A Damp Grey Wet New Years Day 2017

Down here in Somerset it is a damp, grey and very wet start to 2017. The ran began about 7am and as I write this around 1pm, it is still 'dreek'  A day for staying in, candles on and the fire warming the ancient bones.

I did have an offer to go to Slimbridge today with a friend who is in the Bristol Ornithological Society, but birding in the wet is something I no longer do. I had enough of that yesterday in Wiltshire, a wet cold county in winter. 

So I have resigned myself to a fairly low score on the Facebook bird race I suggested to those out there willing to give it a go. I'll not post numbers here yet, save to say having got over 50 by Boxing Day, each day since then has seen my score only increase by one or two new species. Partly weather and partly doing other things over Christmas. Many quite common species (until yesterday no coal tit, green woodpecker or fieldfare) and most birds of prey have escaped my binoculars this year. It fascinates me that in some years this bird race has been easy, birds flowing into view, and others, like this year, struggling. Looking back the NHU bird cup started 14 years ago. 

This year also see the tenth year of my blogging. The halcyon days were 2008-2009 when I seemed to blog about wildlife every other day. With the arrival of Twitter into my life in 2010 (which I no longer do) and Facebook in 2011 my blogging suffered, except in 2014 when I blogged an image a day to celebrate my 50th year. I've missed blogging and taking the opportunity today to revisit some of the posts, they, like a diary, take me back to a place and time. 

Thus my one and only resolution for 2017 is to blog about wildlife and the countryside once more. I'll end with a posting from January 3rd 2008 January 3rd 2008.  I'm not going to make that total this year!!

Happy New Year to everyone reading this and if you can suggest new blogs to visit, let me know. I wish to expand my horizons.