Biking Birder 2015 - A cycle ride to every RSPB and WWT reserve. (2 Viewers)

[biking birder 2010]

An email from Mark Ian Avery

My e-petition to ban driven grouse shooting has two more weeks to run - it closes when the Westminster parliament is dissolved on 30 March.

If you are one of the 21,000+ signatories of this e-petition then 'thank you!' - together we have helped shape the agenda on grouse shooting for the future. Maybe you could do one last thing and forward this email to anyone who you think might be interested in signing too (UK citizens only).

If you think that driven grouse shooting is wonderful, and a completely sustainable land use, then don't sign this e-petition.

If you support a ban but haven't signed yet, then time is running out - why not sign now?

If you think that it's a bit complicated and that there are good things and bad things about driven grouse shooting then you are right! That's what I think too. But I also think that the 'bads' (illegal killing of protected wildlife (especially birds of prey), damage to wildlife sites through over-burning (especially of blanket bogs), increased greenhouse gas emissions (soil erosion and peat loss), increased water bills (water treatment costs due to water discolouration) and increased home insurance (because of increased flood risk)) outweigh the 'goods'. The 'goods' are economic value (easily replaced by other land uses and very small in national terms anyway), more of some ground-nesting birds (true) and protection of the uplands from 'worse' land uses (true in the past, but now most grouse moors are in national parks and/or have other wildlife and landscape designations which protect them from afforestation, wind turbines etc.). So, yes, it is complicated but that doesn't mean that there isn't a right answer!

If you aren't keen on grouse moor management but think that there are other ways forward, eg vicarious liability or licensing, then you might be right. But signing this e-petition will make it more likely that a future government will do something, rather than nothing, on this issue.

So, have a think about it, and then please sign this e-petition to ban driven grouse shooting.

Many thanks

Mark

Dr Mark Avery

PS Here's another way to highlight the plight of the Hen Harrier - vote for it in this poll of the nation's favourite birds organised by David Lindo. What a great way to raise the bird's profile!

 

[Phil Andrews]

You're looking well, live on Springwatch Extra at the mo - glad to see you have had a wash and shave!

Gary is currently on 225 species for the year

 

[Himalaya]

Just watched it now on IPlayer - very confident. I would be very nervous.

 

[Farnboro John]

You're looking well, live on Springwatch Extra at the mo - glad to see you have had a wash and shave!

Gary is currently on 225 species for the year

225 is tremendous. I'm glad I'm not having to do that sprint from Shetland to Scilly in early October though!

An updated "wants" list would be useful if Gary would like further help.

John

 

[Phil Andrews]

225 is tremendous. I'm glad I'm not having to do that sprint from Shetland to Scilly in early October though!

An updated "wants" list would be useful if Gary would like further help.

John

Gary has now inched to 229 - 4 weeks in East Anglia in May looked perfect on the planner, to be undone by a constant stream of westerlies. To reach his target of 300 he needs to add:

Bean Goose, Bewick's Swan, Green-winged Teal, Storm Petrel, Leach's Petrel, Sooty Shearwater, Balearic Shearwater, Capercaille, Ptarmigan, Corncrake, Spotted Crake, Quail, Little Stint, Long-billed Dowitcher, Pec Sand, Buff-breasted Sand, Jack Snipe, Green Sand, Baird's Sandpiper, Grey Phalarope, Golden Eagle, White-tailed Eagle, Honey Buzzard, Red-footed Falcon, Rough-legged Buzzard, Arctic Tern, Black Tern, White-winged Black Tern, Caspian Gull, Arctic Skua, Great Skua, Long-tailed Skua, Pomarine Skua, Puffin, Little Auk, Long-eared Owl, Short-eared Owl, Rock Dove, Alpine Swift, Bee-eater, Shorelark, Citrine Wagtail, Olive-backed Pipit, Red-rumped Swallow, Ring Ouzel, Bluethroat, Subalpine Warbler, Barred Warbler, Marsh Warbler, Blyth's Reed Warbler, Dusky Warbler, Radde's Warbler, Arctic Warbler, Greenish Warbler, Wood Warbler, Yellow-browed Warbler, Pallas's Warbler, Red-breasted Flycatcher, Crested Tit, Golden Oriole, Rose-coloured Starling, Red-backed Shrike, Woodchat Shrike, Serin, Common Rosefinch, Scottish Crossbill, Brambling, Mealey Redpoll, Arctic Redpoll, Snow Bunting, Lapland Bunting

 

[Farnboro John]

Little Stint, Long-billed Dowitcher, Pec Sand, Buff-breasted Sand, Jack Snipe, Green Sand, Baird's Sandpiper, Red-footed Falcon, Black Tern, White-winged Black Tern, Alpine Swift, Bee-eater, Citrine Wagtail, Olive-backed Pipit, Red-rumped Swallow, Bluethroat, Subalpine Warbler, Barred Warbler, Marsh Warbler, Blyth's Reed Warbler, Dusky Warbler, Radde's Warbler, Arctic Warbler, Greenish Warbler, Yellow-browed Warbler, Pallas's Warbler, Red-breasted Flycatcher, Golden Oriole, Rose-coloured Starling, Red-backed Shrike, Woodchat Shrike, Serin, Common Rosefinch,


BOURC accepts Feral Pigeon as legitimate, and you can't have both, so bite the bullet and stick FP on - forget Rock Dove which you'll never be able to prove (although we all do it!)

Scotland and the time is now, because you need to get ahead and this is the gap in bird movements: Capercaille, Ptarmigan, Corncrake, Golden Eagle, White-tailed Eagle, Arctic Skua, Great Skua, Arctic Tern, Puffin, Short-eared Owl, Ring Ouzel, Wood Warbler, Crested Tit, Snow Bunting.

Honey Buzzards are regular at Wykeham Forest which I suppose could be on the way to or from Scotland...

Forget Scottish Crossbill. You don't want to include it and have it removed later (you might want to consider Mealy and Arctic Redpolls and maybe Green-winged Teal in this light as well), even if you can find one, and there haven't been trillions of reports this year.

Leave for autumn seawatch/pelagic, July onwards: Storm Petrel, Leach's Petrel, Sooty Shearwater, Balearic Shearwater, Grey Phalarope, Long-tailed Skua, Pomarine Skua.

November at Flamborough: Little Auk.

Leave for East Anglia winter clear-up: Bean Goose, Bewick's Swan, Rough-legged Buzzard, Caspian Gull, Shorelark, Brambling, Lapland Bunting.

Are you expecting to see all of these? Personally I would be content hearing Spotted Crake and Quail: it's ethical as it avoids disturbance risks (unless you tape them out!) and a lot easier....

If you haven't got a Long-eared Owl site I could PM one, though Marton Mere late in the year would be a banker.

Most of the others are autumn bankers, although clearly trying to roll up all of them by bike will be interesting. The East coast is going to feel the scuffing of your tyres a lot I reckon.

However, 229 well inside the first half of the year is on track. Knock out Scotland now in June while its quiet and you will be able to devote a suitable amount of time (i.e. all of it) to twitching the last 60 birds in the second half of the year. It should be in the bag - power to your pedals!

John

 

[Phil Andrews]

Thanks your thoughts and info John. Gary's route and timing is more than slightly complicated by the target of also visiting all RSPB and WWT reserves is the country. He is currently in East Yorkshire (Bee-eater added yesterday :t and will soon cut across the country the work up the west of the country, sailing over to cover the Inner and Outer Hebrides and northern Scotland over the next three months before spending the majority of September and October in Orkney and Shetland which hopefully yield decent rewards. He will then spend that last two months of the year working down the east coast hoping for some of the typical late autumn eastern migration (Dusky warbler, Desert Wheatear, RfBt? etc) before hopefully having a spare week or so at the end of the year for any "round-up" trip that may be required (I have a sneaking feeling he will find himself in north Norfolk again).

Gary is already planning his next challenge which will drop the requirement to visit all the reserves and concentrate solely the birds. This will save time and effort by missing out areas such as the far south-west, most of Wales and Northern Ireland.

In terms of the list posted this was my estimation rather than anything Gary is specifically working to; I know he didn't feel confident on his last round-Britain-cycle in 2010 to tick Scottish Crossbill whilst he is saving ticking Rock Dove until he is out on the Western Isles.

 

[Farnboro John]

Thanks your thoughts and info John. Gary's route and timing is more than slightly complicated by the target of also visiting all RSPB and WWT reserves is the country. He is currently in East Yorkshire (Bee-eater added yesterday :t and will soon cut across the country the work up the west of the country, sailing over to cover the Inner and Outer Hebrides and northern Scotland over the next three months before spending the majority of September and October in Orkney and Shetland which hopefully yield decent rewards. He will then spend that last two months of the year working down the east coast hoping for some of the typical late autumn eastern migration (Dusky warbler, Desert Wheatear, RfBt? etc) before hopefully having a spare week or so at the end of the year for any "round-up" trip that may be required (I have a sneaking feeling he will find himself in north Norfolk again).

Gary is already planning his next challenge which will drop the requirement to visit all the reserves and concentrate solely the birds. This will save time and effort by missing out areas such as the far south-west, most of Wales and Northern Ireland.

In terms of the list posted this was my estimation rather than anything Gary is specifically working to; I know he didn't feel confident on his last round-Britain-cycle in 2010 to tick Scottish Crossbill whilst he is saving ticking Rock Dove until he is out on the Western Isles.

I think this is well on. There's nothing "unachievable" in the list (well Scottish Crossbill perhaps!) and for every bird on the list that Gary misses, there will be a proper BB that will be in the areas he is in, instead. Particularly true of his sojourn on the Northern Isles I should think!

I shall be following this with interest.

John

 

[biking birder 2010]

Massive thanks to both John and Phil for the detailed study of what i need over the coming birds. Around 10 days ago, whilst I thought the 3 waders that had been available at Frampton RSPB reserve had gone and the weather was truly horrible, rain and amazingly strong SW gale, I almost started to believe that I couldn't make the 300 let alone the European record of 305. Almost.
Then out came the sunshine after waiting a couple of days and curlew and white-rumped sand appeared, a bee-eater flew past me at Spurn, 2 poms and a red-backed shrike at Flamborough were both un-had back in 2010 and amazingly close views of honey buzzards at Wykeham forest have lifted my confidence over doing the European record sky high. I don't know about cycling from Shetland to the Isles of Scilly though!
Right now i am on the way to the RSPB Ribble Discovery Centre and Leighton Moss RSPB reserve. Then the bike is in for repairs again, hopefully for the last time for sometime. This will take around 3 days and then it's off into the Lake District and up at last into Scotland. The itinerary is hectic around Scotland in order to reach Orkney early in August and Shetland by September the first. I've budgeted for around two weeks on Fair Isle as well.
The list is now on 235 with the all but one of the East Anglian summer target birds having been seen. Bonus birds included the citril finch, the moltoni's and the little bittern. 3 red-necked phalaropes were great to see as well. There were obviously some misses but that's going to happen. I can't be everywhere at once and those bloody winds were appalling all month.
Whatever happens in the coming months, it's going to be very close to the record and I dream of a Apollo 13-style or a Thunderbirds-like countdown to the magic 300.

 

[biking birder 2010]

Little Stint, Long-billed Dowitcher, Pec Sand, Buff-breasted Sand, Jack Snipe, Green Sand, Baird's Sandpiper, Red-footed Falcon, Black Tern, White-winged Black Tern, Alpine Swift, Bee-eater, Citrine Wagtail, Olive-backed Pipit, Red-rumped Swallow, Bluethroat, Subalpine Warbler, Barred Warbler, Marsh Warbler, Blyth's Reed Warbler, Dusky Warbler, Radde's Warbler, Arctic Warbler, Greenish Warbler, Yellow-browed Warbler, Pallas's Warbler, Red-breasted Flycatcher, Golden Oriole, Rose-coloured Starling, Red-backed Shrike, Woodchat Shrike, Serin, Common Rosefinch,


BOURC accepts Feral Pigeon as legitimate, and you can't have both, so bite the bullet and stick FP on - forget Rock Dove which you'll never be able to prove (although we all do it!)

Scotland and the time is now, because you need to get ahead and this is the gap in bird movements: Capercaille, Ptarmigan, Corncrake, Golden Eagle, White-tailed Eagle, Arctic Skua, Great Skua, Arctic Tern, Puffin, Short-eared Owl, Ring Ouzel, Wood Warbler, Crested Tit, Snow Bunting.

Honey Buzzards are regular at Wykeham Forest which I suppose could be on the way to or from Scotland...

Forget Scottish Crossbill. You don't want to include it and have it removed later (you might want to consider Mealy and Arctic Redpolls and maybe Green-winged Teal in this light as well), even if you can find one, and there haven't been trillions of reports this year.

Leave for autumn seawatch/pelagic, July onwards: Storm Petrel, Leach's Petrel, Sooty Shearwater, Balearic Shearwater, Grey Phalarope, Long-tailed Skua, Pomarine Skua.

November at Flamborough: Little Auk.

Leave for East Anglia winter clear-up: Bean Goose, Bewick's Swan, Rough-legged Buzzard, Caspian Gull, Shorelark, Brambling, Lapland Bunting.

Are you expecting to see all of these? Personally I would be content hearing Spotted Crake and Quail: it's ethical as it avoids disturbance risks (unless you tape them out!) and a lot easier....

If you haven't got a Long-eared Owl site I could PM one, though Marton Mere late in the year would be a banker.

Most of the others are autumn bankers, although clearly trying to roll up all of them by bike will be interesting. The East coast is going to feel the scuffing of your tyres a lot I reckon.

However, 229 well inside the first half of the year is on track. Knock out Scotland now in June while its quiet and you will be able to devote a suitable amount of time (i.e. all of it) to twitching the last 60 birds in the second half of the year. It should be in the bag - power to your pedals!

John

Thanks for all your thoughts John. Most of what you say is already on the itinerary with december being spent in Norfolk after the Northern Isles in August to October and November being that trek down the East Coast.
I love your confidence. "In the bag", indeed! ATB

 

[biking birder 2010]

Hello everyone. The bike is in the repair shop so a couple of days of reflection and itinerary planning. It looks like the next few weeks will include the RSPB reserves of The Lake District, a quick as i can trip over to Coquet Island for roseate terns and back to Dumfrieshire before heading on up the west coast of Scotland.
The prospect of being back amongst the hills after all that relatively flat and of east Anglia puts a little trepidation into me but what the hell his record needs to be broken.
Now I need a little help with wood warblers and ring ouzels. Any advice over where i can find some in the Lake District would be appreciated. Please text 07988754090 or email me at [email protected]. Message me on facebook if you prefer - Gary Prescott or Biking Birder 2015.
Meanwhile i am putting a few of the one minute rarity videos onto youtube; white-rumped sandpiper, great white egret, channel wagtail and citril finch are on so far so please check them out. They're not the greatest as i am hand-holding the camera but they are records of my sightings.
Now on 236 and feel the record, the European record that is, is within my grasp but i need some phenomenal luck on Shetland. Here's hoping. BCNU all
Gary

 

[Farnboro John]

Assuming the Riggindale Golden Eagle watchpoint is on your itinerary, Ring Ouzels breed all along the crags and can usually be seen from the watchpoint.

John

 

[Nutcracker]

If you're coming over to Coquet Island, you can get Wood Warblers en route at Allenbanks just off the A69, and Ring Ouzels at Sipton Burn between Allendale Town and Allenheads - can supply grid refs if you want them.

 

[biking birder 2010]

Assuming the Riggindale Golden Eagle watchpoint is on your itinerary, Ring Ouzels breed all along the crags and can usually be seen from the watchpoint.

John

That's brilliant. I'll be there asap on Wednesday and possibly thursday next week. Thanks for that info. :t:

 

[biking birder 2010]

If you're coming over to Coquet Island, you can get Wood Warblers en route at Allenbanks just off the A69, and Ring Ouzels at Sipton Burn between Allendale Town and Allenheads - can supply grid refs if you want them.

I'd be really grateful if you could message me the grid refs or text me them at 07988754090

Thanks so much for if i do miss them after my rush around the Lake district then I will need alternative sites. :t:

 

[Farnboro John]

Its all gone a bit quiet. What's happening?

John

 

[Phil Andrews]

Its all gone a bit quiet. What's happening?

John

Gary is current working his way through the Inner and Outer Hebrides having gone up the west side of Scotland. The list has progressed to 244; recent additions include Golden Eagle, Rock Dove, Great and Arctic Skua, Corncrake, Spotted Crake, Wood Warbler, Ring Ouzel and Arctic Tern. Storm Petrel and White-tailed Eagle are the targets over the next few days.

August will see him cut across Scotland to Speyside then up to Caithness and over to Orkney.

 

[biking birder 2010]

Hiya!
Now on Tiree after visiting Islay (golden eagle, arctic tern and rock doves), Colonsay and Oronsay (corncrakes) and Coll (spotted crake and arctic skuas).
It hasn't been just birds as there are so many orchids on these islands, thousands of them. And butterflies too with dark green fritillaries the most common.
Seawatching off Coll a couple of days ago had over 3,000 manx shearwaters pass me in 2 hours.
The next few days have me going over to Mull and then Glenborrowdale RSPB reserve before heading for the Outer Hebrides.
As I mostly in the tent these days it's hard to update everything. Even when I have got internet access it is extremely slow out here.
Mind you everyday brings something wonderful and the British Green Year List record is only 8 away.
I have been able to update things quickly on facebook so if you are interested then please go to Biking Birder 2015 on there.
Thanks for being with me and may I add a million thanks to Phil Andrews who seems to be living every miles and bird with me. Thanks Phil!

 

[Phil Andrews]

A quick Biking Birder update - Gary is currently on Speyside aiming to work his way up to the very north of the Scottish mainland and cross over to Orkney on the 23rd. His list has advanced to 250 with Crested Tit, Snow Bunting and Ptarmigan in the last 48 hours. Capercaille would see him equal the British green year list record he jointly holds with Chris Mills.

 

[Paul Chapman]

So British record is 251 and European record is 305? Is that right?

All the best