30-Minute Birder
On the road again... A man who combined trucking and birding
I’ve been hooked on birds since my first I-Spy book, at the age of eight. I can remember hiding in my garden, ticking off Robins, Blackbirds and House Sparrows with my pencil. Always on the lookout for rarities,
I longed for the red-letter days that
Big Chief I-Spy promised us if we kept our eyes peeled.
I’ve come a long way since then.
I’m now retired, after 45 years of driving a 40-ton truck all over Europe and Scandinavia. During those years, I had the best birdwatching hide imaginable – my cab.
In the UK, whether parked in a lorry park (mating Foxes), a lay-by (Lapwings in a field dive-bombing a Stoat) or in a town centre (crows mobbing a Fox), there was always something to see. On an industrial estate in Coventry, I watched a Carrion Crow chasing a Mole on the grass verge. The drama lasted a good 10 minutes. The Mole had no chance, but it took quite a few blows from the crow’s beak before it was overpowered and carried off. All observed from the warmth and comfort of my cab, with a cuppa in my hand.
Out on the road, it was incredible what you could come across. I saw a Night Heron on the M5 at Exeter and Black Swans flying over Felixstowe Docks. In a traffic jam in Putney, one day, a Sparrowhawk took a pigeon in the road right in front of the truck.
On a trip to Scotland, I once managed to get my truck into the car park at the RSPB
What better way to break a long drive than with half an hour’s birdwatching? Former truck driver Mick Rennison recalls some memorable birding interludes…
reserve at Loch Garten. Tight squeeze and quite a bit off my route, but well worth it; not only for the wonderful Ospreys, but a male Redstart right in front of the hide, too! That same day I saw my first Shorteared Owl. A real red-letter day!
Motorways may not be everyone’s idea of a good day out, but driving the M40 from London to Birmingham can often be like driving through a wildlife reserve. Kingfishers flashing dangerously across the carriageway, Grey Herons standing motionless on the hard shoulder, Carrion Crows and Magpies harvesting the roadkill bounty. And then there’s the Foxes, Badgers and Rabbits, and not only dead ones. And did you know that the Muntjac Deer, often seen grazing on the verges at the southern end of the motorway, are thought to be the world’s oldest known deer? Fossils have been found dating back 20 million years.
There are also many raptors to be seen along this route. Buzzards sit on fenceposts silently watching the passing traffic. Kestrels hover motionless above the verges, searching for their next meal, and hunting Sparrowhawks are a treat to be seen flushing their prey out of roadside scrub.
But the one that amazes me most is, of course, the Red Kite. I first saw a pair in mid-Wales in the early 1970s – another