After stopping off at the wonderful Sandwell Valley RSPB reserve in the West Midlands, after having said goodbye to my 'in their Nineties' Mum & Dad, both of their birthdays being celebrated; Mum being 90 last Tuesday and Dad being 91 a few days later.
Day after day, alone on a bike, the man with the foolish grin . . .
. . . cycles back to the incredibly wonderful Spurn Head in East Yorkshire where The Biking Birder, that is ME, will be spending the whole of September.
Leaving my Mum & Dad's home in North Worcestershire on the 24th of August, I cycled via Lichfield, and Derby when news of a Roller had me cycle 65 miles (!) in order to add this to my European BIGBY list. Impetus to see it was increased due to the fact that it was also a British Lifer for me!
Maybe not the best photograph of a Roller every taken, definitely a candidate for my 2023 National Geographic/Worst bird photos ever calendar but seen well in the fading light and BIGBY bird number 253. I promise it looked better through my new OPTICRON Travelscope and better still through a Wolverhampton birder, Kevin Clements' 'scope!
How lucky was I? The bird had gone the next day and I was the last to ever see it. That last happened to me with the Chestnut Bunting on Papa Westray, Orkney. I was the last one to see that bird too and as it had a habit of practically walking around birders' feet, I was accused the next day of treading on it. I hadn't. Honest.
A Pectoral Sandpiper didn't play the game and left Blacktoft Sands RSPB reserve before I arrived there. This was after yet another 60 mile plus cycle day.
Great to relax there though for the morning and watch waders and Marsh Harriers, as well as chat with Stuart Taylor and Darren, RSPB staff there before setting off for North Cave Wetlands. There a Spotted Crake, although distant, did show and became BIGBY bird number 254.
And so to Spurn! With the nearest shop to the observatory being nine miles away from the Observatory, I loaded up, literally, with three large carrier bags full of food . . .
... and had a rucksack full of food on my back also. How I would love to know what the weight of everything was on my poor little bike.
Into the fabulous SPURN BIRD OBSERVATORY, booked a month's stay, unloaded everything and went off birding.
Two nearby, Beacon Ponds, Red-necked Phalaropes were soon seen and in the evening, an Arctic Warbler showed itself.
What an incredible start to my prolonged stay at Spurn.
It's going to be a superb autumn. Bring it on!
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