Progress Report

After a couple of recent near misses, 2026 is the year that I finally exceed 2500 living species in a single calendar year. How do I know this already? Because I've made up my mind that I'm going to achieve it, that's how. The only things that could possibly stop me hitting 2500 species are illness, injury, death, near death, alien invasion, zombie apocalypse or prison time. I'm not anticipating any of those coming to pass, so yeah 2500 species is finally happening! And if it doesn't, I bet it's the bloody aliens that mess it up for me.

Last season I worked split-shifts five days a week, meaning I'd finish work around 10pm of the night before my two days off. If I planned to hit Cairngorm, I would head off at about 11pm (arriving around 3.30am and grabbing about 4 hours crappy sleep in the car) or I'd set off around 4am and arrive feeling like bleurgh at around 9am. This season I have had my rota tweaked in advance so that I'm not required to do an evening shift immediately prior to my two days off. This means I can finish up around mid-afternoon, hit the road and arrive early evening, leaving me plenty of time to grab some food, set up a tent and enjoy a decent night's sleep, waking refreshed and still having a full two days ahead of me. Yes, I feel this will work out far better for me than it did last year. 

Regards numbers, I'm pinning a large amount of hope on finding an awful lot of plants and inverts this summer, propelling me well on the way to surpassing 2500 species. But I can't simply sit on my hands dreaming of the forthcoming summer glut, I need to be active each and every week of every month throughout the year, from start to finish. So, how do things stand now that the first two months have been and gone?

In January I managed to record 513 living species, of which 21 were lifers for me. By my standards, that's pretty decent going for the opening month of the year, especially when you consider I remained in the northern half of Skye throughout. 513 species compares well against previous years; January 2025 saw me record 504 living species (12 lifers) whilst January 2024 saw me record 422 living species (just 4 lifers).

During February I amassed an additional 248 living species, 18 of which were lifers for me. As such, my end of February yearlist stands at 761 species (39 lifers) compared with 616 species (23 lifers) in 2025 and 534 species (13 lifers) in 2024. 

Signs of Spring - I'm very much looking forward to finding these again this year!

At the moment I'm unsure whether or not I'll be able to squeeze in a week for myself before the hotel reopens to the public. There is a slim chance that I could sneak off for the first week of April. If I can manage to slip away, I think I'll head as far south as possible, right down into England to make the most of the bustling diversity of species that abound that way. My next opportunity won't be until October, but I'd very much like to see some of the spring species that simply don't occur up here. It's been a very long time since I last watched a Brimstone butterfly weaving along the ride of a southern woodland in spring, or heard the song of a Nuthatch, the chattering of a Grey Squirrel, or simply marvelled at a verge of Alexanders bustling with flies and bees. I very much miss such simple pleasures. I will try to fit in one last break before the season begins here on Skye, head south for the things I miss and to rediscover things I have forgotten.