The (Big) Year That Flew By

• The (Big) Year That Flew By by Arjan Dwarshuis
• Chelsea Green Publishing, 2023. 256 pages.
• ISBN: 9782645021919. Pbk, £18.99.

Have you done a big year? Most of us have to a degree – maybe on the local patch, within a home county or even across the country. But to do a worldwide big year takes things to a whole new level.

Back in 1968 Peter Alden became the first person to see more than 2,000 species in a year – something that many of us have done since, thanks to the availability of guided tours. Move forward two decades and in 1989 James Clements managed to see 3,662 species. Then, in 2008, Alan Davies and Ruth Miller set another new record and saw 4,341.

It was only a matter of time before someone with access to more resources would try to beat that and in 2015 Noah Strycker set himself another goal: to become the first person to see half the world's birds in one year. His haul of 6,042 species took things onto a whole new level. But just as Sir Roger Bannister set the four-minute mile in 1954 and saw it beaten two months later, Noah's record only stood for a year. In 2016 Arjan Dwarshuis managed to see 6,852 – and how he managed to do that is the subject of this book.

There is something quite exciting about reading a book like this; you can travel the world in your armchair and imagine the birds and the places without spending a fortune. Indeed, it's often satisfying to read of the journeys involved and relive your own exploits and remember the people you met along the way. This book is full of exciting trips and in total 41 countries are visited, covering some 135,000 km. The challenge of trying to see an average of 17 new species per day, every day comes at some cost. In fact, £60,000 of cost! Being aged only 29 at the time, Arjan received help from his family, and as the list of acknowledgments shows, many of the world's birders helped him with local information. 

The book reads well, and it is easy to immerse yourself in Arjan's journey, worrying about cyclones or monsoons, mudslides and illness. But the one thing that does comes across strongly is that Arjan is not a big worrier – he is positive about the challenge and rarely has a negative day. I doubt many of us could keep going with the stamina and attitude that is needed.

There are flashbacks throughout the book as Arjan takes us back into his early days of birding in The Netherlands and other countries, learning fieldcraft and understanding how birds live. These are key moments in his life, although I have to confess, I was more gripped by his world challenge.

By early November, Arjan had broken Strycker’s record, so he then had at least six weeks to see as much as he could with the pressure off. If he did step back a bit there is no sign of it as he heads on through Central America to see as much as he can.

That final total of 6,852 has grown in the last six years thanks to splits of the species he saw – and now stands at 6,912. One day I expect someone will beat it – but they'll need time, money, dedication and good health. They'll also probably face flak for lots of unnecessary travel. Arjan raised nearly £45,000 for BirdLife International, so I think his conscience should be fairly clear!