Wildlife Resolutions of 2016

Completed

  • Take part in BSBI’s New Year Plant Hunt
  • Explore NT Wimpole Estate
    • Definitely managed that, although I still didn’t get to visit everywhere on the estate – but that is because it is ridiculously huge
  • Visit NT Wicken Fen
    • I went a bit further than expected – I visited and I got a job there as an assistant in the education team! I ended up working part-time at Wimpole and part-time at Wicken Fen between May – September 2017. Suffice to say I had an wonderful time because I love teaching children about nature, and I also saw lots of amazing wildlife!
  • Organise an event for AFON
    • In the summer I ran an ‘introduction to insects’ workshop for AFON members at WT BCN’s Ring Haw field station. I definitely did *not* run said workshop for my own interests … In all honesty, it was a great couple of days, and we all learnt a lot!

Kind of completed

  • Submit application to give a talk(s) at BirdFair 2016.
    • I didn’t submit an application in the end (I just missed the deadline, d’oh!). However, I did manage to end up on the main stage at BirdFair twice! First, when invited by Jess French to talk about AFON, and second, to play a mouse during the play of ‘The Jungle Book’.
  • Publish an article in a major wildlife magazine.
    • Kind of done in two ways – I have an article on moths in the Spring 2017 issue of Wildlife Watch, and I also now work at a major wildlife magazine.
  • Visit RSPB Minsmere.
    • I visited, but incredibly briefly at dusk so I don’t feel I can count this as completed!
  • Start my own collection of pinned insects.
    • Yes, in that I have two pinned insects … and then I stopped because I moved house twice and started a new job.

Not at all in any way completed

  • See 4 new species of butterfly, including Swallowtail & Black Hairstreak.
  • See and identify 5 new species of hoverfly.
  • Reach 200 on my bird life list (161 at the end of 2015).
  • Reach 500 on my moth life list (209 at the end of 2015) by BirdFair 2016 – as challenged by Dominic Couzens at BirdFair 2015.
  • Reach 1500 on my pan-species list (769 at the end of 2015).
  • Get at least one of the birds in my freezer taxidermied.
  • Sort and submit all my 2015 wildlife records.
  • Dissect and identify the dead moths in my freezer / dead insect pots.
0 replies

Leave a Reply

Want to join the discussion?
Feel free to contribute!

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *