Mike Weedon assistant editor
Mike is always pointing out that spring birding is tiring, but nothing beats a ‘big day’ for exhaustion (and excitement!)
has been doing his annual spring ‘big day’ and reports on the inevitable highs and lows.
TIf you are having a duck-off, Baikal Teal Beats Mandarin any TIME
he glorious, (theoretically) 24-hour nonsense of birding a full ‘calendar day’ in spring, in search of record totals of bird species, is the highlight of the birding year in the Peterborough area. That said, it is an acquired taste and so far very few local birdwatchers have really embraced this particular challenge. And of the few that have tried, most have fallen by the wayside, broken people, their subconscious haunted by the visions of pain and exhaustion, nebulous memories now, but so very real at the time.
So, there remain three of us: me, Will Bowell and Hugh Wright. A nameless team of mad men, who have dedicated the last few Sundays of early May bank holiday weekends to The Day. Every year, we start dreaming about and planning the great day-long expedition, while winter still has the land and birds in its grip, and spring migration is just a distant dream. You would think that by the time 5 May 2019 came along, we would have had every birding footstep meticulously planned. But, just like every year, we had a woolly itinerary, vaguely adhered to (plus the standard prediction that we would see 120 birds); and finished the day swearing to plan it better, next year… We started too early, being ‘in the field’ at 1.47am. It was quite cool for good night-listening, but by 4.30am we had 30 species ticked (we count ’heards’), including Bittern, Corn Crake, Tawny Owl, Woodcock, Grasshopper Warbler and Long-eared Owl. As the sky started to lighten, we added Little and Barn Owls (seen) and after chalking up some staked-out Wheatears, we added two very localised goodies, Corn Bunting and Grey Partridge just as the sun rose (5.15am; 41 species). We arrived at our favoured ‘dawn chorus’ spot, Castor Hanglands NNR at 5.50am (56 species). Nightingales were singing as we got out of the car, but, and now we get to the crux, a few minutes later, Hugh said in a serious voice, “get on this bird, perched in that tree”. We were surrounded by trees, but eventually worked out where he was looking. He was looking at a Tree Pipit. This is a bird so scarce around Peterborough, that it was a local tick for Will, the first Hugh had seen perched; and my first ever spring individual. So, we had already won by 6am! We scoured the Hanglands and some other local forests seeking classic woodland species, and were back in the open at 9.25am on 80 species. We started to explore the wet bits near the village of Maxey, in areas adjacent to the bit of the River Welland called the Maxey Cut. Kingfisher, Tree Sparrow, Grey Wagtail and, best of all, Turtle Dove were to fall, and Hugh (who was on ridiculously good form), spotted a tiny dot in the sky which put the often-tough Sparrowhawk onto our list. Maxey’s pits delivered the day’s best passage waders: two Wood Sandpipers, bird 100 for the day. It was 11.15am. Not far away, in the Baston and Langtoft pit complex we saw (ie Hugh found) a Raven, a party of six Arctic Terns happened to be passing through while we were there and Hugh found us our only Mistle Thrush of the day. Cattle Egret at Deeping Lakes at 1.30pm was bird number 108. This is when we ‘hit the wall’. There followed three hours of trudging tedium (including an inordinate amount of time and effort failing to see Mandarins in a country park swarming with members of the public, having an enjoyable day out. Have these people no idea about the importance, intensity and exhaustion of big days?). I later calculated we walked more than 12 miles birding, that day... We reached the Nene Washes at 4.20pm on 109 (having only added Peregrine) and the list was dying a weary, exhausted, drawn out death. But we always underestimate the power of the Nene Washes: Whooper Swan, Garganey, Hobby, Ruff, Avocet and suddenly we were on 119. Our trump card awaited us in the east at March Farmers (also part of the greater Nene Washes). If you are having a duck-off, Baikal Teal beats Mandarin any time. But it also saw the last addition to our list: 123. It was 6.30pm, but we had squeezed just about every possible bird out of the Peterborough area. And though we laboured on for the next couple of hours, exhaustion was the winner. Still, 123 birds: not bad for a spring day with little active migration. Next year, we will, as always, plan it better, and who knows what we will get. Bring it on!