Weedon’s World
April is an exhausting yet exhilarating month for the year-lister, but you have to work for the goodies, says Mike
Mike on his super-successful, exhausting Easter birding weekend
April is the worst month. I hate it! It is so exhausting. It is a month of non-stop action, with the vast majority of our summer migrants turning up during its 30 days; while ‘winterers’ are seemingly squeezed off and seen on their way back to their breeding grounds. And then there are birds which pass through as they migrate, never to be seen again. These are the ones that really pile the pressure on the local year lister.
Snooze and you lose; and there really is no time to be doing anything as indulgent as sleeping.
If Jim Morrison taught us anything it was that “no eternal reward will forgive us now for wasting the dawn”. So, like a Yorkshireman, I’ve been getting up half an hour before I go to bed, every day, in order to explore the paddocks and hedge-lined ‘high ground’ to the west of the A1 for those April stalwarts, passage Ring Ouzels and Redstarts. But then, there are Arctic Terns, Little Gulls and spring waders to worry about…
This year, things have been a bit different. My two (now) regular spring Big Day buddies, Hugh and Will, have decided to join the fray and tackle their own Peterborough area year lists for 2019. So, this year,
I have a bit of co-operative competition to help me on my way. We even have our own mini Whatsapp group (supplementary to the Peterborough Bird News group) to share our sightings and chivvy each other along.
And it has really helped. By the end of March, I had accumulated a personal record 136 bird species. But then came the horror of April. As usual, I was yearning for something more than 150 by the end of the month and perhaps even coming close to the 160 I had at the end of April in 2018 (you may remember that last year I smashed my local year list record with 195 birds).
April started well, with a self-found Black-necked Grebe; plus Grey Plover and Little Gull all turning up in the first week, soon followed by six exceptionally early Arctic Terns, on 10th. But, nearing the Easter weekend of the end of the third week of April (ie ‘Ring Ouzel and Redstart week’), my painfully early mornings were not paying off (though I had reached a healthy 149 species for my year list). So, I booked Maundy Thursday off to go birding with Hugh and make the long weekend five days long. And that is just about all I remember, your Honour. The rest is a blur. Luckily, I have notes and can check the messages on the Whatsapp groups on my phone. It turns out H and I saw more than 90 species that day, including finding a flock of six Little Gulls; seven Wheatears, and best of all year-ticking a Curlew that Hugh found at the end of the day. On Good Friday
(19th), I have vague memories of finding a ‘pristine’ male Redstart and seeing my first Cuckoo of the year.
Saturday’s relaxing birding was rudely interrupted by having to twitch the most immaculate spring male Whinchat I have ever seen. Oh, and in the evening,
I was able to successfully go chasing a couple of Ring Ouzels in one of the fields where I had looked for them in the early morning!
Easter Sunday was a relaxing day of chocolate and family walks, though in the evening my daughter Jasmine and I went to see two newly-found (not by us), obliging Ring Ouzels; and we year-ticked a lovely Nightingale in full song. But this beautiful music was just a prelude to the madness of Easter Monday.
I hadn’t even poured my 5.30am coffee by the time I got a message saying that Hugh had found a summerplumaged Red-necked Grebe at Deeping Lakes LWT (just north of Peterborough). While watching it, a Spotted Redshank came calling ‘chewit’ overhead, and landed for all of 20 seconds before continuing on its way. Then, I went birding with Will, first to fail to find any new waders on the Nene Washes; before heading north to enjoy at least 24 Little Gulls together with six immaculate (year-tick) Black Terns in south Lincs. Finally, we found a pair of Garganey, to take my local #My200birdyear list to 161.
This morning, on my gentle cycle in to work, it was almost a relief to add a ‘normal’ bird with Garden Warbler. It is 23 April and my Peterborough area 2019 list is on 162 species. Still seven days to try to complete the ‘30 birds in 30 days challenge’ or even to reach 170? That would just require a soupçon more madness…
April is the best month. I love it!
nearing easter, my painfully early mornings were not paying off...