Researching where to go birding and the birds to see

 As 2025 nears the years end and 2026 draws closer, I have started to research and read about places to visit. To find out what birds I could find on my new quest of 2026 Big County Year List.

The first book I started with was the Were To Watch Birds IN Dorset, Hampshire & The Isle Of Wight though it is only the parts about Dorset that really interest me and there are some real interesting places to visit.

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The next books on the list to read were the following The Birds of Dorset and the Dorset Bird Report 2023 and the recently published Dorset Bird Report 2024. These are read to  match up the bird sightings with the places from the above and what I might see at these places. The Dorset Bird Reports are a great resource of what birds were seen and were. You can get a copy by joining the Dorset Bird Club here Dorset Bird Club the club produce this report annually and with online News Letters.

Following on from the reports was a case of looking up what some of the birds I would like to see and getting know some of the id features. As some of these bird will be lifers for me so it was interesting and necessary to learn all I can about them. The books used for this were the fantastic id book called ID HAND BOOK OF European Birds volumes 1 & 2, plus an old book ( passed on by a der friend) on sea birds called SeaBirds an identification guide. There will be other books to help with ids, but these are my go to books. a couple of birds I would really like to see are the Honey Buzzard and Cory's Shearwaters, Caspian Gull plus many more.

The gulls are a real challenge for me on the ids specially when in the early years and some adults so with trying to get my head round all the different plumages and ages I will be reading and referring to one of the best books on gulls on my bookcase ( there are others to use as reference) Gulls of Europe Asia and North America

Another important aspect I have been researching is tide tables and the tides for Poole Harbour.

After finding some links about tides and asking birding friends on Bluesky abouts these tables I  had some really wonderful advice about the tides. I think I am slowly getting my head around the double tides which happen in the harbour area. Plus the weather with heavy rainfall, high and low pressure affecting the tides. Plus at some places having to add or subtract 45 minutes its going to be interesting to see if I can predict the tides and arrive at the correct times? What ever I am sure I will enjoy myself  round the harbour looking for the birds.

Tide locations in South of England - BBC Weather

Poole Harbour Tide Times for 1st January 2026 | Tide Times

So all that is left to do now is wait for the new year to start and for an exciting birding journey to begin and to see what the Big Dorset County Bird Year is going to be like, I can hardly wait roll on 2026