#MVBirdRace 2020


For the past six years, a group of mid-Surrey birders, loosely based along the River Mole valley, have held an annual bird race in late-May. Due to the ongoing lockdown it looked as if this year's bird race might fall by the wayside. However, David Stubbs (now of Norfolk, formerly of Buckland) stepped in and put together a rescue package. Instead of teams madly thrashing around the defined Mole valley area for the day, individuals were invited to bird from midnight to midday, on foot or on bicycle, venturing no further than 5km from home. Many took up the challenge and a number of teams were then formed, with the final competitive totals being derived from the member's cumulative score. I found myself together with two Surrey stalwarts - Steve Chastell and Robin Stride - under the name of The Three Tringas. It would be grossly unfair to Steve to suggest that this was a coming together of the old boys, but it was not too far off the truth.

This morning was a cool and blustery affair, with sharp showers starting to get a grip towards noon. It didn't make for ideal birding conditions, but everyone took it on the chin and just got on with it. The area covered went beyond the Mole Valley. A few of the competition's original participants had moved away from the area, and some of the others do not live within the defined borders, so wherever you were became the place that you birded from. This did of course skew the results, but that was neither here nor there, it was very much about the taking part. Given the wide-ranging geographical spread, most individuals recorded between 55-60 species and team scores were largely c80-85 species - apart from one team that is, that Robo-birder collective 'Linnet to Win It' who trounced us all. We could look for excuses - they had better habitat, possess younger ears and eyes, etc, etc - but they just know their stuff and the area incredibly well.

My own total was a meagre 56 species with a combined score of 85. I spent half the morning at Canons Farm (the hoped for Yellowhammers all present and correct) and the rest of it on Epsom Downs (where two pairs of Red-legged Partridges performed.) Nothing unusual came my way, but a pleasant time was had, with just a touch of masochism to keep me alert and on my toes.

Comments

Gibster said…
'Linnet to Win It' is a superb team name! My own choice of team name would have to be 'Flocking Twite', especially as I bird solo up here :)
23 May 2020 at 15:53
Steve Gale said…
When you come back to your (once) home Seth, we will team up under that name.
24 May 2020 at 20:23
Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

"Kwowww"

On Tuesday evening, at 20.05hrs, I was taking out the rubbish, when I heard a call from south-west of the house. I froze, knowing what it was at once, but scarcely believing it. I had listened to this call on Xeno-Canto many times, getting ready for such a moment but not really considering it something that I would hear over the back garden. After 15 seconds the call came again from the blackness, now directly over head. Yes, there was no mistaking it! Another 20 seconds it called a third time - now further away to the north-east... "Kwowww" A lazy drawl, part bark, part yelp. A Bittern. Nocturnal flight-call. I went back inside and played the call on Xeno Canto just to make sure that I had remembered everything correctly. I had. Bloody hell, a Bittern over suburban Banstead! And only a week after an Arctic Skua had blessed me just a mile or so away. Sometimes the birding Gods do smile on you. To some birders these two species are just small fry, mere starters to the main cou
Read more

Mike Netherwood

Image
I first met Mike Netherwood at Beddington Sewage Farm in early 1975, me being an ultra-keen and ultra-green 16-year old birder, he some 20 years my senior. Mike, together with Ken Parsley, were the remnants of a once much larger ringing group which carried out the trapping and ringing of birds across the open expanse of the sewage farm. Whenever I bumped into them, which I often did, they would both tolerate my many questions about what they had seen and trapped and listen to me waxing lyrical about my own observations. Over the coming months they showed me how they caught the birds, allowed me to witness the ringing and measuring of them and, if I were very lucky, allow me to help them out by holding mist-net poles, carrying bird bags or writing down (scribing) the data that they were collecting into notebooks. By the summer of 1976 I had joined them, proudly in possession of my trainee ringer's permit. For the next three years (until I 'defected' to Dungeness) I spent man
Read more

To tell it like it is, or not...

Image
I am grateful to Gavin Haig (Not Quite Scilly) who drew my attention to an opinion piece, penned by Matt Phelps, which appeared in the November issue of 'Birdwatch' magazine, entitled 'Positive Approach', which I have now read. In it, he suggests that there is too much negativity being posted on social media regarding the state of our birding world, which is then acting as a deterrent towards a younger generation in adopting conservation and wildlife study. He also suggests that a lot of this negativity is being generated by older birders, and that these old timers keep banging on about the 'good old days' which isn't helpful in encouraging the youth to pick up a pair of binoculars and get out into the field. Does he have a point? Now, I am undeniably an older birder, and I am also guilty of having posted, blogged, written and spoken about the slump in bird and invertebrate numbers. I also like nothing better than to revisit my notebooks and share in the hi
Read more