Another 2020 Statistic

So, it finally happened. The curse of 2020 struck in yet another way, as it was the first year since 1951 that there were no species added to the Shetland list.

Yes, incredibly, for 69 successive years, a species never seen before had been recorded in Shetland, a total of 180 new species, from a moribund Yellow-billed Cuckoo found by Tommy Moncrieff on his roof at Exnaboe on 1st November 1952 to the Black-winged Stilt found by Stewart Thomson on North Haven beach on Fair Isle on 10th October 2019.

This means that there was nothing rarer seen in Shetland than this Egyptian Goose, the second for Shetland, found by Roger Riddington at Fleck on 23rd December (other potential seconds are pending acceptance).

So, what will 2021 bring?