The Big Year: was it worth it?

A few people have asked me recently about doing a Big Year.  In some ways it's easier than it's ever been to achieve 300 species of birds in a calendar year.  If I'd started mine in earnest in January and continued my momentum to years' end I would likely hit 330 or even 340 species even without multiple trips to Scilly or Shetland.  There are, after all, over 420 species that visit the UK regularly in any given year, and as long as you have access to WhatsApp, BirdGuides and a car, and you have the free time, then you can fairly easily reach big numbers.  The reality is that the hard work of finding the birds is done for you, and all you have to do is be willing to put 11 hours in a car in multiple times.  If you have a small team or group of birders all aiming to achieve at the same time it makes it much easier (and slightly more environmentally friendly) to share the driving.

My year lists for the last five calendar years have all been respectable.  The lowest total was 257 in 2021 when I returned to birding, and my 2023 list was 278 - not all that far from 300 without any huge effort put in.  Just the natural return for birding in locations that give a spread of habitats.  So in terms of planning, physical effort, and just going for 300 species it's not that hard to do.  What is difficult is the tiredness and toll it takes on the way you think about your hobby.  For many of us, birding is a stress-relief and a zen activity.  I'm convinced that the reason that some birders take against twitching is simply that it's a stressful activity where birding is usually the definition of mindful - noticing what's there and living in the now.  A local guy I see at twitches said to me recently that his least favourite thing is being 20 minutes away from a bird that he's travelled to see.  It's the period of highest risk that he won't see the bird having travelled and put pressure on himself to see it.  He's invested time, money, and energy to go and see something and to fail to do it leaves him feeling depressed.  I have to say, if that was how a twitch made me feel I wouldn't bother!  But a Big Year has that feeling and then adds on top of it a pressure to succeed that can tip the stress load over the edge.  Feeling obliged to twitch a bird that you don't really want to see but need is guaranteed to make you feel worse about your birding.  Imagine putting in hundreds of hours of driving and walking and searching, thousands of pounds or dollars or Euros, publicising a list, and then failing.  Unthinkable.

The Pros

But there has been a whole lot to recommend an experience like this too.  For me, it will be a one-off, never to be purposefully repeated.  In that context it is a story I'll have to tell for the rest of my birding life.  A thing I achieved, a memorable time.  No matter what I see next year, or in 2035, or whenever, I will always have a calendar year where I devoted myself to seeing as much avian life in the UK as I could, and while memories always tend to the rose-tinted and the nostalgic filter of yesteryear will tend towards the positive, this has been a fantastic year of birding.  If, by some unforeseen grace, I am able to read back over this blog in years to come, I think the intensity of the memory will be powerfully positive.

The experiences have been so many, such a high quality that I struggle to pick out the best amongst them.  I have had wild moments that have felt spiritual in intensity; deep emotional moments that have left me weeping with joy, with sorrow, laughing out loud, jumping up and down with giddiness.  I have had quiet hours sitting on beaches in Scilly, Cornwall, Lancashire, Ayrshire, Northumberland.  I have had silent forest vigils at vantage points and watched big skies fill with birds.  I have been soaked, frozen, wind-burned, sun-blistered.  I have met new people and learned new things.  I couldn't narrow it down to a top 15 amazing wild days - I've seen so much and my whole year has been arranged around the natural processes of the year that I have felt as connected to nature as I've ever been.

The people I have met and spoken to have been so varied and many that I could not even begin to list the incredible generosity of conversation I have experienced throughout my year.  I have made friends who have had a real impact on my life and kept me sane during the worst times of my entire life, bound together by a mutual love of birds.  This is likely to be the lasting legacy of the year, and one of the reasons for my overall positivity about the Big Year.

I have learned and become a much, much sharper birder than I ever was before.  I feel like I trust my own judgment more than I used to, I have not refused a challenge of ID, and though I've been wrong (believe me, so many times!) I have also very much improved my skills.  In so many ways it has made me more grateful for my patch, a place of welcome familiarity where my roots run deep, and it has also helped me be much more aware of what we do have here, rather than my annual complaint about what we miss in Manchester.

Finally there are the birds.  What a privilege to study and see, hear and encounter so many different incredible species.  Whether it's a Goldcrest in a cliff top hedge, an eagle cresting a highland ridge, a Dartford Warbler on gorse or a mega rarity in a chicken coop on St Agnes, every single one of those birds is a moment of positivity that adds up to something deeply joyous.

The Cons

I'll keep this brief - there is a downside.  This year will cost.  Money.  Time.  Relationships.  You will choose a rare bird over a day of sport, a day of drinking, a day of quiet rest.  You will invest your time in birding in a way that you have not done before.  The most common comment from the 7 or 8 people I've known doing a Big Year this year is, "I can't wait to get back to the patch next year."  Of course, if you're free and single and have no familial responsibilities and you already bird 50 weekends of the year in far flung locations, then this is no news to you.  But if you have other interests, other commitments, then they will take a backseat for most of a calendar year.  Be prepared for that, and be prepared to feel moments of imbalance.

I've driven too much for birds this year - I've tried to be low-carbon where I could, and I've tried to combine family needs and work driving with birding where I could in order to minimise my impact, but the truth is that you can't do a Big Year without putting 12,000 miles on the car.  Maybe less if you live in East Yorkshire, Norfolk, or other major birding hotspots, but if you're in the concrete void, then you have to move to see.  That leads to some guilt, and some public criticism, and frankly it costs a pile of cash.  I've easily put £18,000 into my birding this year when you include accommodation, food, fuel, repairs, parking, entry costs, holidays in Scilly and Dorset and Cornwall.

Public pressure can be weird.  Everyone has their opinion, their advice, their criticism and you will need to be prepared for that.  There have been some strange moments this year where people have recognised me at twitches and while birding, and while I always welcome conversation with birders, there were times where I felt watched, self-conscious.  Possibly this is more a side-effect of my struggle with mental health rather than the Big Year, and of me being open about that aspect of my life, but there is an element of public interest if you use an app or site like Bubo or eBird to record your list.  There are a (large!) number of birders who are keen to share their views if you stand still long enough.  Hold their opinions lightly regardless of whether they're right.  It's your year, not theirs.

Be ready to be tired.  Mondays in September and October often felt like I was in slow-motion.  The year demands energy, as much mental as physical, and you can begin to feel like there's nothing but birding.  Everyone I know who has tried a Big Year has reported mood swings, tiredness, irritability and other classic symptoms of addiction!  If you're going to do this, make sure you talk it over with your loved ones.  Let them know what it will entail, and when you'll need support and help, and when you need to compromise in order to not leave a significant other without their own support and help.

Considerations

I think the take away is that there are different types of people/birders.  Twitchers come into their own during this challenge, those people who are always on the extreme edge of seeking new birds will find this a simple extension of what they're already doing.  If, like me, you're a birder who twitches a few rare birds every year this will be a different kind of experience.  I'm glad I did it, yet I am in no way in a rush to repeat the birding of 2025.  Was it worth it?  Yes.  But it's a considered yes - it's a yes with caveats and if you'd asked me in the middle of October when species 300 arrived I would have wrestled with my answer for some time.  Would I do it again?  I don't think so.  Once was enough.

Some tips

Sleep when you can.

Share driving.  Team up.  Have people you talk to about the Big Year who are also trying it - your family and friends will be bored of it by end of February.

Have water, snacks, blankets, waterproofs and spare shoes in the car all the time.

Take the odd weekend off.  You do not need to twitch every single bird.  I passed up on at least 15 achievable rare birds and still passed 300 species.

Aim at unusual rare birds in the early part of the year - you can always make up the winter species in November and December.  Every single species you see January to March that you didn't expect or might not see again in the year is gold when it comes to the pressure of autumn.

Invest in a camera good enough for record shots - you'll remember it all better with the photos and you'll be able to prove you've seen what your list claims: you'd be surprised how many bitter little people out there will try and pull down anything that you achieve.

Write a diary or a blog.  It really helps to remember and the response to this has been so encouraging for me all year.

Enjoy every bird.  You're not in a rush.  Absorb the details, learn the plumages and calls, bask in the beauty of the birds.  Otherwise what are you doing this for?  If it's just for ticks then Pokemon Go exists and will cost you a whole lot less.