January brings a natural sense of renewal and a chance to wipe the slate clean and set new resolutions for the year ahead.  Birding is no exception and for many birders the ‘Year List’ is set back to zero and every species, from the commonest to the rarest, becomes a target again!  This is reason enough to get out looking for the year’s ‘first’ Robin or Treecreeper, but the month also holds interest aside from year-listing.

Many of our resident birds begin to warm up their vocal cords as the month progresses with Blackbirds, Song Thrushes and Great Tits finding their voices.  Great Spotted Woodpeckers too can be heard drumming while Tawny Owls can get more vocal as they defend and assert their territories.  Wildfowl continue to be a focal point with drake birds entering courtship resplendent in their breeding plumage, with the drab ‘eclipse’ plumage of the autumn moult a distant memory.

The increased activity provides a welcome glimmer of hope that Spring may not be too far away despite the fact that plenty of winter and weather is still to come.  While return migration may not yet have begun, the chance of finding lingering vagrants from the autumn movement remains.  Checking sheltered scrub next to watercourses or lakes can reveal over-wintering Chiffchaffs and with them a chance of a Siberian Chiffchaff.  Equally, Firecrest may pop up anywhere – they love hollies and ivy – or a Yellow-browed Warbler staying below the radar until it gives itself away with its distinctive high-pitched call.

In irruptive years species such as Hawfinch, Crossbill and Waxwing will have become evident in earlier months, but January is a good month to find any of these species outside of those years.  Checking conifer plantations for Crossbill, yew and hornbeam for Hawfinch and berry bushes for Waxwings might just reveal over-wintering birds.

January is also a great month to trawl through the common birds to find the uncommon one whether it’s a Brambling with the Chaffinch flock, a Marsh Tit with the regular tit flock or a Mealy Redpoll with the Lesser Redpolls.  Changeable weather is the birder’s friend as it moves birds around meaning that any day may yield something new.  This is perhaps most evident with gull flocks that ebb and flow between sites and roosts bringing a fresh mix of species each day.  Caspian, Yellow-legged and Mediterranean Gulls are likely, but January is also one of the best months to find a real rarity…might there be an Iceland or even a Ring-billed Gull amongst the Common Gulls this January?

Many areas get flooded in the winter and these can be very productive and may attract a variety of wildfowl that wouldn’t normally be there such as Wigeon and Teal that love to graze on flooded meadows.  Along with them Common Snipe may fly up noisily, zigzagging away and, if you’re lucky, their smaller cousin, the Jack Snipe, whose numbers peak in this month.  Wet vegetation and water edges are also a good place to look for a Water Pipit although now a rare bird in the County.  Although recorded more frequently in January than Rock Pipits, considerable skill is still needed to separate these birds in winter plumage.

January can offer the best of winter birding with flocks reaching their peak numbers, notably Corn Buntings in the north of the County and more noisily, Ring-necked Parakeets in the south!  Whichever part of the County you are in, as always, getting out and looking for birds is the perfect way to beat the winter blues and, who knows, you might find just find something special!

Recent January Rares:

Bonaparte’s Gull – Tring Res (2016)

Franklin’s Gull – Amwell (2016)

Slavonian Grebe - Tring Res (2016)

Red-necked Grebe - Hilfield Res (2017)

Yellow-browed Warbler -Tyttenhanger & Amwell (2019)

Serin – Woodoaks Farm (2022)