My Year - 2010.....

Yellow-browed Warbler,Spurn,East Yorkshire.

Pebble Prominent larvae,Messingham Sand Quarries LWTR.

Female Short-winged Conehead,Gibralter Point,Lincolnshire.

Tissue,Chambers Farm Wood,Lincolnshire.

Marsh Helleborine,Lincolnshire.

Swallowtail,Strumpshaw Fen,Norfolk.

Female Diurnia fagella,Messingham Sand Quarries LWTR.

Male Adder,Lincolnshire.

Well here we are again on the eve of another year spent chasing wildlife and birds up and down the lengths of Lincolnshire and Yorkshire and this is a summary of what i got up to.Starting with our avian friends,i managed to see a further 8 new species through the year and added a previously unseen race,the new species were Black-throated Thrush at Newholm in North Yorkshire, the stunning Oriental Pratincole in Lincolnshire at Frampton Marsh,Savi's Warbler at Old Moor in West Yorkshire,Iberian Chiffie at Potteric Carr in South Yorkshire(The latter 2 on the same day),the distant Semi-palmated Sandpiper at Alkborough and cracking Sharp-tailed Sandpiper at Patrington Haven(Both the same day),Eastern-olivaceous Warbler at Flamborough and finally just up the coast the Brown Flycatcher at Bempton.The new race was the 'Taiga' Bean Geese at Cantley in Norfolk.Other events included the big influx of Waxwings and a small invasion of Rough-legged Buzzards of which i was lucky enough to find one on the patch at Worlaby.Also at Worlaby was the largest number of Short-eared Owl's for some years with at least 12 birds being seen,what a shame the future of this superb site is now uncertain!.The undoubted sighting for me of the whole year occurred at Messingham Sand Quarries back in early April when myself along with other visitors were treated to amazing views of at least 3 seperate Otters and i managed to see them on several occasions,usually an adult female and a well grown cub and also a single animal always seen on it's own,which i'm pretty sure was a dog.They continued to be seen on and off through the year,fantastic stuff,i was nearly in tears as this was an animal i had wanted to see for many years and only 8 miles from home!!.Onto insects,it was a bit of a mixed year for butterflies,with the rare species in the county doing well and it was a record year for Duke of Burgundy,which can only be good news for the future,but poor for numbers of the 'Vanessid' butterflies such as Painted Lady,with me only seeing a handfull of individuals through the year a stark contrast to last year!.There were also a few Fritillaries appearing in the summer months with Dark-green and Silver-washed popping up at a few sites and it would be great if both species established themselves in Lincolnshire again.For a summary of my sightings on dragonflies see my dragonfly blog.New species of Orchid logged this year included just one species,Man Orchid in the south of Lincolnshire with the lovely Star-of-Bethlehem also being a new species the same day.I also managed to see a stunning Fungi at Messingham Sand Quarries in Spring,the Scarlet-elf Cup and it really does live up to it's name being bright scarlet.So a very eventfull year,you can't really contain everything here as it would go on forever,but i have just included some highlights.Happy New Year to everyone and thanks for visiting!.