The Day Before Tomorrow Biking Birder VI - The Quest for the Records - Redemption and Repentance

 

So, this time tomorrow, it is 6.00 am as I type this, I will be up and listening, listening for the bird outside in the Oak woodlands adjacent to my Mum & Dad's house in North Worctesrshire, listening for a Tawny Owl.

Back in 2010 on the morning of January the first of that year, to start my first ever Biking Birder adventure, can't believe it was eleven years ago! I walked out of my sister's house at the time just around the corner from here. It was very cold and icey and I wanted a Tawny Owl to hoot and so be the first bird on my Green Birding year list, the first bird on my BIGBY, Big Green Big Year, list.

Carefully I made my way in the dark of that perishing morning down a steep country lane listening for the plaintive hoot, the too-whit to be followed by the to-whu.

A Carrion crow cawed!

Then a Tawny hooted, relegating itself to second place in my pristine notebook.

I walked back to my sister's beautiful home and prepared some breakfast whilst waiting for both daylight and a phone call from BBC Radio West Midlands.

Was that Crow a portent of doom or was his raucous Caw more a call of admiration? Cor!

Well, in the following eleven years I have been on five Biking Birding adventures. Not alone of course, I have my lads and lassies with me on the bike for some stimulating conversation, one way of course and company.

Sid the W&WT Rainforest Frog & Albert the RSPB Albatross

These two have been on every BB adventure with me!

It's good to be crazy!

Three whole year cycling-birding adventures in Britain - BBI to III, BBI =2010 was planned around visiting every RSPB and Wildfowl & Wetland Trust Nature Reserve. (W&WT) 

The Sunshine RSPB girls of Leighton Moss RSPB Reserve, 2010

Sing along now!!!!

BBII-2015 was to be a repeat of 2010 but there were a lot more RSPB nature reserves to visit that I hadn't known existed back in 2010. There was also a huge new and exciting saltmarsh creation project in Somerset by the W&WT to visit.

By now I had found out that there were actually listing records for what I was doing. Chris Mills and Simon Woolley back in 2005 had competed against each other by counting how many birds each could see in the respective home counties, Norfolk for Chris and Hampshire for Simon. 

Chris had the advantage of being in the better birding county and won, seeing 251 different bird species and so a British Green Birding Year list record was created.

Chris Mills with friend

Chris now runs a superb bird guiding business in Norfolk - Norfolk Birding and is a highly respected birder and all round brilliant bloke!

https://www.norfolkbirding.com/about/   

In 2010 I saw . . .  251! Amazing to equal Chris and not beat him.

Bluethroat at Setter, Fair Isle of the home of my late best friend, Gordon Barnes

Citril Finch, Holkham, Norfolk

Now that one has a story!!!!

BBII- 2015 would change that. I visited over 230 RSPB nature reserves, 10 W&WT centres and Steart Marshes W&WT nature reserve and saw 290 different bird species.

290 though wasn't the European BIGBY record. That was held by Ponc Feliu Latorre of Spain. Ponc saw an incredible 304 bird sp. around his home area of Catalonia in 2013.

Ponc Feliu Latorre - as handsome as ever!

Green Birding records around 2015-16 were available on Jim Royer of California's website :

https://greenbirdingworld.blogspot.com/ 

I wanted to beat Ponc's European BIGBY record and so I just kept cycling into 2016 - BBIII.

I ended that year on 318 birds!

Siberian Accentor - Fair Isle

found by Lee Gregory!

Siberian Stonechat, my 304 bird of 2016, equalling Ponc's European record

Tawny Owl seen in the daytime at the fabulous Old Moor RSPB Reserve, Yorkshire

BUT . . .      I had used fossil-fuelled transport. I had been on a lot of ferries, ferries that took me to Mull and Coll of the Inner Hebrides, ferries that took me to Shetland, Orkneys and the Isle of Wight, ferries that took me to Paradise - Fair Isle! 

A) GREEN BIRDING BIG YEAR (365 day period, starting any day):

1) World: 618 species, Dorian Anderson, 2014, U.S.A. (**)

2) North America: 618 species, Dorian Anderson, 2014, U.S.A. (**)

3) Canada: ??

4) Catalonia: 304 species, Ponç Feliu, 2013 (G)

5) U.K. (Europe): 318 species, Gary Prescott, 2016, (F)

Notice my relegation beneath Ponc and that big incriminating (F) after my name.

So, omitting BBIV-2018, a magnificent half a BIGBY, that is six months on a Green Birding adventure in Peru, where I saw 634 different bird species, a new World Record and omitting BBV-2019, a fantastic visit to the Ebro Delta Birding Festival, where I met the above-mentioned Ponc and his Green Birding friends but which ended when my back wheel practically exploded on me as I descended a steep Pyrennean road! I get to BBVI-2022.

BBVI - the Road to Redemption. Starting tomorrow I will be setting off towards, hopefully, the Belted Kingfisher, an amazingly rare Mega that has set up his home along a canal near to Preston Lancashire.

On this adventure I won't be using ANY fossil-fuel transport. I will be sticking the UK mainland, cycling most likely along the East and south coasts with visits to Scotland as necessary.

All for charity of course, the incomparable RSPB, Royal Society for the Protection of Birds and also for a magnificent Children's Hospice, ACORNS in my beloved home city of Birmingham, UK, links for donations, if you could please do so, are to be found above on the right of the page near the top. 

So, PLEASE support me by making a donation and follow me on my coming adventures.

All the very best to you all, Happy New Year, stay safe and thanks for being here with me.

Back to 2010 - BIKING BIRDER I - Birds, Birds, Birds!

 

2010. My first spectacular Biking Birder adventure, a, gruelling at times, twelve month cycle around every wonderful part the UK, visiting every amazing RSPB nature reserve, each so individual and every incredible W&WT centre, whilst listing the many birds seen.

Stories of the fabulous 'sunshine' people met will come later.

So, in a series of posts where I delve deep into the memories I will retain forever of each Biking Birder adventure. 

There is a book of this unforgettable year still to be published. One day it will be but before that important day, here is a sprinkling of momentous moments . . .

If you know the words, moisten your vocal chords and sing along now - and yes, Eels have given me permission to use their music!

If you're small

And on a search

I've got a feeder for you to perch on

Did you spot the three mistakes?        

Next year, as in 2010, I will be doing the BIGBY, the Big Green Big Year, to try and raise money for my favourite environmental charity, the RSPB.

To finish today's post, here is their beautiful and atmospheric Dawn Chorus video . . . 

                                   BCNU xx

I'm back!!! Biking Birder VI starts on January 1st 2022!

Whilst enjoying going around the UK, visiting the RSPB nature reserves, I realised that my legs are still reasonable and that at my age, 65, I may not have many years left in which I would be able to cycle for a whole year.

Do it again!

Do what?

Another Biking Birder year.

Previous Biking Birder adventures have been to achieve various targets.

BB I - In 2010 I cycled around the UK in order to see every RSPB nature reserve and every W&WT centre. 

BB II 2015 - try to become the British BIGBY - Big Green Big Year - champion whilst still visiting every RSPB nature reserve and W&WT centre. A Big Green Big Year is a challenge where one birds and keeps a list of all bird species seen during a whole year but no fossil fuel transport is to be used. More on that aspect later.

BB III 2016 - British BIGBY record broken, next target was the European BIGBY, held by Ponc Feliu Latorre of Catalonia, a year list total of 305 would be required to beat Ponc.

BB IV  2018 So with the European BIGBY record UTB, under the belt, why not go for the World record? Why not indeed but where?

Britain would not provide the number of bird species required to beat the incredible Green Birder, Dorian Anderson. Dorian had seen 618 bird species by cycling around the USA. More on that later.

My first idea was to do the same, that is cycle around USA and visit all of the Audubon nature reserves whilst doing so. I even bought a road atlas of the US and mapped a route! I still have it and who knows, one day maybe.

In 2013 though I had been to and fallen in love with Peru. I visited Peru again in 2014 travelled around for around three months. I was smitten. The country had everything I loved in life; nature in abundance and found amongst a wonderful diversity of biomes - oceanic, desert, montane and rainforest. Then there was the history with Machu Picchu being an ultimate destination, of course but not the only site of fascination. The people! Wonderful, friendly, colourful, fun-loving people. Everywhere I went I met such wonderful people, yes, Peru had the lot and I haven't even mentioned the frequent festivals and the music.

So the US trip was dropped and the destination for my Biking Birder IV adventure would be Peru.

BB IV 2018 World BIGBY record attempt.

BB V - 2019     It had to happen sometime but despite the words from the Apollo 13 film, failure was an option.

After a fabulous long weekend at the Ebro Delta Birding Festival with the fore-mentioned Ponc Feliu Latorre, the cycle back from south of Barcelona to Britain was stopped by a huge blowout of the back tyre when in the Pyrennean foothills. No replacement to the tyre could be found and all replacement inner tubes were quickly used up. I left the bike in a park beside a bench and took train, coach and ferry back to Britain.

Which brings me to today and tomorrow I will be detailing my plans for 2022, the reasons behind my sixth Biking Birder adventure, BB VI and how you can all participate and help.

Just over 100 days to go . . . 

2020 A Green Birding Year

A New Year so a new focus for my birding year, with a wish that lots of people, be they birders or interested bird lovers, join in a Green Birding year.

No Biking Birder adventure in Peru this year. I will be staying in the UK. The main aim is to visit fifty favourite RSPB nature reserves and all ten Wildfowl & Wetland Trust centres. Travel will be by train to an area and then a time cycling around the RSPB and W&WT reserves around there.

Green Birding Public Transport (GBPT) may be my main activity but I will also be Pure Green Birding with a study of my village, Romsley, in North Worcestershire. By walking and cycling I will record all the nature I find within the parish bounds and share it all with Romsley villagers. 

To do so there are a two Romsley Facebook group pages to post on and I will be visiting a superb Care Home, Yew Tree, as they have started a nature project there. Bird tables, nest boxes, wildlife garden flower beds and excellent information boards have all been put in place there to enhance the wildlife that visits the large garden and increase the enjoyment of the residents. (GBLW and GBLC)

Another Green Birding category that everyone can join in with is Garden Birding. My garden, well Mum and Dad’s really as I don’t have a home myself, is a small one that backs onto a steep slope covered by Oak trees. The view from the back window of the lounge looks straight out into the canopy and therefore the birds that come to the bird tables and bird feeders reflect the woodland birds to be found in our area; Blue, Great, Coal and Long-tailed Tits, Chaffinch, Bullfinch and Goldfinch, Nuthatch, Wood Pigeon and Stock Doves, Robin, Dunnock, Goldcrest, Wrens and Great-spotted Woodpeckers. 

Over the year, every time I visit my parents, I will record what birds I see in the garden and also in the gardens of neighbours on the estate. I am particularly interested in seeing what different bird feeding opportunities neighbours have for their visiting garden birds; what foods they put out and what feeders and bird tables they have.

https://bubo.org/

During the year all my records will be placed in Bubo Listing. Bubo gives one the opportunity of creating a list with date, location and notes on sighting.

https://www.bto.org/our-science/projects/birdtrack/about 

https://bto.org/our-science/projects/gbw

To give more precise details I will place records on the BTO’s Birdtrack. (British Trust for Ornithology) and their Garden Birdwatch site.

https://www.rspb.org.uk/get-involved/activities/birdwatch/?channel=paidsearch&utm_source=bing&utm_medium=cpc&utm_campaign=BGBW+Brand+-+Nationwide+-+Phase+3-Brand+-+Garden+Birdwatch+-+Exact&utm_term=rspb+garden+birdwatch&utm_content=Brand%20-%20Garden%20Birdwatch%20-%20Exact

Speaking of Garden Birdwatch, the weekend of the 25 to 27^th of January has the immense RSPB Garden Birdwatch. The World’s largest wildlife survey, hundreds of thousands of RSPB members, well there are over a million members, have for forty years faithfully recorded what birds they have seen in their gardens. The results have shown declines in some bird species; 77% decline with Song Thrush for instance and some increases; Bramblings and Bullfinches being noted in larger numbers.

I hope to carry out this survey in five different gardens in the village and hope other villagers will also do so and share their experiences on the Romsley Facebook pages.

Finally when it comes to recording sightings, I will place all on eBird, the international online database for bird sightings around the World.

https://ebird.org/explore 

So, will you join us? Here is a list of possible Green Birding scenarios for you to peruse and consider.  

1.      GBG - Green Birder Garden/Home.

2.      GBLW - Green Birder Local Walking.

3.      GBLC - Green Birder Local Cycling.

4.      GBLP - Green Birder Local Public Transport.

5.      CGB - County Green Birder.

6.      CPGB - County Green Birder Public Transport.

7.      PGB - Pure Green Birder.

8.      GBPT - Green Birder Public Transport; who occasionally         uses trains, buses, ferries.

 9.     GBEC – Green Birder Electric Car

10.    GBEB – Green Birder Electric Bicycle

11.    MGB - Motability Green Birding

https://www.facebook.com/groups/620268465096967/?epa=SEARCH_BOX

If you are a Green Birder, or want to become one, then please take a look at the Facebook group, Green Birding Megastars. It doesn’t matter how experienced you are as a birder or where you choose to bird. Beginners to experts can be Green Birders and all can share experiences and thoughts, comment, post photographs of birds seen and send details of their lists and records on the group pages and I hope that membership will grow and reflect the changing nature of how we all relate to the birds we love. So please, come and join us all and be a Green Birding Megastar.

Green Birding to me is a way of life. Every aspect of my life, be it diet, clothing, housing, transport, recycling or energy use, has been carefully thought about with the aim to be as environmentally friendly as possible. It would be wonderful to hear from you and even better to hear that you either are a Green Birder or want to become a Green Birder.

Logrono, Northern Spain

A new Biking Birder Adventure from The Ebro Delta in Northern Spain, cycling through Catalonia and Aragon before crossing The Pyrenees into France, all in aid of raising money for BIRDLIFE INTERNATIONAL.

Please make a donation via the JUST GIVING link attached to the BIRDLIFE INTERNATIONAL logo to the right. Thanks to all who do and I hope you enjoy reading about this latest adventure Biking Birder Adventure V.

https://www.justgiving.com/fundraising/gary-prescott5?utm_campaign=lc_frp_share_transaction_fundraiser_page_donation_received_-_nth_donation&utm_content=deac1eeb-79d8-4460-8843-51aac2a7c10f&utm_medium=email&utm_source=postoffice&utm_term=1569609196157 

Saturday 28^th to 30^th September

Tired & Tyreless In Logrono

A Hostel has a dormitory bed available at 14 Euros for a night and I book in. Nuria, the receptionist, gives me a business card for nearby cycle shop and checking on the internet I find that it will be closed over the weekend. Time to chill.

The late afternoon and evening is spent getting food and sitting with some other travellers staying here. All are talking about the famous El Camino de Santiago and are surprised that one, I am not cycling along it and two, that I know nothing about it.

Apparently a medieval Christian pilgrimage route across this northern area of Spain, the route is visited and either cycled or huked by over 300,000 people a year. Must have go, I determine that WHEN the bike is fixed I will go to Pamplona following the route.

https://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Camino_de_Santiago

Four of the other five people in my six-bed dormitory are exploring the way. Peter from Cologne Germany, is walking it, east to west. The three others, two from Argentina and one from Brazil are forestry expert colleagues who are cycling the same route as Peter.

Sunday

It seems cold and I almost feel like wearing a jumper as I head out of the hostel towards the River Ebro. Looking on a map it is fascinating how this long river almost cuts Northern Spain off altogether from the rest of Spain. The river's delta might drain the waters into the Mediterranean but the source isn't many kilometres from the bay of Biscay and the Atlantic.

A medieval church is open for mass but, after photographing the eroded sculptures that surround the large wooden doors, I enter only briefly to find a spartan inside, free of any of the usual golden artifacts and paintings Catholic churches usually have so prolifically.

Walking along a rough path through a woodland of tall Poplar trees there are birds; Pied Flycatchers, Blue and Long-tailed Tits, Robins, Cetti's Warblers and Chiff Chaffs, Blackcaps, Tree Sparrows and a couple of Great-spotted Woodpeckers. A few Griffon Vultures coast by high overhead. A superb, bushy-tailed and large Red Squirrel species is impossible to photograph decently amongst the branches and tree trunks as it does what squirrels do.

There is also lots of litter and as the litter included large white carrier bags I pick up seven bags of recyclable items, drink cans, plastic bottles and the occasional glass spirit bottle.

The river is wide and slow and a few people are fishing but seemingly catching nothing. To the west of the city, just where a large cable-stay bridge crosses the river, there is a large weir system and it is here that I turn to return to the hostel.

The intention had been to get a bit of lunch at the hostel and then go into the city to explore the side streets and parks. As I sit down at a table in the dining area, a small group of South Koreans insist that I join them for a more substantial meal. The next hour is spent enjoying these wonderful people's company. From Seoul they are here to explore El Camino and every five minutes each in turn, Kim, Kim, Wu, Chen and Jon, gives a toast to say how happy they are to have met meand how life is great, on the conclusion of which filled wine glasses are clinked together with a loud exclamation. Every fifteen minutes Wuu decided it is a moment of laughter, the best medicine as he states in English and we all have to laugh, Santa-style for the given number of seconds and then spend time double high fiving each other, shouting Ho Ho Ho to each high five! Photographs and videos are taken and the friendliness is intense. Such a lovely surprise to enjoy moments like this when travelling. Travelling, can be described as the journey to places when one meets locals and fellow travellers. Tourist, a collector of names on a list, two ways to see the World.

I lay down to email home and fall asleep. On waking there are English speaking people in the dorm; Claire from London and Paul, originally from London but has lived in Madrid for the last twenty years. Claire soon leaves to attend Mass, leaving Paul to chat for the next hour or so about life, the Universe and everything. Both are walking the El Camino and have been friends for decades. Paul is just past five years with no cancer but has had both pancreatic and liver cancers to cope with. He baulks at being called an inspiration but truly is. Paul's passion is music and on me asking what his first gig was, I laugh as his first will be next. Once back in the UK I will see Steve Hillage and Gong in Birmingham on the 21^st of November. Paul's first gig was back in the early Seventies of the same. I could have talked with this incredible man for hours about music but Claire returns and off they go for a meal. I stay and listen to a couple of early Gong albums before falling asleep.

Monday

The bicycle repair shop is closed for two weeks holiday!

I find another a bit further away in the city and await its opening. This Spanish city has the usual block system of roads and is spacious and light, making British cities seem dark, messy and claustrophobic.

The shop opens and on returning an hour later my bike has a new tyre and a couple of adjustments. Will this tyre make it back to the UK in one piece? Tomorrow will be the first day of showing me that it is capable of doing so.