December 2025

December is a time when you always go through your list and see what is missing and are they still a possibility.  One glaring miss to our year list was Goosander, a species that we usually do not need to make an effort to see but come across at sometime through the year.  So on the 9th we had an early Christmas dinner arranged at Charlton Marshal and we had been told there had been Goosander on the river at Blandford Forum.  As it happened we left home and found the traffic was very light and we were very early for our pub lunch so we headed into Blandford for a quick walk to see if we could find the Goosander.  Did we see it - no we didn't, but we did see an Otter swimming and hunting along the weir which was a very nice consolation.

Otter Blandford Forum © Nick Hull

With Christmas approaching most of the rest of the month was taken up with sorting out all the arrangements presents etc, etc. So our next available day for doing any kind of birding was on the 26th when we received information that there was a flock of White-fronted Geese and a few Tundra Bean Geese on the field at Ridge.  For the sake of getting a couple of extra year ticks Jackie and I decided on a quick twitch just in case they moved on before the New Years Day, they are two species that have become quite scarce in the river valleys here in Dorset over recent years.  So after a 20 minute drive we pulled up in a gateway and scanned the field and there they were 5 Tundra Bean and 33 Russian White-Fronted Geese. I took a few images and headed back home to get ready to entertain family. 

A few Russian White-fronted Geese + 5 Tundra Bean Geese - Ridge © Nick Hull

Jackie and I always set ourselves the challenge of getting 200 species in a year and usually we do succeed and most of them will be found around Poole Harbour and the Isle of Purbeck, with a few which will be in Dorset but away from our local area.  Then a handful will be from the odd holidays or weekends away up in Yorkshire, Somerset and Europe, though in 2025 we holidayed in Cyprus, which technically falls in Western Asia though part of the EU.  

This year we finished on 206 species plus a further 30 species seen in Cyprus.

Our bird highlights were:-

Green-winged Teal - 14th January at Lodmoor.

Cirl Bunting - 14th January at the Bridging Camp Wyke Regis plus Durlston later in the year.

Lesser Scaup - Longham Lakes on 17th January.

Temminck's Stint at Siddlesham Ferry Pool, 30th April, whilst visiting West Sussex.

Great Reed Warbler - 18th May at Hornsea Mere  East Yorkshire.

Honey Buzzard - 20th May at Wykeham Forest North Yorkshire.

Wryneck - Stoborough Heath.

Glossy Ibis - Lytchett Bay/Fields 8th September.

Caspian Gull - 15th October  at Hornsea Mere  East Yorkshire.

Ring Ouzel - 18th October Bempton Cliffs East Yorkshire.

Ring-necked Duck - 20th November Shapwick Heath NNR Somerset Levels.

Desert Wheatear - 24th November Bridging Camp Wyke Regis.

Tundra Bean Geese - 26th December Ridge Farm.

Russian White-fronted Geese - 26th December Ridge Farm.

So no UK lifers this year the only lifers were those seen in Cyprus:-

Spur-winged Lapwing

Cyprus Scops Owl (Only heard)

Cyprus Warbler

Isabelline Wheatear

Cyprus Wheatear

Cretzschmar's Bunting

As for moths well I recorded 315 species in the garden in 2025, 18 of those were recorded for the first time.  Of course a number of those are relatively common species which just haven't ventured into my trap. Though this year I have been using a blue LED bulb as well as the usual MV so this may have had an effect. As it appears my moth totals caught had also increased which may be the combination of the better summer as well as the using the blue UV LED. 

My 2025 Moth highlights were:-

Current Clearwing Synanthedon tipuliformis -  Purple Marbled Eublemma ostrina

Migrant Sable Diasemiopsis ramburialis         - Ghost Moth Hepialus humuli

Blair's Mocha Cyclophora puppillaria           - Langman's Yellow Underwing Noctua janthia