittern. Relocating both species when it was looking like a dip on both occasions was an amazing feeling. Despite having seen some incredibly rare species and seeing birds like Egyptian Vulture and Ross's Gull in the same day, the most enjoyable days birding I have had so far was on Tory Island in mid January when we had a minimum of 53 Little Auks. Seeing small flocks of them passing off the East End Cliffs and watching some fishing directly under us was amazing. So far I have currently seen 223 species as of the 13th of June. The end of year target is 270 so we will see in the coming months if tha