BUCKS BIRD CHALLENGE 2003 10th May 2003 In aid of http://www.wildlifetrust.org.uk/berksbucksoxon/ Welcome to the website of the ‘Bucks Breakers’. The Big Day "Are you sure this is a path?" Was just one of the comments that was directed towards me as we trudged over a cowpat strewn field @ 23:55 on the 9th May 2003. "Of course" Was my upbeat reply! Safe in the knowledge that I thought I knew where we were going! – There are 5 of us, walking into the unknown, Seth Chapman, Ashley Beolens, Mark Wilson, Myself and Steve Hunt, Steve is here to observe, getting material for an upcoming book, the other 4 are a bird race team attempting to break the Bucks day list record, set previously, 13 years ago! We are in west bucks heading to a vantage point ready to start our big day attempt. If all goes well, a bubbling call will herald the arrival of a Curlew onto our list. 5 Minutes later and we are ready – lost, but ready – I am sure that the railway line is close!!!! No it’s a stream – anyhow – we decide to just stop and listen – the wind is light and we are downwind – should be a doddle…….. 1 minute past midnight – nothing, 2 minutes past – nothing – its not looking great! At 5 past midnight, a distant noise – Curlew? No, Barn Owl – yes, a good target bird under the belt and one we were hoping for here. A minute later and wood pigeon bursts out of cover – no mistaking that one. We were supposed to be leaving @ 10 past to walk back to the car 12 minutes past and Canada Goose calls – bird number 3 but still no Curlew – we decide to give it until quarter past – 00:23 Lapwing calls. OK executive decision – we have another possible site a bit further down the road and we have to leave NOW. The walk back to the car is livened up by the arrival of 50+ cows all charging towards us – the Stile was jumped over in double quick time! Back in the car and heading to our next destination – Whitecross Green Wood on the Bucks/Oxon Border which is a great place for Nightingales, we arrive at 00:55 – Nightingale singing – yes! Another difficult one under the belt, there turns out to be at least 3 birds singing, we hang around for 5 minutes, enjoying the sound of nightingales when a Tawny Owl hoots distantly – Right lets go, I dive back into the car – However Mark and Seth are still by the gate – Get out – "what" I ask – "Squeaky Gate" replies Mark – This is not to say that Mark had gone mad – but the call of a Long eared owl is sometimes described as a squeaky gate!! We wait – Mark and Seth are convinced – but Ash and myself didn’t hear it. Minutes drag by, Hooooooooo, Suddenly, about 30 yards away the LEO calls twice 01:10(7 Species) – Fantastic – not a bird we were expecting whatsoever today. Our luck is in and we dive back into the car for our next destination. A missed turning takes us 15 miles out of our way – but by 01:50 we are again listening for Curlew – No Curlew but Red Legged Partridge calls – (8) and we are away. Our whole strategy depended on a good clean up rate @ night – this gives us valuable time later in the day – so far we were doing wonderfully – would it last? 02:20 and we are pulling into the car park @ Shardeloes – We expected about 4 – 5 species here so when we walked away with 10! We thought we had done quite well ;-) 02:30 Mute Swan gliding across the lake by moonlight, coot calls, quickly followed by Gadwall and Mallard – No real surprises yet. Another 5 minutes and we are in place for Water Rail, almost on cue – one starts up! Bonus – Another bird that is very hard to come by except at night. Another spring in our step and we start the walk back, Ruddy Duck, Little Grebe and moorhen all call in quick succession – all target birds that we were hoping for in the daylight!! To get them so easily is another bonus. Little Owl calls – Another difficult bird safely bagged (it's the only one we hear or see all day!) and Robin back in the Car park @ 02:59 finishes off our first visit to Shardeloes. We drive to Wendover Woods, which is to be our home for the next 3 hours!!! However I have mis-timed it, and we decide to kip in the car for 30 mins while waiting for it to get light. Our next new bird is heard as soon as we exit the car @ 04:02 – Skylark. We then head into Wendover Proper. 15 Minutes later and a "kesick" alerts us to a Woodcock over – we see this bird 5 minutes later as well – always good to start seeing stuff! Our next new bird is @ 04:25 when a pheasant calls this is followed in quick succession by Blackbird, Grasshopper Warbler, Blackcap, Wren, Song Thrush, Coal Tit, Goldcrest, Blue Tit, Garden Warbler and Chiffchaff. A May Dawn Chorus is an amazing aural experience! Although it had been singing for the previous 10 minutes – we suddenly make out a Mistle Thrush! Too many Song Thrushes ;-). Great Tit and Chaffinch also start up – its now 04:56 and we are on 34 Species! A very Good start indeed. Common Whitethroat reveals its presence 3 minutes later and a Carrion Crow croaks for Ashleys attention (we heard one 10 minutes previous) We have walked ¾ of our intended route and 2 Grasshopper Warblers are now reeling – one very close. We spend a few minutes trying to suss out where its coming from and suddenly it flits 5 feet in front of us and climbs a Bramble stem – Magic, we stay and enjoy this fantastic view for a couple of minutes before moving on, All agreeing that we had just had the best views ever of this shy warbler. Rob Andrews has been in touch – Rob is checking out Shardeloes for us. We arrange to meet him about 06:15. Some crests are calling as we walk down the hill, and after 30 seconds or so myself and Mark exclaim at the same time "Firecrest", the song is very easy, once you have your ’ear in’ A Goldcrest Sings nearby for the perfect comparison. (Another Firecrest starts up a bit further back as well. We walk on for maybe 10 seconds when suddenly "chip, chip, chip" calls start descending on us – Crossbills!!!! We were aware that some were still in the area – but the 30+ Flock was nonetheless very well received – They continued to fly around for a couple of minutes, before flying off. 5 Minutes later and they were back – however this time they had picked up some Friends!!! At least 2 Siskins were trilling away and we watched the flock + friends fly up the valley. WOW 4 very difficult birds seen within 20 Minutes – We must be on for the record – thoughts of 130 were going through our heads (how wrong we could be, you will find out later ;-) ) The Walk back to the car picked up the following species Great Spot, Treecreeper, Dunnock and Bullfinch (The first of 7 Throughout the day!!!). A kestrel perched in a Tree by the car made it species number 44 @ 05:45 a Greenfinch 10 Seconds later was also welcome. We are 15 minutes ahead of schedule so a leisurely drive to St Marys Church Pond in Wendover netted the following Species, House Martin, Magpie, Jackdaw, Starling and House Sparrow. Our Target species at the Pond were Grey Wagtail and poss. Mandarin, We also knew that a Spotted Fly had been recorded the previous day, within 10 Minutes Grey Wagtail, Feral Pigeon, Collared Dove and Green Woodpecker (Also another Mistle Thrush!) were added. We decide to check out the nearby Cemetery, Just in case the Spot Fly had moved – it had!!! And 2 minutes later we were back in the car – 10 Seconds after that we were back out again for Pied Wagtail – then back in again and on our way to Shardeloes to meet up with Rob. Rook @ 06:10 was our 57th Species. Shardeloes (Again!) Amazing how it all looks different in the Daylight! Stock Dove, Great Crested Grebe and Pochard are all picked up on the walk down – Rob informs us that a Nuthatch has been calling for the previous ½ an hour! It's just stopped though! Tufted Duck, Goldfinch, Long tailed Tit and Reed Bunting are all easily got. Rob picks up a Mistle thrush alarm call – Sparrowhawk!!! Potentially a difficult bird to catch up with (Although we go on to see at least 3 more ;-)) We hang around a bit waiting for the Nuthatch, time is pressing on – its now 06:35 and we wanted to be back in the Car – but the lure of Nuthatch is too much so we strike up the hill to the Wood – It calls!!! And Mark picks up a stationary Buzzard – We are on Fire – Our Luck is still holding out. Species 67. We hurry back to the Car only for Rob to Shout "SWIFT" and we run (!) back for it – Why, I don’t know, we must see in excess of 3-400 throughout the day ;-) With Shardeloes Safely Behind us we Head South – 20 Seconds out of the Car at our next Site, Stoke Common, and we have the following Stonechat, LBB Gull, Willow Warbler and Meadow Pipit – Back in the Car ;-) A Call to Mike Collard reveals the quickest route to Langley Park and 07:42 we pull up – My route is shot to pieces now as we fall further behind (I am confident that we will catch up some time later – so not too bothered!) Ring Necked Parakeet in 30 Seconds is Good ;-) and we are away again… (Mike has been checking out Dorney for us and we are relieved that there is nothing there) Swallow breaks up the monotony on the Way to Little Marlow @ 08:00 as does Mandarin @ 08:05 (3 Males on a pond – we barely stop the car!) Conversations with Jim Rose have revealed that the Shelducks are still present – Excellent – we had a site in the North but its always best to get them early! Little Marlow and Jim do us proud and we pick up 10 Species in 5 Minutes!! 5 of them within the same Jim Rose Scope view ;-) Cormorant, Ringed Plover, LRP, Wigeon, Grey Heron, Greylag Goose, Shelduck, Black Headed Gull – THE ONLY ONE OF THE DAY! Common Tern and Reed Warbler. (08:30 – Species 86) (We also see Bar headed Goose here – but this is out of the Main score) Red Kite over the Car Park and we say goodbye to Jim and Rob (fresh with success from Shardeloes pops down to help!) Graham Anderson Phones temptingly from the other side of the Reserve with Kingfisher and Jay – but we have no time. We are away – A short stop at the lay-by by School Lane reveals – No Turtle Dove ;-( But as we drive away – one takes pity and flies alongside the Car for 20 seconds! Time is now 09:05 I had hoped to be at hedgerly for 08:45 – Best laid plans and all! Never mind – we had cut 35 Minutes from our route by the success of Grey Wag, Mandarin, Buzzard and Red Kite. Hedgerley Tip is famous for Gulls over the winter period; it’s not so famous for them in May ;-) However in amongst the 9 LBB Gulls was a solitary Herring Gull (The only one we see) 09:50 and Species 89. We need to be at Western Turville @ 10:05 to stay ahead – We don’t make it ;-) Mike Collard calls again to ask us the state of play regarding Marsh Tit – We need it – and he has it!!! On his Garden Feeders to be precise – A slight route change and we pull up at 10:35 – 10:37 its on our List (Thanks Mike and Mrs Collard!) (Now our luck lets us down. Our original route would have us at Tring for 10:30ish and College Lake for 10:50 – Plenty of time for us to see the BLACK KITE that flew over Tring, and was picked up by Mike Wallen @ 10:45 over steps hill – but you cant win them all! Talking to Mike and it is quite clear that he has lost it ;-) Ample reward for the hours and hours he puts in up there – Well-done Mike.) Bird Race rules state, that as long as you are in Bucks anything you see is countable. Thus we are able to use the bird rich areas of Tring Reservoirs. Wilstone turns up 5 feeding Hobbies, while Startops does the business with an Arctic Tern amongst the 30 or so Commons – This was immediately after a rain storm and was very welcome indeed (it even flew into Bucks ;-)). Elated once again we drive to College Lake for our 11am Meeting with Richard Birch – Time now is 11:48 and Richard is still smiling ;-) a quick dash to the hides by the other 3 team members results in Linnet, Sand Martin, Redshank and Kingfisher – After Parking the car – I get the first 3 but no further sign of Kingfisher ( I see one later at Linford so all is OK ;-)) we are now on 97 and its 11:50 only 16 more species to go how hard can that be !!! (Read on!) (Unfortunately Seth and Mark Hear a Green Sand go over, but Ash and me don’t – one that got away!!) Pitstone for Corn Bunting – "Guaranteed" everyone has been saying all week – er! No would be the answer!!! We waste 20 minutes here with 2 of the team hearing a possible – Compensation is great though, in the fact that Seth Finds a Tree Pipit, Thus saving us from Going to Steps hill, Yellow Hammer also Falls and we are on 99!!!! (100 with BH Goose ;-)) Lesser Whitethroat (100 @ 12:50) and Raven are next on the list and we meet up with Mike C again who persuades us to go back for the Corn Buntings – we do and Me and Mark see one flying over the fields – but Seth and Ash are too far away!!!!! And miss it – again we are wasting time and we need to get to MK for the Afternoon. MK has been ably checked out all morning by Nik Maynard, Andy Harding, Matt Slaymaker, Ted Reed, Graham Rowling and Alan Nelson – and we have been updated most of the day – Nothing new is the resounding message!!! We can only expect 10 –12 at best – putting us on 113!!!!!!!! The old record – At this point we still need Cuckoo, Corn Bunting Tree Sparrow, Shoveler, Teal and a few other ‘ relatively easy’ ones! So we are quietly confident. 14:25 and the Greenland race Wheatear that Matt found is showing well @ Central Milton Keynes (102) its been 1 hour and 35 Minutes since our last bird and spirits are beginning to flag) We decide to check for Shoveler at Walton lake – no Joy but 3 Sedge Warblers nudge onto our list (103) A quick check on a Grey Partridge/Snipe site turns up nothing and a decision is made – Ted has Yellow Wagtail pinned down as well as Egyptian Goose at Hyde Lane, well needed day ticks (especially as we dipped the latter at Marlow and Little Marlow earlier) 15:30 found us pulling up alongside Ted, with the Yellow Wagtails (104) strutting about on a freshly ploughed field – then a quick walk round the back and 2 Egyptian Geese (105) (And another Yellow Wag!) showed well – Thanking Ted, we are off. On the way back up we were talking to Tim Watts who put in an enormous amount of effort securing us access to Calvert for Wheatear and Turtle Dove – Luckily we were able to net these species earlier and were spared the drive down there (Thanks Tim!) Meanwhile Neill Smith had staked out Foxcote for us and the lure of Common Sand and Common Gull (albeit a rather Sickly Individual!) was too much for us – We arrive @ 15:50 to find Neill Smith scooping the Reservoir "Common Gull by the hide – but no sign of the Common Sand!!!" We dash round to the hide to be greeted by!! Nothing! – Where was the Gull? – After 5 minutes of scanning still no Joy – we have to move on – But suddenly Seth picks it up – 30 feet away on the water – All of us had scanned over it! (106 on the list) We knew that we still had another 4 or 5 species ‘in the bag’ so we weren’t feeling TOO disheartened at this stage. Thanking Neill we decided to head back into MK – A quick Stop at Stoney Stratford produced the hoped for Oystercatcher (107) and both Barnacle and ‘Lesser’ Canada Geese (Unfortunately not countable for this race – Although Barnacle could be argued as such, in the fact that it has a self sustaining population in Bucks) With time now pressing we head to Gayhurst Quarry, and despite our best efforts, we add no more species – Yellow Wagtail and Oystercatcher were of note. Linford is our next port of call and we drive round the perimeter road – A kingfisher buzzes over the car as we open the Gate, and 5 minutes later @ 17:27 we record Little Egret flying over, an excellent sighting and first to be recorded on a Bird Race. Nothing else doing at Linford, we head for Willen Lake where a Cettis Warbler has been present since early Feb. By now the weather was getting very windy and Wet, and there was no sound as we walked down to the lake, Almost immediately we picked up a drake Red Crested Pochard sitting on one of Barley Straw floats! And although not officially Countable – was still nice to see. As there was nothing else doing on the lake we decide to head back for the Cettis Warbler – expecting to wait – Wrong!!! As we approach the area of scrub – Ch Ch Ch choooo chooo Choooo And Cettis is on the list (109 - 18:00). As willen is notorious for turning up surprises we decide to spend ½ an hour checking it out – Unfortunately no waders this year but a small relief is ended when Cuckoo fly’s across to the Island (We record another 50 minutes later as well) 110 – What next!!!! Time is running out and so is daylight – in the last 6 hours, we have only recorded a further 11 species. We decide to head for Broughton Fields, which has Tree Sparrow and Grey Partridge – 2 notable omissions from our list. The best we can get from here is a Poss. Greater Black Backed Gull – Unfortunately too far away to be sure of and several Sand martins. With the time now 19:10 we weigh up our options – Try for the Common Sand again or head for our Lady A site? As we have an hour and a half of daylight we plump for the former and are soon heading back to Foxcote. Recently there has been a singing Corn Bunting at Leckhampsted Turn so we decide to stop off and see if the 2 remaining guys can connect – As we get out of the car, a Gull fly’s over the nearby field – Greater Black Backed!!!!! Yes, Species 111 shortly followed by the distant Jangling Keys of a singing Corn Bunting 112, the record is in sight. Jump back into the car and we are soon at Foxcote Res. It takes us approx 30 seconds to walk to the Dam and approx 10 seconds to scope the Common Sandpiper feeding along the edge with another Grey Wagtail!!!!!! 113 and we have equalled the record – A whoop of delight and much backslapping ensues. Time is 19:45 and we have 4 species to try for, Tree Sparrow, Curlew (Again!) Lady A Pheasant and Grey Partridge. We discard the first 2 as its probably too late for Tree Sparrow and the Curlews are just too far (Plus the fact that most of us have been awake now, for the best part of 37 Hours!) So a decision is reached and we head south, to Shire Oak (Part of the Brickhills, last remaining Stronghold of Lady A in the country) a quick walk into the woods and we listen…its now 20:30 – we have been actively birding for 20 hours, we have equalled the record. Can our luck hold – Yes, a harsh Rasping call is heard – and 114 is reached. Smiles all round as we walk (Stagger!) back to the car. A quick Call to Mike Wallen and we are on our way to an area known for Grey Partridges nr Wingrave. Time is now 21:05 and dusk is rapidly approaching. A running Partridge is picked out at the far edge of the field and although we all agree it was probably one – the light has just beaten us ;-( so our day was to end on a sour note … No!! Within 2 minutes one starts calling from the field next to car – Sweet music to our ears, as we tally up on 115 – A new Bucks record. (This Tally also includes Woodlark, whose location must remain secret for obvious reasons) My thanks go out to my three team-mates Ash, Seth and Mark who were able to ignore my mood swings throughout the day! To Steve Hunt who managed to stay up with me despite the 40 or so three point turns that were performed throughout the day !( What’s that !!! oh another red legged ;-) ) Steve didn't leave us until 19:00 having kept up with us since midnight. An amazing effort. And lastly to all the people who have helped us out in the past 2 months or so with loads (well in excess of 100 emails and phone calls) of bird news and site info. Particular thanks must also be given to the following people Rob Andrews, Jim Rose, Mike Collard, Tim Watts Andy Harding, Ted Reed, Matt Slaymaker, Graham Anderson, Neill Smith, Alan Nelson, Nik Maynard, Graham Rowling and Richard Birch. Who all did a fantastic effort on the day putting us onto species we might have otherwise missed. Finally a massive thanks to Mike Wallen who has endured near on constant email and phone calls in the run up to this challenge, and who very kindly looked over the route prior to our attempt. So what did we miss!!!! – Well Shoveler was probably the bird we most expected to see and Teal were around on the Thursday! Curlew, Tree Sparrow and Lesser Spotted Woodpecker all Breed and if we can find reliable sites, should be easy (!) Willow Tit was seen in the county on the day (by Lee Evans) as was Black Kite (;-)). We only had 3 Passage Birds (4 if you count Green Sand) Common Sand, Arctic Tern and Wheatear. No Dunlin, Despite one turning up on Sunday @ Linford! I firmly believe that, given a good year (Passage Waders!) it is possible to see in excess of 120 Species and that is what we will be aiming for next year!! There has been talk of attempting this in mid – late April, to coincide with some of the winter visitors still being present???? I guess time will tell… All that remains is for us to collect the Sponsorship monies!!!! A quick count has resulted in over £250 (Which will be matched by my Company) for BBOWT. An excellent effort PS its still not too late to donate!!!!!! Please send all monies to Simon Nichols, 7 Watchet Court, North Furzton, Milton Keynes, Bucks, MK4 1HE.