Manchester Birder's January 2025 summary
Whooper Swan, Short-eared Owl, White-billed Diver, Red-necked Grebe, Hawfinch, Slavonian Grebe, Smew and Ross's Gull are amongst the highlights of the month. Having a bit of time away from work has done wonders for my birding in 2025. It’s been a rare day I haven’t been out locally, and I’ve seen some excellent birds. The list of lists is remarkable (for me – I’m not setting records here) and in a more-hopeful-than-confident effort to give my year some structure, I’m aiming to reflect at the end of each month. Trips to Northumberland, Slammanen, North Lancashire and the Lancashire and Wirral coasts have emphasised the beauty of winter birds, and though I’ve missed some obvious species (White fronted Geese, Long-tailed Duck, Velvet Scoter, Purple Sandpiper, Spotted Redshank, Woodcock, Little Owl) I’ve seen much more in terms of wintering birds than I did last year. The new-for-me birds have been really good experiences where I learned a lot and enjoyed g...