Andy’s review of 2025

Greetings to all who are interested in reading this. After such an exciting year in 2024 this has been a quieter year for both of us.

For the first time in a few years, we didn’t go away for Hogmanay but had a quietish night in. We waited a couple of weeks to spend a few days in a rented cottage in Perthshire which provided an opportunity for some productive birding during freezing weather, especially when this Ring-necked Duck appeared at a local loch near Blairgowrie.

For the first time in my life, I went on a skiing holiday without George; his days on the slopes appear to be over now. I went instead with long-time friend Kerstin, and we booked a Frosch Sportresien holiday at Davos. We skied with the Frosch ‘Panorama’ group which meant we could take plenty of stops to take in the fantastic Alpine vistas. I probably spoke more German (to a fashion!) than on any previous ski holiday.

After my return, I needed to get down to business and prepare for my next Silversea contract, which meant undergoing lots of online training to ensure my knowledge and skills were up to date. Oh, and the not so small matter of getting through my medical. Unfortunately, the doctor could not approve my UK ENG 1 certificate on grounds of my deafness, which is moderate in one ear and profound in the other ear. I won’t bore you with the details, but it became clear that the Maritime and Coastguard Agency (MCA) which administers the standards for an ENG 1 certificate, was insisting on gold-plated standards for demonstrating that my aided hearing was up to scratch and, given the availability of such tests, was borderline discriminatory. Thankfully, Silversea have alternative international standards, which my approving doctor and audiologist were able to navigate me through to approval. I received immense support from friends who offered helpful advice. Then there were those who were a downright hindrance, especially Specsavers and the intransigent MCA. I ended up putting in a complaint to the latter through my Member of Parliament. I got a response from Mike Kane, the Minister for Aviation, Maritime and Security which contained a minute shift in the wording on standards that will provide sufficient wiggle room for future testing.

Before departure, we had the very enjoyable Gay Birders’ Club ‘Grand Get Together, hosted at the Grant Arms Hotel in Grantown on Spey in the heart of the Cairngorm National Park. This was a celebration of the club’s 30th anniversary since its inception. These events are the largest gathering of LGBT birders anywhere in the world; they are great fun and an opportunity to meet with many old friends. There were many birding highlights, but for me, an add-on that I organised were two boat trips from Macduff to see white-billed divers that gathers offshore here each year in March to May. They were close to being in full breeding plumage and allowed reasonably close approach when not feeding.

So at the end of April, I joined Silver Endeavour in Leith for three voyages around NW Scotland south to Portsmouth then back to Leith via western Ireland and on the final voyage to Shetland, along the west coast of Norway to Tromsø and finally to Svalbard for about a week. I got to visit many familiar places (Isle of May, Fair Isle, St Kilda) and some new destinations, such as Inverie, many new places on the West Coast of Ireland and much of western Norway. This was a new ship for me which has been designed with luxury expedition cruising in mind; it was a dream to recover and launch the Zodiacs for operations. The weather around the British Isles was outstanding, which made for many special experiences. I took advantage of the Silversea benefit and took George on the final voyage as my guest. He had never been to Norway before, let alone north of the Arctic Circle. Visiting Svalbard is a unique experience, and to me it is a story about exploitation by humans. What should be a pristine, yet fragile ecosystem bears many scars from uncaring plundering of the natural environment. Svalbard is now much better protected which means cruise ships and people on board cannot approach wildlife too closely. So we had to keep a certain distance from two polar bears that had gorged themselves on a walrus carcass but that is always a special experience and the highlight for George.

On return, we enjoyed a glorious summer with many days and evenings spent in the garden in sunshine and comfortable temperatures. The pond continues to delight as it matures, with frog and toad spawn (although none of the eggs reached tadpole stage. I saw newts again but didn’t try the underwater camera this year. I wish there was more dragonfly activity, but you can’t have everything. I expected to see more hummingbird hawkmoths this year, but I only saw them on the red valerian on a few days. One of the highlights was when the Tall Ships Race visited Aberdeen in July. It really brings the city to life, drawing hundreds of thousands of visitors. The best part is always when they leave for the next stage.

During the year I became aware of the advances Kite Optics has made, who are pioneering image-stabilised binoculars and telescopes. A guest on Silver Endeavour kindly allowed me to look through his pair of their APC 12×42 binoculars and I was deeply impressed. The ability to get a stable view of wildlife, especially on boats or in windy conditions is immense. Kite has an exclusivity agreement with the company that is developing the technology, meaning that competitors are left using 2–3-year-old methods (nearly all manufacturers use the same Japanese company to build their binoculars). I decided to approach Kite to see if I could be an ambassador for them (pass the Ferrero Rocher) and they accepted. I had to give up my existing binoculars and ‘scopes, but these have been replaced by their state-of-the-art APC14x50 binoculars and APC 60 telescope and non-image stabilised binoculars and larger scope in their excellent range. The brain is quite good at filtering normal wobble during optics use, but it is phenomenal how much of a difference it makes to use good image stabilisation.

My big opportunity to really test the binoculars came with a visit to The Isles of Scilly and a couple of pelagic trips to the south of the islands. George and I went with my sister, Alison. Most of the trip we spent doing touristy things, such as visiting St Martin’s and of course the wonderful St Agnes, but I did manage to see western Bonelli’s warbler there, a new British species for me. The pelagic trips gave me all the wind and boat movement needed for a thorough test of my APC binoculars. I know I would have struggled to get a good look at some of the Wilson’s storm-petrels, but it proved so easy with image-stabilisation, even seeing the yellow webs on their feet on occasions. However, the star bird for everyone was this gorgeous adult Sabine’s gull which came into the chum.

This same species was the newest addition to my garden list this year. I was able to watch an obvious adult fly north from my back porch. Although it wasn’t the best year for seabird passage, there were significant numbers of little gulls feeding offshore or passing south which is unusual this far north.

Much of my summer has been interrupted by knee pain. I still haven’t had a proper diagnosis yet, though after a full set of scans, I should get the results and prognosis very soon. It’s likely to be caused by a disintegrating meniscal cartilage on my left knee, and the normal treatment is rest and knee-strengthening exercises. I realise now how much my muscle mass has declined after decades of being stuck behind a desk. I have now embarked on a project to rebuild my body condition and lose weight for good. I might have to resort to weight-loss injections given my past success in long-term weight loss, but that will be a last resort. Unfortunately, I lost my battle to get my knee fit enough to go to Antarctica this winter, but I’m determined now to get myself back in shape – I’ve still got a few years left in me.

Although I’d seen my oldest sister Alison on our Scillies trip, I hadn’t seen my other sister since last Christmas. This was remedied by a trip to London for sightseeing and a bit of culture in the form of the new production of Oliver and the excellent English National Opera performance of Carmen. We enjoyed fantastic meals, of course, at Bali Bali and Bocca di Lupa and enjoyed watching the Changing of the Guard, a boat trip down the Thames to Greenwich and of course to the Punch and Judy in Covent Garden. It was an excellent trip, though quite tiring.

This year, we will spend Christmas at George’s son David and his husband Damon’s flat in Edinburgh which we are very much looking forward to. On our return to Old Portlethen, we’ll host George’s daughter Stephanie and the rest of the Gray family – Andy, Erin and Bethany when we will take in the pantomime at the beautiful His Majesty’s Theatre in Aberdeen (oh no we won’t!).

Most of my friends won’t receive a Christmas card from me this year, and I hope this message is a worthy replacement. In lieu of the money saved, I have donated to Social Bite and Greenpeace. Some of you will receive a card, because I don’t have any electronic means to send as an alternative, so please send me a Facebook friend request or your email address if you want me to give even more money to good causes.

It remains for me to wish you a very merry Christmas and an even merrier New Year. I hope 2026 brings you joy and good health.

With lots of love, from both George and me.