This year, with a long-time birding friend, Chris Done, we decided that we would like to undertake our own bird race. We have both been part of teams that have made good scores in north-west England before, including recording 141 species in 24 hours in Cheshire in 1998 and 140 species in a day in Lancashire. However, all of these have involved lots of planning, and have also used a fair amount of petrol getting around. This year, neither of us had the time or money to be hiring cars, or had time to spend staking sites out around the county.
As with most environmentally aware people, we are both concerned about the over-use of fossil fuels so I suggested we do an 'eco-bird race'. This would involve seeing how many birds we could record on a single calendar day without using any petrol. I had heard of bird race teams doing this, using transport such as horse-back or tandem bicycles, but neither of us had taken part in one before.
We both decided this could be a really fun day out, a challenge, good exercise and ecologically sound as well! The next thing was to decide when and where. We chose
Frodsham Marsh, by the River Mersey in Cheshire, England. It is reasonably local for both of us and is a site which used to be Chris' local-patch for years, and one that we are both very familiar with. We managed to find a date when we were both free, one when there would be a reasonable tide on the Mersey, and when there would be a good selection of lingering winter visitors, spring migrants and returning summer visitors. We decided on the
29th April, and that we would only count species that were seen in between using the car to get there and leave.
We briefly planned a route on the way to Frodsham starting from the Weaver Bend. Here, we packed our ruc-sacs, trying to cater for all the meteorological possibilities a day on Frodsham Marsh might bring, and then began our long trek! At 0230 we recorded our first species of the day, a
LAPWING, as we walked towards the Weaver Bend, where several
SEDGE WARBLER and a
CUCKOO were singing.
Along the Bend, a further 7 species -
OYSTERCATCHER, MALLARD, COMMON SHELDUCK, MUTE SWAN, COOT, TUFTED DUCK and
CORMORANT - were recorded either on sound, or in the dim light coming from the industrial works on the opposite bank. Two easily recognisable sounds - the 'whinnying' of a
LITTLE GREBE and the 'reeling' of a
GRASSHOPPER WARBLER - came from the scrape by Marsh Farm and, well satisfied with the first hour, we doubled back towards the old log book car park. We followed the track down along the south side of number 6 tank, recording
GREY HERON, SKYLARK, TEAL and
WOOD PIGEON, and a tantalising glimpse of what looked like an owl.
Around 0500, despite the ever increasing drizzle, the dawn chorus was started up by a
BLACKBIRD, soon followed by
REED BUNTING, WREN, ROBIN, CHIFFCHAFF, COMMON WHITETHROAT and
CHAFFINCH singing on the raised embankment along the south side of number 4 tank.
We reached one of Frodshams' very few woods - Kamira Wood, by the south-west corner of number 4 tank - at 0530, just in time to see a
COMMON BUZZARD rise from its overnight roost and head off strongly towards the Mersey. A long list of common birds showed as we became more and more bedraggled -
COMMON MOORHEN, CANADA GOOSE, LBB GULL, GREAT and
BLUE TIT, BARN SWALLOW, MAGPIE, GOLDFINCH, WILLOW WARBLER, ROOK, JACKDAW, PIED WAGTAIL, BLACKCAP, STARLING and
MISTLE THRUSH. A bonus bird for Frodsham Marsh was a
GREAT-SPOTTED WOODPECKER, bringing us to 40 species at 0700.
The worst of the rain had now passed and we headed south along the lanes towards Spring Farm, adding
STOCK DOVE, DUNNOCK, MEADOW PIPIT, BLACK-HEADED and
COMMON GULL, CARRION CROW, LINNET and
GREENFINCH along the way. Another nice bonus along the lanes was a singing
LESSER WHITETHROAT which showed itself briefly in the hedges.
Spring Farm is on the far south-western edge of the Frodsham Marsh boundary and was our only real hope of
COLLARED DOVE and
HOUSE SPARROW, both of which we saw without any problems. From here, we also saw a
RAVEN flying down from the picturesque hills, and a
COMMON KESTREL. It took a while to walk back down the lane to number 4 and then climb up the embankment.
The south-west corner was holding shallow water and we encountered a small flock of
BLACK-TAILED GODWITS, a drake
SHOVELER and a couple of
COMMON SANDPIPERS and
YELLOW WAGTAILS. The first of a large, day-long movement of c200
COMMON SWIFTS powered overhead at 0835.
We spent almost an hour walking the grassy, sometimes muddy, number 4 tank to be rewarded with a single new species - a
COMMON PHEASANT, and then sat down along the northern embankment of the tank to see what was on the River Mersey on the incoming tide.
GREAT-CRESTED GREBE, GULLS (HERRING and
GBB), waders
(DUNLIN, RINGED PLOVER and
EURASIAN CURLEW) and ducks
(EURASIAN WIGEON and a fly-by
RED-BREASTED MERGANSER) all showed as the tide moved in. Just before we moved on around 1100, I picked up a
RUDDY SHELDUCK amongst the Shelducks feeding distantly on the fields at Ince Marshes. This bird was one of at least 4 present on the Mersey this spring and was a good bonus bird. Ruddy Shelducks, in varying numbers every year, and especially in the 1990's, appear to have a love affair with the River Mersey for some reason! They are of unknown origin, but large numbers in 1994 were considered to be wild birds. Birds from this influx (and/or their off-spring?) may account for subsequent multiple sightings in later years so we decided to count this bird.
Two
RUDDY DUCKS and 2 singing
REED WARBLERS were on the Canal Pools, a
SPARROWHAWK flew over the 'bathing pool' at the west end of number 3 tank, and a pair of
WHEATEARS hopped around number 4. We had an early afternoon lull looking at number 6 tank for one and a half hours, only to add a single
COMMON REDSHANK, which fed around the Black-tailed Godwits.
HOUSE and
SAND MARTINS were moving through with the large numbers of Common Swifts. All these hirundines and Swifts had attracted the attentions of a passing adult male
HOBBY which dashed through number 5 tank, showing us his compact size, steely grey wings, black cap, streaked underparts and orange legs, before continuing straight through to the north - another great bonus.
As we made our way back to the log-book we scoured the fields for
GREY PARTRIDGE, SONG THRUSH and
FERAL PIGEON, and wondered if we could get back to our shelter in time before the very heavy looking and fast moving downpour got to us! We managed to - just! - and remained under cover for nearly an hour waiting for the heavy rain to stop! The rain eventually stopped around 1630 and by now we'd had time to relax a little and decide how we were going to spend the evening. We saw our first
GADWALL of the day on the Weaver Bend, and a fantastic
SHORT-EARED OWL got up from a field by the Bend and flew onto the ICI tank. After a dip on Green Sandpiper and Little Stint we saw our final bird of the day -
number 82 -
AVOCET. We watched them feeding with their dainty, upturned bills - mesmerised by their pretty pied plumage. The Avocet is the symbol of the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds, and just recently they have been colonising north-west England, to add to their increasing stronghold in the north-east.
By now, even though it was only 20.00, we decided if we carried on we would only experience more chaffing and blisters, and that it was time to go home! As we left, the combination of the earlier rain and a sunny evening had made a beautiful rainbow in the sky - a perfect way to end a really great day.
FUTURE: We would like this event to become an annual international sponsored bird race. This could raise money and awareness for environmental causes, and involve many people who do not normally participate in bird races such as local-patchers who do not want to dash all round a county in one day, and more casual birdwatchers. If developed it could help the likes of Birdlife International, the RSPB or World Wildlife Fund. We have been thinking about the many interesting ways people around the world could participate - on foot, horse-back, bike, tandem, camel, elephant, by canoe, etc or any/all of the above! If anybody is interested in participating next year, helping develop the concept or could provide us with useful contacts please send an email to:
ecobirdrace@planet-save.com
James Walsh
envirowalsh@planet-save.com
