Having completed 2 previous Cambridgeshire Bird Club lockdown bird races, I was keen to complete a third, allowing 24hrs of birding by bike on 24th May. I have always considered the "eat as much as you want" advertising at a bargain banquet as a challenge rather than an offer and if there's a 24hr bird race I'll take the lot please. I had intended to start at midnight but the strong westerly winds of the previous day continued and I decided to amend my plan a little to reduce the amount of cycling into the wind, I hoped a little wait might allow the wind to drop too - it didn't.
At 2am I set off on old faithful - veteran of Lands End to London, North Norfolk Coast shenagins and a sluggish Tri-athlon. We powered, wind on our back, to the far east of the county where Stone Curlew called and a Skylark sang in the first shards of the undimming. It looked like this.
Then.......to the woods. Before I entered Chippenham Fen I heard the wisp and grunt of a roding Woodcock across the canopy. I took the west facing fence at the cross path, this side sheltered more from the wind by the bigger Oaks and bordering woodland. I cupped my ears to listen for Grasshopper Warbler which obliged almost immediately. I continued to cup my ears and listen for sounds and in one specific area kept picking up the sound of a distant churring Nightjar - an almost impossible proposition. A turn a few degrees left or right and the sound disappeared, being distant I considered whether it was a low buzz of a generator. I could only hear it with ears cupped and decided that it must be an aural hallucination. At the end of a full day out birding in the Fens in spring it is a strange phenomena that even laid in bed the chunter of Reed and Sedge Warbler song has imprinted on the mind and can be still be heard. I told myself my ears must be attuned to some monotonous road surface noise from the previous couple of hours cycling and that this is what I could hear with ears cupped at a certain angle - more of this later.
My next woodland stop was the green tangles of Fordham Woods where dawn broke and I could start using my bins. I flushed a Woodcock from right by the boardwalk and Treecreepers and Goldcrests needled their spindle of song from the spruce and pine. A Nuthatch called from within the woods and a vocal Great Spotted Woodpecker family drew attention along the furthest boardwalk, sadly no Marsh Tit broke cover and it is possible they are no longer present here, I couldn't find the Coal Tits I had hoped for either.
The exposed ride to Wicken, into the wind, was as unpleasant as I had expected but with the shelter of trees and scrub along Wicken Lode the first breaks in the cloud yielded some warmth and a little surge of birdsong. A full complement of Warblers included the inevitable drive by shoutings of Cetti's Warbler, the cheerful rattle of Lesser Whitethroat and manic rambles and stutter of Sedge Warblers. No booming Bittern or the glory of Nightingale song this year, and Turtle Doves now feel like a distant memory. Crane, Little Egret and Egyptian Geese feeling like an uninspiring swap today.
Out of the fen at the southern end and canary Yellow Wagtails dotted the ploughed fields and a Grey Partridge flushed from the broken roadside. The Cam Washes at Upware looked great with lots of freshly exposed mud but no new birds on offer. Kingfishers Bridge held no surprises but Pochard, Little Grebe and a drake Garganey were not to be seen elsewhere. A hefty detour to take in a Turtle Dove spot was frustratingly fruitless bar some lovely views of my second Spotted Flycatcher of the day.
Half the ride done I wheeled into Stuntney just before midday and treated myself to a hearty brunch and plenty of bath salts in a leisurely soak. It had turned out nice for the afternoon but the wind persisted, a pedal through Ely produced what it needed to but not the Grey Wagtail often present at the sewage works. I turned my back on the town and rolled out towards the Washes. A roadside Little Owl was delightful and there were Barnacle Geese and a Red Kite nearby, a peek over the bank at Pymoor revealed a siege of 7 non-breeding Crane.
I continued northwards along the Washes and into Norfolk to cross the river and drain and return southwards on the western bank and the productive pools along the Manaea side of the RSPB reserve. A Cattle Egret was a real bonus, quickly joined on the list by a Great White Egret, two Greenshank departed high and of 2 plovers on the mud one was a Ringed and the other Little Ringed. Limosa were far from subtle in their territorial protestations across the pilot project and further along pairs of both Stonechat and Whooper Swan looked settled.
The restructuring of the banks has left an exceptionally rutted track, almost mountainous by fen standards. The cycling was tough and by the time I reached the A142 I had been on the Washes for some 6 hours. My knees were beginning to feel the grind as I peddled back North along the East bank. I decided to take the longer but smoother route by road and winded past Byall Fen and on to Oxlode where I enjoyed the fall of the sun. I was hoping for Crakes but heard a much needed Water Rail, I needed to see a Hobby but a Bittern flew past to raise the spirits. The sun set in spectacular shades in the clear sky and the wind dropped to nothing. Unbeknownst to me, back at Chippenham Fen, a Nightjar was being listened to. Once the last of the light had left the sky I was returned to the inky blue of night. In the light of a torch beam I headed home and the last bird of the day was a Tawny Owl hooting in the shadow of Ely Cathedral at 11.30
Next day I did the numbers, I had covered over 90 miles and seen or heard 110 species - a great total for late in the spring. There are always birds you miss that just don't appear when you need them to. Often Grey Partridge, Green Woodpecker, Jay, Corn Bunting and Sparrowhawk make you wonder if you need to hang up your bins. Today it was Hobby that just didn't flash past, tracking down Grey Wagtail, Coal Tit and Marsh Tit was always going to be tricky and crakes on the washes are just temperamental from year to year and I put all my eggs in the Oxlode basket.
I think on a good May Bank Holiday with plenty of wader movement, a bit of tern passage and some lingering winter visitors 120 is a possibility on this route by bike. Whether, in the future, I will have the motivation to commit to the physicality of a biking big day again will remain to be seen but as a memorable part of the C19 spring, the 24th May 2020 will take some beating.
As a post script, 110 was the previous cycling county record. If I can bring myself to count a retrospective identification of the Nightjar I talked myself out of at Chippenham (which thankfully I saw and heard later in the week) then 111 would be a new record. However, 115 species were seen during a bike ride in the north of the county earlier in May 2020, outside of lockdown rules and guidance. To my mind this 115 should be the new county bike record, mostly because this would give me a realistic target and the motivation to do it all again next spring.
The restructuring of the banks has left an exceptionally rutted track, almost mountainous by fen standards. The cycling was tough and by the time I reached the A142 I had been on the Washes for some 6 hours. My knees were beginning to feel the grind as I peddled back North along the East bank. I decided to take the longer but smoother route by road and winded past Byall Fen and on to Oxlode where I enjoyed the fall of the sun. I was hoping for Crakes but heard a much needed Water Rail, I needed to see a Hobby but a Bittern flew past to raise the spirits. The sun set in spectacular shades in the clear sky and the wind dropped to nothing. Unbeknownst to me, back at Chippenham Fen, a Nightjar was being listened to. Once the last of the light had left the sky I was returned to the inky blue of night. In the light of a torch beam I headed home and the last bird of the day was a Tawny Owl hooting in the shadow of Ely Cathedral at 11.30
Next day I did the numbers, I had covered over 90 miles and seen or heard 110 species - a great total for late in the spring. There are always birds you miss that just don't appear when you need them to. Often Grey Partridge, Green Woodpecker, Jay, Corn Bunting and Sparrowhawk make you wonder if you need to hang up your bins. Today it was Hobby that just didn't flash past, tracking down Grey Wagtail, Coal Tit and Marsh Tit was always going to be tricky and crakes on the washes are just temperamental from year to year and I put all my eggs in the Oxlode basket.
I think on a good May Bank Holiday with plenty of wader movement, a bit of tern passage and some lingering winter visitors 120 is a possibility on this route by bike. Whether, in the future, I will have the motivation to commit to the physicality of a biking big day again will remain to be seen but as a memorable part of the C19 spring, the 24th May 2020 will take some beating.
As a post script, 110 was the previous cycling county record. If I can bring myself to count a retrospective identification of the Nightjar I talked myself out of at Chippenham (which thankfully I saw and heard later in the week) then 111 would be a new record. However, 115 species were seen during a bike ride in the north of the county earlier in May 2020, outside of lockdown rules and guidance. To my mind this 115 should be the new county bike record, mostly because this would give me a realistic target and the motivation to do it all again next spring.
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