I was very fortunate during the 2017/18 festive season to receive two excellent presents. One was a birdwatching magazine, which advertised the hashtag #My200BirdYear for people to use to challenge themselves to look for a variety of birds during a calendar year. The other was a new bridge camera. Impressively, it is bigger than my other bridge camera but lighter so I can carry it easily as well as aim to take better photos as it has a much more powerful zoom lens. Combining the two, I decided to make #My200BirdYear my New Year's Resolution for 2018 and use it as an opportunity to get to grips with the new camera too.

My 200 Bird Year got off to an excellent start on 1 January, 2018. In the morning I spent an hour watching the birds in my parents' garden, and in the afternoon my mum and I went to feed the ducks etc at a local pond. I saw and photographed 18 different birds.

A particular highlight was seeing a buzzard attacking the carcass of the Christmas turkey – I really like how the new camera captures the action of the attack. Similarly the action shots of common gulls swooping overhead impressed me – especially the photo I managed to take of a gull feeding directly from my mum's hand. On a different note, the cuteness of the ducks as they begged for food was also a highlight! Who could resist that little face..?

If you want to follow how I get on, I'm keeping a log of my efforts here in h2g2.

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