The idea that with nearly three quarters of the year gone I might be able to hit 200 bird species is buzzing round my head - difficult given a) how poor I am at new bird ID, b) Autumn migration might not be as productive as Spring one and c) how work is interfering with everything at the moment.
But a useful start would be to mop up some local birds!
The following Sunday I set off for RSPB Blacktoft Sands with a mind to see the Montagu's Harrier which had been roosting there. Sunday night the Singleton hide was full and though we waited for until 21:15 nothing was forthcoming - there were plenty of Marsh harriers and a Hobby and a Merlin in the twilight - it was though a magical time of day.
Monday required more a repetition with serious intent - one of the reasons I hate twitches is the serious prospect of wasted time and the bitter disappointment of high hopes dashed. I got into work early and left early and made Broomhead reservoir to see 1m, 2f and four or five juv Two Barred Crossbills all in the same tree for 40 minutes or so. That's the kind of twitch I like.
A word here about the awful directions available on most webpages for bird sightings: not just awful but sometimes misleading. It was hard to fathom - of course it might be obfuscation or diversionary (see below about reluctance to share). So why then don't bird groups use Goggle Maps? It's very simple to create a map for the Twitch and just add pins if multiple sights are involved over time? You might add a pin for good parking places - for the less IT enabled a print out may suffice, but for those with Smart phones a portable map which shows you where you are in relation to the site would seem to be a good tool.
I went from there back to Blacktoft, where a very distant Harrier obliged with a short appearance, flying down the Trent from the Humber and plonking itself in short order in the reedbeds at about 20:15.
2 more species on my year list, one on my life list, and the whimsical target seems a little less impossible.
Saturday was a day for a big push: A morning visit to Gringley Carr yielded very little - maybe it was the time of day and I suppose a Mistle Thrush is a good sign but it seemed like an empty landscape.
Newington Flash was - briefly as flood waters it turned out were rising - chock full of waders. Little Egret down to Little Stint and most sizes in-between - Curlew Sandpiper were a nice surprise. In an hour there my list went up by three.
Next to RSPB Old Moor - a 48 species site on Saturday afternoon - though there was no sign of the Night Heron despite a long stay til 19:45 in an empty hide. The Spoonbill was a plus for my list and I really enjoyed the great views from the elevated Wath Ings hide as birds large and small came in groups. A Hobby through a flock of Lapwing was impressive, a LBB Gull downing something small and fluffy caught with only feet showing as it disappeared head first was a stark reminder what it's like out there. Close views of Green Sandpiper, Greenshank, Common Sandpiper and a large flock of roosting Little Egret (17) made the evening well worthwhile.
Hide etiquette is something I'd like to dwell on after noisy experiences at both RSPB venues - there are no signs suggesting people are quiet. And so this weekend alone I heard:-
- the chatters blather on far too loudly,
- Three dishevelled elderly men loudly proclaiming their knowledge, offering scope views and generally flirting with the same young women (no wonder so few come bird watching),
- children sticking their heads out of the windows,
- Canon users who rest their big lenses on hide window ledges with a resulting resonant, amplified noise is like a machine gun and
- most memorably an intent watcher chomped on peanut brittle (needless to say he couldn't eat it quickly or quietly).
At Blacktoft on Sunday night - there were 4 or 5 Gargeney and plenty of roosting harriers. The Montagu's was seen - no idea from the after-the-fact blog as to where or when. The information on this bird has been patchy. But the absence of daily or real time reports on this site is regrettable
There's nothing on Twitter from the RSPB or a local bird group about Blacktoft. Nor as far as I can tell is there a bird club which reports daily on the site. This puts Blacktoft Sands at the back of the pack locally when it comes to getting people who are serious about birds or promoting it's countless introductory birding or wildlife activities. Missing it's core visitors and it's new customers is sad and unnecessary: it's an excellent reserve. The whole RSPB Community message board system is heavily handed though probably very secure: I think it's hard to find too. I'd love to know the balance of traffic between RSPB staff, RSPB members, public visitors and a few - often very good - photographers. But there's been some talk recently of how open some bird watching organisations are to spreading information: I was told at one site - not to put sightings "on the pager" (that's easy because I don't have one). There have been concerns voiced that not much gets reported in some parts of some counties or when it is, it is contained within clubs. My own experience of bird clubs has been hideous and I hope that social media will mean where these are secret cabals and/or centres of self-aggrandisement will wither away. Twitter is immediate and democratic and free.
My plan for Monday was a sea watch or two (first time in ten years) on the mid-Lincolnshire coast and then move either south or north to an RSPB reserve or two. The sea watch was a wash-out, as the wind dropped bird numbers dwindled. Also I realised that Sea Watching is hard on your own: I'd forgotten more than I'd reckoned on. I needed a group from whom I could learn but there was no one else there amongst the motorhomes and fishermen on Huttoft Bank. In a group, I recall the identification, where uncertain, was discussed and dissected - hints and tips shared - and my learning was accelerated. But birdwatchers are a rum lot so I don't know when I'll get that experience. Other sites seemed less appalling as the sun was beating down so in the end I headed back to Blacktoft where some of the Gargeney from the night were still on show....
Year list now 181 (53rd in the Birdtrack ranking)
