11.21am

For five days I have been kept indoors by virus and vile weather. Today the sky is blue and a buzzard has just flopped weightily over the common. Progress.

	Birds
70	common buzzard	Buteo buteo

2012 Totals

Mammals: 2

Birds: 70

Reptiles: 0

Amphibians: 0

Fish: 0

Grus gripe

According to Birdguides seven cranes have just flown over my house.

Grrrrr.

I ask you

Rampaging ill health, severe weather warnings and feral pigeons. Feral pigeons: I ask you.

New today:

	Birds
68	feral pigeon	Columba livia
69	greenfinch	Carduelis chloris

2012 Totals

Mammals: 2

Birds: 69

Reptiles: 0

Amphibians: 0

Fish: 0

De profundis clamavi

One doesn’t like to ham, but a mere twenty-four hours into his challenge, your correspondent is invalided out: raging cold, gooey eyes, an ear infection, a diaphragm-thrashing cough and either a pack of spotted hyenas in my skull or something very like it. (Also, perhaps, the teensiest tendency towards hyperbole.) Going out to watch birds yesterday was, on reflection, a poor decision; surpassed in this respect only by spending Christmas in the company of pestilence.

I have nothing of merit to say about yesterday (an alarming admission in so novice a blogger) but here is a list of what I saw on New Year’s Day.

(Birders among you may be amused to see it holds western sandpiper but not dunnock, greenfinch or great tit. Life, eh?)

More soon. If I'm spared.

Cast in order of appearance:

	Mammals
2	grey squirrel	Sciurus carolinensis
	Birds
2	jackdaw	Corvus monedula
3	rook	Corvus frugilegus
4	starling	Sturnus vulgaris
5	collared dove	Streptopelia decaocto
6	goldfinch	Carduelis carduelis
7	common gull	Larus canus
8	black-headed gull	Chroicocephalus ridibundus
9	woodpigeon	Columba palumbus
10	moorhen	Gallinula chloropus
11	long-tailed tit	Aegithalos caudatus
12	greylag goose	Anser anser
13	pink-footed goose	Anser brachyrhynchus
14	blackbird	Turdus merula
15	Eurasian jay	Garrulus glandarius
16	common pheasant	Phasianus colchicus
17	magpie	Pica pica
18	dark-bellied brent goose	Branta bernicla bernicla
19	chaffinch	Fringilla coelebs
20	herring gull	Larus argentatus
21	Eurasian golden plover	Pluvialis apricaria
22	mute swan	Cygnus olor
23	black-tailed godwit	Limosa limosa
24	northern lapwing	Vanellus vanellus
25	ruff	Philomachus pugnax
26	common shelduck	Tadorna tadorna
27	Eurasian wigeon	Anas penelope
28	common teal	Anas crecca
29	pied avocet	Recurvirostra avosetta
30	dunlin	Calidris alpina
31	great black-backed gull	Larus marinus
32	Eurasian coot	Fulica atra
33	great cormorant	Phalacrocorax carbo
34	gadwall	Anas strepera
35	western marsh harrier	Circus aeruginosus
36	water rail	Rallus aquaticus
37	Egyptian goose	Alopochen aegyptiacus
38	Eurasian curlew	Numenius arquata
39	northern pintail	Anas acuta
40	common redshank	Tringa totanus
41	blue tit	Cyanistes caeruleus
42	reed bunting	Emberiza schoeniclus
43	northern shoveler	Anas clypeata
44	bearded tit	Panurus biarmicus
45	western sandpiper	Calidris mauri
46	robin	Erithacus rubecula
	pale-bellied brent goose	Branta bernicla hrota
47	pied wagtail	Motacilla alba yarrellii
48	meadow pipit	Anthus pratensis
49	little egret	Egretta garzetta
50	oystercatcher	Haematopus ostralegus
51	grey plover	Pluvialis squatarola
52	little grebe	Tachybaptus ruficollis
53	ringed plover	Charadrius hiaticula
54	ruddy turnstone	Arenaria interpres
55	linnet	Carduelis cannabina
56	carrion crow	Corvus corone
57	Eurasian skylark	Alauda arvensis
58	red-throated diver	Gavia stellata
59	great crested grebe	Podiceps cristatus
60	shorelark	Eremophila alpestris
61	snow bunting	Plectrophenax nivalis
62	red-breasted merganser	Mergus serrator
63	sanderling	Calidris alba
64	great grey shrike	Lanius excubitor
65	house sparrow	Passer domesticus
66	common kestrel	Falco tinnunculus
67	wren	Troglodytes troglodytes

2012 Totals

Mammals: 2

Birds: 67

Reptiles: 0

Amphibians: 0

Fish: 0

Homo sapiens

The first vertebrate I saw in 2012 was… me. I form part of a self-sustaining population (I’ve lost count of my nieces and nephews) and I am wild, at times. So, according to The Rules (posted yesterday), I count.

Shortly thereafter I looked out of the window and, through the heaviness of a winter dawn, I saw mallards.

Species added to the Big Vertebrate Yearlist so far today:

	Mammals
1	human	Homo sapiens
	Birds
1	mallard	Anas platyrhynchos

2012 Totals
Mammals: 1

Birds: 1

Reptiles: 0

Amphibians: 0

Fish: 0

Stick with it; things will get much better. I’m off to look for birds.