New Year's Birding 2026
January 1st 2026 at 6.52am and we pulled up at Leighton Moss. Six hours earlier I'd been wishing my daughter a Happy New Year and trying to persuade her to go to sleep. I was tired, but part of that was caused by the excitement of a new year of birding. While 2025 was started alone, and New Years' Day cut short by a panic attack, 2026 started with friends and after the first two kilometres, a fervent desire for the gloves I'd left in the car. We were making our way to Lower Hide on a quest to see as many species of birds as we could in one day. Not for me this time, but for Lee; my year list is going to be a lackadaisical slapdash of hit and miss birding after last years' efforts - sorry if my Bubo total made you think I was going to be pushing hard again. Tawny Owls called back and forth around us as we walked, and the sounds of a wetland waking up were increasingly loud. Water Rails, Coot, Greylags and the deep coughs of red deer carrying under a mi...