So far this year, I've seen 120 species that I've never previously identified. I now have 5880 species on my British PSL. That's pretty good going, it really doesn't seem all that long ago that I recorded my 5000th species, Rock Whitebeam on Raasay. You can read the crippling account of that day here.
So that's 120 species added this year with just 120 more to go before I hit 6000...
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| Rock Whitebeam Sorbus rupicola for the 5K |
The required 120 should hopefully fall sometime this coming summer. The obvious limitation is that I'm effectively Uig-bound and will be venturing forth entirely solo for the foreseeable. It's no coincidence that my PSL increases in leaps and bounds every time I venture south into England and meet up with The Ghost or Mark Telfer; they are phenomenal naturalists and between us we find a shedload of species across a wide taxonomic scope. I learn (and try not to instantly forget...) loads of stuff whenever I'm out with these guys.
My PSL stood at 4500 species at the start of January 2017. It took me seventeen months to gain the next 500 species, with 5000 being attained the end of May 2018. The next block of 500 new species took me almost exactly one year to achieve, with my PSL hitting 5500 in late May 2019. That's 1000 additions to my PSL in under two and a half years!
In the grand scheme of things this won't ever be an important or remarkable achievement, but on a personal level it would be amazing if I could add the required 120 species by the end of June 2020. That would be 1500 additions in just three and a half years which, for me at least, would be deeply satisfying.
I have eleven weeks to come up with 120 species, which equates to eleven lifers per week between now and the end of June. All in Uig. Solo. That's definitely almost entirely possible...
I've been enjoying this bunch lately, they make for a pleasantly chilled background noise whilst I'm busy pinning/carding/keying specimens from the 2020 Backlog Box.
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