2025: MY BIRDING YEAR

A Personal Lifelist Highlight

Amid the whirlwind of rarities, one bird stands out on my British lifelist: the White-throated Needletail. A spectacular, high-speed visitor, it was a personal triumph in an otherwise frustratingly ephemeral season.

(c) Ash Howe

Historic Firsts

The White Tern—the first ever recorded in Britain and Europe—was found in the grounds of a Llanberis hotel- North Wales on 27th February. Sadly, this Indo-Pacific candida subspecies died in care, a poignant reminder of the unpredictable nature of rarity.

(c)Sam Whitton

The Great Crested Flycatcher, photographed on Shetland in mid-October, was a true Western Palearctic first. While its images circulated widely, the bird had sadly disappeared before anyone could see it in the field.

(c)Hazel Ulstad

Fleeting Visits

Several one-day wonders defined the season:

• Western Subalpine Warbler – Gibraltar Point, Lincolnshire, 12th April. I travelled for this bird the next morning, but it had gone.
• Savannah Sparrow – Shetland, 12th May

(c)Allan Conlin

• Eastern Bonelli’s Warbler – Kent, 25th May

• Pallas’s Reed Bunting – Fair Isle, Shetland, 2nd June

(c)Alex Penn

Another Eastern Bonelli’s Warbler on Shetland eluded me due to work commitments, which lingered for four days.

(c)Mark Sutton

Memorable Misses and Friend Wins

Some rarities deserve special mention for the stories behind them:

• Blue-cheeked Bee-eater – Iona, Argyll, 10th June. Found by observers on the island the day before, it was largely overlooked until my good friend Dan Pointon saw it. The bird vanished the same day—a bittersweet triumph for him.

 

(c)Alan Lewis

• Yellow-browed Bunting – Abbotsbury Swannery, Dorset, 29th September. Briefly trapped and ringed, I started the drive south, but the bird was not refound.

(c)Joe Stockwell

• Rufous-tailed Robin – North Ronaldsay, Orkney, 21st October. Flushed from under an observer’s feet, it provided only a tantalising glimpse for a lucky finder.

Cheshire, Pelagic Adventures, and Western Palearctic Additions

In August, I braved nine pelagic trips off the Isles of Scilly in pursuit of South Polar Skua and Scopoli’s Shearwater—yet despite the waves, wind, and relentless searching, neither species appeared.

In Cheshire, some notable additions to my life list included:

• Woodchat Shrike – Bridgewater Canal, Daresbury, 6th June

(c) Elliot Montieth

• Black Scoter – East Hoyle Bank, Hoylake, 6th March

(c)Phil Jones

On the Western Palearctic front, a drake Spectacled Eider on Texel in the Netherlands was a real highlight in February. While visiting with my friend Dan Pointon, I also added a Pygmy Cormorant and a Black Woodpecker to my Western Palearctic lifelist.

(c)Phil Jones

Reflections on 2025

This year reinforced the joys and frustrations of modern birding. Mega rarities appeared with dazzling unpredictability, often in one-day windows that tested both dedication and luck. Despite connecting with just one mega bird in Britain, the thrill of tracking vagrants, following reports, and sharing in others’ sightings made 2025 a truly memorable season.

In the world of rare birds, sometimes the stories of near-misses are just as compelling as the birds themselves. In that sense, 2025 was nothing short of epic.