Happy New Year!

 So here we are, the New Year is almost upon us and, for many birders, that also means a new notepad and a new Year List - when spotting blackbirds and robins becomes exciting all over again!

This is certainly the case for the Warwick 100 - a small group of enthusiasts who set an annual target of noting 100 species of birds within a two mile radius of St Mary's Church over a twelve month period.

Last year, we smashed it with 116 different species - a brilliant and memorable year with a visiting hoopoe the star of the show.

But the slate is now wiped clean, we are back to zero again and a new list can begin!  It is likely to be much more of a test this year, as our most prolific bird-finder will only be able to contribute on rare occasions, but we are ready to take on the Warwick 100 challenge once more.

Join us as we log and blog our way through 2022 and...bring on the birds!

End of Year roundup for 2021

This year has been another good year for our little area of Warwick and its 2 mile radius.  As a small group we managed to find 116 different species of birds in total making this our best ever year.   This is another great achievement considering 90% of the species found involved no car travel and the other 10% involved car journeys of less than 3 miles.  

We started the year off well with at least 8 Stonechats over-wintering at 4 different locations within the Warwick area, 1 Woodcock, 1 Brambling, 1 Jack Snipe, 1 Merlin, our returning Whooper Swan and a Russian White Fronted Goose that only stayed for 24 hours.  We also had a record number of 5 Green Sandpipers at one location and our highest count of Common Snipe was a maximum of 25 birds.

Spring was quiet this year with just 2 Wheatear and 1 Common Redstart being the highlights.  Summer was also quiet but the Racecourse area had its best season of breeding Skylarks for several years with a small increase in breeding pairs.  Autumn, after achieving just 1 Whinchat was saved by our star bird of the year, a Hoopoe at IBM.

Hoopoe by Alec Cuthbertson

Winter is always our best season for recording species and this winter has had a promising start with at least 2 Stonechats overwintering as well as a Cetti's Warbler but no sign so far of our Whooper Swan yet.

We reached our target of 100 birds within the first 100 days of 2021 which is the first time we have managed to do that, with the 100th bird being a Yellow Wagtail found by Lizzy.  

The full list of species seen during the year can be found here.

Want to stay in Warwick and while here read about Warwick then look no further

If you are planning to stay in Warwick then look no further and take a look at The Secret Space.  It is centrally located not that far from Smith Street with its host of independent shops, restaurants and Cafes and is run by one of our Warwick 100 members who is a superhost on airbnb.

Before you come, take a look at some images taken in and around the town (instagram access needed).

Then while you are here, why not read all about our birds seen in one of our local parks.  Park Life is written by one of our other members and is available from here or Amazon, Waterstones etc.

End of Year roundup for 2020

This year has probably been the best ever for our little area of Warwick and it's 2 mile radius.  As a small group we managed to find 115 different species of birds in total.  This is a great achievement considering 98% of the species found involved no car travel and so can also be claimed as a low carbon total as well.  We also noted that entries by someone on Birdtrack who is not in our group recorded Brambling, Lesser Redpoll and Osprey, taking the unofficial total to 118.

Highlights for the year included Manx Shearwater, Whooper Swan, up to 5 Cuckoos heard in spring, 4 Green Sandpipers in autumn and 4 Whinchat and a Wheatear recorded on one day in Autumn.  Cettis Warblers were heard at 3 different locations and Grasshopper Warbler possibly bred not far from the Town Centre.  Our little area also has a couple of places where Common Snipe over winter with up to 50 birds in total (but there could be more).

Birding as a team in isolation - by Lizzy Bradbury

There is no doubt that I live in one of the worst places in the whole of the UK to see birds.  As far from the coast as it is possible to be, with no expanses of woodland, heathland or wetland present to entice migrants, Warwick is located miles away from any vagrant hotspots.   If, like me, you have the birding bug, this could be a pretty depressing situation.  Indeed, I find myself dreaming of Bardsey Island and have even researched buying a caravan at Spurn.

But there are positives of living in a place where whinchats and whimbrels are big news.  I’m pretty sure that finding a pied flycatcher on my patch would be just as adrenalin-filled as finding a collared flycatcher on Shetland, albeit not as social media-worthy, and certainly not twitch-worthy!  There is so little chance of seeing something unusual, competitive listing just isn’t on the radar for the local birders of Warwick.

The Warwick 100 was introduced three years ago by my good friend (and one of my son’s birding mentors).  The three of us decided to work as a team to try to find 100 species of birds within a two mile radius of Warwick town centre in a calendar year, with a WhatsApp group set up and this blog updated regularly.   Like birds, birders are few and far between around here, but over the last couple of years, our little team has grown to ten members, all contributing here and there with sightings, asking advice and general banter.   The team is genuinely happy for those who spot something new – as we are working toward one goal together.  And we’ve managed to smash that goal each year.

We reached 100 on June 30^th 2018, with 107 in total. 
We reached 100 on June 5^th 2019, with 113 in total.

This year we reached 100 on April 19^th!!  So, we could be in line for a bumper year…

In these strange times of lockdown, there is no chance of my getting to the wonderful places I usually visit to hopefully find something special, but I’m really relishing my daily exercise walk with my binoculars each day.   We may moan about Warwick and its lack of birds, but I am so lucky to have my health, some lovely countryside to stroll around and a great team with whom I feel a sense of belonging, alongside a mutual goal. 

We may have no choice but to isolate, but birding as a team can certainly prevent us from feeling isolated.

Sunrise on The Warwickshire by Lizzy "Bradders" Bradbury

End of Year roundup for 2019

2019 has been a great year for the number of different species we have managed to see within the Warwick 100 area with a few surprises and some species that we thought were guaranteed but just could not track down (Red-Legged Partridge in particular).

All sightings for the Warwick 100 area or nearby are my own unless specified otherwise.

There were firsts for Lizzy and Jack at the Saxon Mill, being Goosander and Golden Plover and they had a bumper day in November with 3 Woodcocks.  Lizzy’s highlight was being almost scared to death by a calling Barn Owl at the Warwickshire Golf Course and then finding 2 Bewick's Swans this past week.

Bewick's Swans at the Warwickshire Golf Course by Lizzy Bradbury

David found a Stonechat at Warwick Racecourse in November which was the first one we have had on that site for a couple of years (it turned out that there was a pair which I managed to photograph the following day).  Our local wintering Snipe roost had an impressive 26+ birds (and continues to do so currently).  Lizzy and Jack found a pair of breeding Spotted Flycatchers and I found another pair in a location not frequented by any of us normally.

My own Warwick 100 site had a bumper year with the following:-

In winter; I almost fainted when a Bittern flew directly over my head on 14/02/2019.  I had 2 over wintering Green Sandpipers seen together on 28/03/2019, 30/03/2019 and 01/04/2019.  I also had singles from 08/03/2019 to 22/04/2019.  2 Whooper Swans also flew low over my head on 06/01/2019 and singles were seen in other locations on 13/02/2019 and 06/03/2019.  There was a flock of Golden Plover containing about 50 birds and a smattering of Lapwing for a few days mid January.  A Great Egret was seen on 08/03/2019 and then again on 26/03/2019 (as was a Little Egret).  A Goosander flew down river on 15/03/2019 (possibly the same bird that Lizzy saw on a different date) and a drake Mandarin hung around from 30/03/2019 to 02/04/2019.

In Spring,  1 Wheatear on 01/04/2019 and 30+ Sand Martins on 02/04/2019.  Another surprise was a fly over Whimbrel on 21/04/2019 and 1 or possibly 2 Common Sandpipers seen from 17/04/2019 to 26/04/2019.  The rest of spring was relatively quiet with the only notable thing being a count of 40+ Swift on 06/06/2019 over the Stratford Road near to Aylesford School and the Severn Trent Sewage Works.

In Summer, there were maybe up to 3 Hobbys at 3 different locations (with the latest being recorded in the autumn on 30/09/2019) and a returning Wheatear on 21/08/2019.

In Autumn, 1 Common Sandpiper on 03/09/2019 and 04/09/2019, 2 Whinchats from 04/09/2019 to 13/09/2019 (and also 2 at Warwick Racecourse on 03/04/2019 and 04/09/2019) and 1 Stonechat from 27/10/2019 to 29/10/2019.   The drake Mandarin again on 07/09/2019, 1 Yellow Wagtail on 10/09/2019 and then 2 on 17/09/2019, 1 Spotted Flycatcher from the end of August to the end of September and then joined by another on 29/09/2019.  2 Greenshank flew over calling on 15/10/2019, 1 Green Sandpiper from 27/10/2019 to 12/11/2019 then 3 together on 17/11/2019, 1 on 18/11/2019 and 1 on 13/12/2019 and a Woodcock accidently flushed on 20/11/2019. After the prolonged rain, there was a "duckfest" from 30/10/2019 to 23/11/2019 with 2 Wigeon, 1 Pintail, 10+ Teal, 2 Shoveler, 1 Gadwall and 1 possible juvenile Red Crested Pochard. The flooding also attracted large numbers of Gulls with 500+ Black-Headed Gulls recorded on 18/11/2019 and a Yellow-Legged Gull on 30/10/2019 and 31/10/2019.

For a full list of the birds seen in the Warwick 100 area please click here.

Welcome

Welcome to this new blog which will provide a list of species seen within the Warwick 100* area (2 miles radius of Old Town Square) per year or over all time (see the tabs above). 

*Our yearly challenge is to find 100 species within the area!