My Summer Birding Challenge!
It's been a while since I wrote a blog post, but I've been doing lots of birding in the meantime. A month and a half ago I started my June to September Birding Challenge. The idea was to try and see as many birds as I could from the 1st of June until the end of September to take advantage of being lucky enough to have a 4 month summer away from university. The busiest times for a student always seem to be April/May and October, which are annoyingly some of the best months for birding. I seem to have all the time in the world in June and July when there just aren't very many birds to see!
The main motivation therefore for starting from scratch being that June and July can be frustrating months for birding (although this year seems to have been a bit of exception) and I was hoping that starting a new list would help make things more exciting.
My target, though optimistic, was to beat 200 species which was my previous year list record for an entire calendar year! I would be helped by the fact that my summer plans involve such great birding locations as Spurn, Norfolk, Scotland and Frampton Marsh.
It's been a month and a half since I started the challenge, and what a month and a half it's been! Nearly halfway through the challenge, I'm currently sat on 156 species!! including an incredible 8 lifers - far beyond my wildest expectations at this stage.
The challenge began on the 1st of June with a trip to the Forest of Dean, thinking that some birds like Wood Warbler and Pied Flycatcher would become increasingly tricky as the breeding season progressed. This first trip was extremely successful with Wood Warbler, Pied & Spotted Flycatcher, Crossbill and Redstart at Nagshead, Mandarin Duck at Cannop, and a lifer in the form of a Goshawk! Corn Bunting was a nice addition at Marshfield on the way home, while unsuccessfully hunting for my first ever Quail (though that story wasn't over).
A River Warbler found on the 4th saw me making the 45 minute journey to Ham Wall the following day to see this superb bird. Ham Wall is a great reserve, and one that I had been hoping to visit in June anyway - here I added Bittern, Little, Great white and Cattle Egrets, Cuckoo and Marsh Harrier.
 |
| River Warbler, Ham Wall and Great White Egret |
Then it was time for my long-awaited trip to Scotland. My girlfriend and I spent a fantastic 10 days touring the country on public transport. It wasn't a birding holiday, but nevertheless new birds came thick and fast. Birds I think I can safely say I won't get again.
101 birds were seen in total, with highlights being:
- Red-breasted Merganser and Black Guillemot (lifer!) in Oban
- Great Northern Diver (in breeding plumage), Otter and Hen Harrier on Mull
- Twite, Puffin, Bottle-nosed Dolphin and all the other seabirds including Manx Shearwater and Great Skua on and around Staffa
- Corncrake (lifer!) and a self-found Rose-coloured Starling on Iona
- Golden Eagle (lifer), Red-throated Diver, ealy Redpoll, Twite and Crossbill on Skye
- Slavonian Grebe (possibly bird of the trip), Red Grouse, Osprey, Dipper, Ring Ouzel and Goldeneye in the Cairngorms
- Hooded Crows everywhere
- Ring-necked Parakeet in London
A week or so later a local rarity was found on my old patch of Middleton Lakes - a singing Blyth's Reed Warbler! Yet another lifer and a really interesting and educational bird to watch. Some other new birds here were Egyptian Goose, Little-ringed Plover and Common Tern.
A Red-legged Partridge entertained me at Center Parcs, wandering around the Café Rouge tables!
Back at Middleton Lakes Grasshopper Warbler, Lesser Whitethroat and Green Woodpecker were overdue ticks, in an impressive haul for mid-June of 63 species.
By the start of July, new birds were becoming harder to find, but a trip to Rutland Water delivered as it always does with Green Sandpiper, Avocet, Yellow-legged Gull, Yellow Wagtail and a very nice Black Tern all being new during a very enjoyable day out.
The next bird in what has been an exceptional early summer for national rarities (Sulphur-bellied Warbler, Red-necked Stint, Soft-plumaged Petrel etc. etc.) was the Black-browed Albatross at Bempton Cliffs. I couldn't resist. And I, along with many others, made the trip up to Yorkshire to see this incredible bird. We arrived at 9:30 and were lucky enough to watch the bird for 5 minutes before it flew north and wasn't seen for the rest of the day or the following day. Others arriving just after unfortunately weren't so lucky. Although we didn't get the views that others have had, it such a moving sight to see this ocean wanderer flying and shearing over UK waters, doing what it does best. It's a bird I used to ogle at in books growing up, and to see it at a site like Bempton that I have always loved, was really special.
Of course, the Tree Sparrows a Bempton didn't disappoint and were perhaps the commonest bird there (not many sites in the UK can claim that!), and on top of that a Barn Owl has taken up residence in the nest box on the reserve and gave great day-time views hunting over the fields. The sea birds, as always, were spectacular! Always worth a visit entirely in their own right.
On the way home, we decided to stop at Budby Common for my one shot at Woodlark this summer. Unfortunately, that wasn't to be, but the Tree Pipits put on a great show and took up a spot as bird #149, tantalisingly close to 150.
That spot though, was reserved for a lifer, though sadly heard-only - Quail! On the way back to Bath we stopped in Marshfield where I managed to find at least 3 calling males. A really great sound! I'm hoping to put in a bit more time here in the future and catch a glimpse. But at least I know now that they do exist.
And that brings me to this week, on holiday with my family in Devon, where I have been able to add 6 new species to my burgeoning list: Nightjar, Dartford Warbler, Kingfisher, Peregrine, Mediterranean Gull and some showy Cirl Buntings! The Nightjars performed beautifully on Aylesbeare Common with at least 4 birds flying round our heads, wing clapping and churring, giving perched and flight views. The Dartford Warblers have showed well also in the beautiful weather. We're so lucky to have the big three - Nightjar, Dartfords and Cirl Bunting just down the road.
With Norfolk, Frampton and Spurn still to come, my once unattainable target of 200 seems to be becoming more and more achievable, but new birds are getting harder to come by! And whether I get there or not, my challenge has achieved its goal of making this June and July the most enjoyable summer for birding I have ever had.
Comments
Post a Comment