AA Birdpix, Birds, Travel and More

  I've been experimenting with my occasional blog for a while, now I want to make it more regular. The main purpose is twofold-firstly to keep in touch with birders all over the world, and secondly to promote my website. Now I've retired I've had to cut back on travelling and also general birding, but I still have a need to do something, and the website has become another one of my hobbies- http://www.aabirdpix.com . It is just for interest, I'm not selling anything. Whilst compiling some new pages I was researching shags, (or cormorants without silly innuendoes),  and realised that like owls and kingfishers, many new species had been described relatively recently as a result of splits. I really love splitting, and keeping my list up to date, not because of "armchair ticks" but I find it interesting. However there is one big drawback, I'm not sure we've got it right. The problem is all the information leading to a world list (I use IOC as a basis) is p

 Naughty Nine Finally managed to get my blog going again. Went to Frampton the other day, found a White Wagtail, and a Black-winged Stilt had returned. As I was looking for it a pair of Bearded Reedlings (Tits to you) flew over my head and landed in the reed bed adjacent to the path. Needless to say no further sighting. Med Gulls look as if they're going to breed, they are one of my favourite gulls in breeding plumage, pity they were distant. The male Garganey was still there, awaiting a female (which is probably there already but no-one's seen it yet) and the Yellowlegs still seems settled. I can't believe the number of posts I see from people who are going to see it, but haven't yet. Why not?   This brings me on to my Naughty Nine, which is my personal "bucket list". It is those birds on the British list which I haven't seen anywhere in the world. It started as a Dirty Dozen, in 2022, when I saw White-winged Lark and Caspian Plover in Kazakhstan, and Yel