Suffolk’s Bird of the Year 2012 ....................................Lee Woods & Phil Brown

Lee Woods and Phil Brown

Suffolk’s Bird of the Year, 2012...

Another county first

Once again BINS members have voted and delivered a clear winner for the 2012 Bird of the Year. The voting was almost unanimous: • Hornemann’s Arctic Redpoll - 82.5% • Olive-backed Pipit - 3% • Spanish Sparrow - 4.5% • Long-billed Dowitcher - 3% • American Golden Plover - 1.5% • Black-winged Stilt - 1.5% • Red-breasted Goose -3%

Sensible tactic

The Hornemann’s was another county first for Suffolk, but it might very well have been missed altogether had it not been for Colin Barley’s sensible tactic of photographing birds he wasn’t 100% sure of, and then emailing his evidence to an expert. On the morning of Saturday 8 December, while scanning the bushes at the front just to the north of Aldeburgh, Colin thought he’d spotted a Lapland Bunting. Luckily, as he was a little uncertain, he managed with some difficulty to ‘capture’ the bird digitally and forward it later in the day to Lee Woods at BINS. This was extremely fortunate as Lee’s quick scan of a ‘Redpoll-like’ bird (not a bunting) led him to conclude it was a likely hornemmanni and the BINS alert duly went out at around 21:00.

Confiding & long-staying

As the numerous photographs of this bird testify, this proved to be an extremely confiding bird. And reasonably long-staying too, as it was not only refound on the 9th December, but actually remained about the town until the 19th December, to the obvious satisfaction of hundreds of birders across the country. Well-done Colin, because this sensible tactic (which digital photography and mobile communications now permit) combined with BINS expertise, provided enormous pleasure for a great many of us. The Hornemann’s was a worthy 2012 winner.

...and the runners up were:

Spanish Sparrow, in August found by Jack Levene Olive-backed Pipit, in October found by James Brown Long-billed Dowitcher, in May found by John Walshe Red-breasted Goose, in February found by Will Brame