Big Year 2026: March Update
This month had been many outings! Of course, the obligatory visit to Slimbridge however, new places visited this month too! March certainly has been a good month for some photos a key birds which I have traveled to new place or two and gone to some normal grounds for me!
Sunny days has finally been here!!
With the weather improving slightly, I have been trying to make the most of it all! I managed to have a sometime of work to get out with my brother however, we seemed to have chosen the week with probably the worst of the weather! After surviving the 40mph gusts at RPSB Ham Wall and the rain at New Fancy Viewpoint in the Forest of Dean and visited Cannop Ponds a few times too! Cannop ponds was a good time being able to feet away from birds at a feeding station to seeing a few new ones going to a more visited place for me from now on!
With the nesting season now beginning birds are going to raising their chicks and new birds coming in on the spring migration, I am looking forward to seeing what the next month is going to bring!
The Highlights
Now the highlights for this month is hard for me to pick a couple of moments to be honest! However, I am going to tell you about a time at Slimbridge where I followed a Goldcrest for about 40 minutes trying to get a picture of it! This one certainly was a test of my patience, every time I was able to get camera to focus it moved! I think I must have taken about 150 photos to get one semi decent shot of it! However going to Cannop ponds and having a walk around there, I was able to some of another Gold Crest within minutes!
Also, at Cannop ponds, I literally put seed down on the feeders there and before I moved out the way, the number of birds going there was unreal! Such a great experience being around them and them seemingly not a care in the world was amazing! If you are local to this area, then I would recommend going there! Even the resident Greater Spotted Woodpecker came down for a visit!
Whilst in the Forest of Dean, my brother and I went to New Fancy Viewpoint to see if we could catch a glimpse of a Goshawk! I am glad to say we did! However, it was nearly 2 miles away! Gladly my brother had his scope with him so was able to get a good view of it! I did get a this photo the Goshawk, but it was so far away this was the best I could do!
Some of the new species added to the list are:
· Spoonbill
· Bittern
· Great White Egret
· Cattle Egret
· Goshwak
· Chiffchaff
· Sand Martin
Big Year Progress
As I said before, my goal for this big year is simple: record every new species I spot. If you’d like me to include monthly stats or breakdowns, let me know in the comments and I’ll start adding them.
Well March was a month of not many new birds to be added to the list! With the weather being getting better a the spring migration underway now and with new places on the list to go to, I am hopeful this list will only grow and grow!
Still, I’m thrilled to say that for March, I recorded 9 new bird species! This brings my total number of different species to 94!
If you’re following along with your own list, how many did you spot this month?
March Gallery
Here are some of the photos I managed to capture this month:
