In my youthful days I used to be very eager on what’s generally called Huge Day Birding, or attempting to see as many species of birds as attainable in someday. In 1983 I co-wrote a ebook a few one-day, 24-hour aggressive birdwatch that I took half in. Referred to as The Huge Chook Race, it tells the story of how my group, representing Nation Life journal, recorded 155 species in 24 hours in East Anglia (Suffolk and Norfolk). Our opponents have been a group representing the Fauna and Flora Preservation Society (ffPS). They scored 144. Invoice Oddie (a British comic, tv persona and eager birder) was a member of the ffPS group, and he was my co-author of The Huge Chook Race. Although lengthy out of print, it’s not tough to select up copies of the ebook from secondhand ebook retailers for a modest sum. Although I say it myself, it nonetheless makes an amusing learn.
I’ve carried out numerous large days since, most notably in Kenya in 1986. This wasn’t a mere 24-hour hen race, however a 48-hour occasion, and was filmed by the BBC for a programme referred to as The Nice Safari Chook Race. My group scored a mind-blowing 292 species on the primary day, and completed 24 hours afterward 442. Sounds spectacular, however we got here third total, with the profitable group comfortably exceeding 500 species. To attain our rating, we began at daybreak in Kakamega Forest in Western Kenya, from the place we flew to the Rift Valley, then on to the Indian Ocean coast at Malindi. The next day we travelled by means of Tsavo Nationwide Park earlier than ending in Nairobi. It was as exhausting because it sounds, however terrific enjoyable.
You could observe that the occasions befell a significantly very long time in the past, so when my birding pal Andrew Goodall urged that we must always spend a day in Might looking for as many species as attainable in our native patch, I used to be eager, however with reservations. We each agreed on a 3.30am begin, however I urged that we must always cease in the course of the day for lunch and a sleep, then begin once more at round 3.30am. Andrew readily agreed. I additionally urged that we must also cut up the driving, with considered one of us driving within the morning, the opposite within the afternoon. It was what you would possibly name a Gents’s Huge Day, or extra precisely, an Outdated Gents’s Huge Day. It was additionally strictly non aggressive, with no guidelines to abide by, comparable to each of us listening to or seeing every hen.
So it was that at 3.30am on the morning of Saturday, 18 Might, the 2 of us have been to be seen listening for birds at our native nature reserve, Hopton Fen (a moist and reedy valley fen). Truly we couldn’t be seen, because it was nonetheless too darkish, however we did hear a few birds to start out the day: Tawny Owl and Cetti’s Warbler. Our subsequent cease was a pig discipline the place Andrew had heard Stone Curlews a few weeks earlier than, however on this cool and misty morning there wasn’t a sound to be heard.
A roding Woodcock at daybreak
The key of discovering as many birds as attainable on a day like that is to go to as many various habitats as attainable. We arrived at our subsequent website, a forest clearing, at 4am, simply as daybreak was breaking. We’d hardly received out of the automotive once we heard our goal hen, a churring Nightjar, so wasted no time in setting off for our subsequent vacation spot, Knettishall Heath. It was nonetheless fairly darkish once we arrived, however a bit of gentle was seeping into the japanese sky, and birds have been beginning to sing. A lot to our shock, the primary hen we heard was one other Nightjar, and this was quickly adopted by our goal species, a roding Woodcock. A Cuckoo referred to as repeatedly from not distant.
Stonechat, a heathland specialist. We solely noticed one through the day
The daybreak refrain is at its greatest within the first hour after dawn, so we added widespread birds rapidly to our rising record. Wren, Blackbird, Tune Thrush, Robin, Backyard Warbler, Blackcap, Goldcrest, Treecreeper, Chiffchaff have been all famous by 4.30, and we quickly managed so as to add two extra difficult species: Stonechat and Willow Warbler. We had enlisted the help of fashionable know-how, with the Merlin app on our telephones arising with the Stonechat earlier than we noticed it.
Stake-outs are necessary time-savers on days comparable to this, and our subsequent goal hen – Stone Curlew – was a hen we had a dependable website for, and one we may view at lengthy vary from a public footpath. The curlews didn’t disappoint us, both, whereas I doubt in the event that they noticed us. Stone Curlews are uncommon and particular birds of our space, and one to not be disturbed, so a distant view was greater than passable. By the way, I didn’t carry a digicam through the day, so the images illustrating this piece are inventory pictures from my photograph library, and weren’t taken on the day.
Stone Curlew. A pair, seen from a public footpath, have been amongst our greatest birds of the day
We then had our longest drive of the day, to a wetland reserve in Norfolk, Dickleburgh Moor. We have been working on a self-restricted radius of 17km from Andrew’s home, and Dickleburgh is sort of precisely that distance. After listening and in search of birds in woodland, this was straightforward birding, and a bunch of species fell rapidly. There was an excellent number of geese, together with Tufted, Gadwall and Shoveler, plus our first waders of the day. These included nesting Lapwings, whereas we additionally added Little Ringed Plover (pictured beneath), Ringed Plover (4 migrants, pausing briefly earlier than heading north), and a high-quality Black-tailed Godwit in full breeding plumage. The latter was a bonus hen that we hadn’t anticipated.
Dickleburgh added Widespread Tern to the record
There have been nesting Black-headed Gulls right here, together with loafing Lesser Black-backed and Herring Gulls, whereas we have been delighted to see a passing pair of Widespread Terns, together with a number of Little Egrets. We added just a few small birds, too, together with Mistle Thrush and Sedge Warbler. The rating was now nicely over 70 species, so we have been doing in addition to anticipated. The one draw back was the climate, which remained stubbornly chilly (12degC) and gray.
Little Egrets are latest colonists of England: we didn’t seen any again within the Eighties
A verify of the churchyard at Dickleburgh drew a disappointing clean on Noticed Flycatcher, and our subsequent website, Redgrave Lake (an in depth decorative lake, seen from the highway) additionally failed so as to add something to the record. Nevertheless, at Redgrave and Lopham Fen, one other nature reserve, we have been delighted to look at Hobbies hawking for dragonflies, with as many as 5 birds in view directly. This fen has breeding Marsh Harriers, and we noticed a minimum of three completely different birds, whereas Cuckoos referred to as shut by.
We stopped at 1pm for our afternoon break, with the rating on 77. By now the solar had lastly damaged by means of, so I used to be in a position to benefit from the luxurious of a post-lunch, 30-minute snooze within the solar to recharge my private batteries. (I heard one other Cuckoo from the backyard). At 3.30pm we have been off once more, this time with me on the wheel of my two-seater, open-topped automotive. Convertible vehicles are nice for birdwatching, as not solely do you might have significantly better imaginative and prescient, however you can too hear birds. Our open-top motoring allowed the addition of our first Purple Kite of the day, a hen that I used to be stunned it took so lengthy to search out.
The 2 wetlands we visited within the afternoon (Micklemere and Nice Livermere) added just a few extra birds to the record, together with Oystercatcher, Shelduck, Pochard and Garganey. The latter was a drake, hiding within the lengthy grass, that I glimpsed however didn’t get Andrew onto. A fast verify at Pakenham Water Mill produced an on the spot Gray Wagtail, a satisfying discover, as these elegant wagtails are localised breeding birds on this a part of Suffolk.
A localised breeding birds in Suffolk, discovering a Gray Wagtail is at all times pleasing
Shelduck are primarily coastal breeders, however we now have an excellent inhabitants domestically
We loved a gloriously sunny night, a whole distinction to earlier within the day, however including new birds to the record was changing into tough, as there have been now so few prospects. At Brettenham Heath Nationwide Nature Reserve we heard Curlews, and loved an awesome view of a singing Woodlark. We continued till nicely after sundown, however each Little Owl and Barn Owl eluded us, as did Gray Partridge. Our closing rating was a passable 88 species, for which we had walked or pushed a grand whole of 130 miles. In keeping with my cellphone, I’d walked near 21,000 steps. It had been a wonderful day, and whereas there have been no actual surprises, it was a delight to listen to singing Cuckoos at almost each website we visited. Whether or not it will be attainable to notch up 100 species in a day in our space is debatable, however with the expertise of this yr’s Huge Day behind us, it’s more likely to be our goal subsequent yr.
