Wildlife Resolutions of 2016

Completed

• Take part in BSBI’s New Year Plant Hunt
  • As discussed in ‘Back from my break‘ (January 2016)
• 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.