When Groucho Payne asked me to be in his team to provide a bit of opposition to Team Focalpoint, I agreed on the condition that if a 'mega' broke or if a good Cheshire bird broke, we'd change the plans! Team Gary consisted of Mark, Jase Atkinson, Al orton & me and the name was derived from our nicknames - Groucho, Apprentice, Radar & YoYo.
This was our first attempt, and we were up against the seasoned opposition and record holders, Pod & Fred, with fellow team members Malc 'the driver', Curtin and Paul B.
I was at Chester races Friday when news came through of a Whiskered tern at Inner Marsh Farm RSPB and again of a Honey Buzzard at Leasowe, found by Al Conlin & Al Orton - the Happy Als! Oh well. Can't get them all! The tern flew off just after 20.00.........
After getting home at 01.00 and being picked up at 03.00, I was pretty tired but raring to go. Things started well for us in the Eastern Hills, and we located all the key species. From there, we intended to go to Sandbach, where we'd been informed a Wood Sandpiper & Garganey were present the previous night, before slowly working our way along the M56 corridor to the Wirral, ultimately ending up catching up with waders and seabirds as the tide came in.
All that rapidly changed when a text came through from Steve Williams at 06.45 to say the Whiskered Tern was still there. An immediate change of plan was in order - something we'd all previously agreed upon. This was too good a bird to miss. Alistair had dipped it the night before by minutes. I needed it for my Cheshire year list, and it was a Cheshire lifer for Jason & Mark. Stopping briefly at Sandbach, we shot across to the Wirral and were duly rewarded with superb views of this, my fifth, Cheshire Whiskered Tern.
As a result, we never made the pre-high tide wader movement as we retraced our steps back along the M56 to catch up with all the other species we'd bypassed. Still, we had great fun and a good 'craic'. Our final score was 130 whilst the opposition scored 138. Worryingly, neither team saw nor heard Cuckoo. We didn't get a single Grasshopper Warbler due to the timings of our visits to known sites following our detour.
However, a stewards' enquiry is to be held over the lamping of Mandarin by the opposition. Surely this is against the rules.........................................
Many thanks go to the following people who provided us with invaluable information and help on the day - Jan Jones, Al Conlin, Steve Williams, Frank Duff, Andy Forth and of course, my fellow team members for providing such a good laugh.
As well as the Whiskered Tern, the weekend also added Quail to my 2008 Cheshire list.
Sorry about the wait, fans have been so busy planning and reccaying(new English word?)for the race that I've had no time whatsoever to blog. The team Comberbach Casuals Club (Pod, Malc, Doc)plus one (Fred) were out in the field, well, a path by a reedbed at 10 minutes to midnight somewhere on the Wizzal (Phil's local patch apparently?) Friday the 9th of May.
Dodging expertly placed piles of doggy pooh, we meandered our way to said stakeout and waited for zero hour.Unfortunately none of us had the commonsense to syncronise our cronometers(watches, pagers, mobiles) so we were slightly buggered to what the exact time was for zero hour.Doc being Doc decided we should use his watch as it had the latest hour uponit and mine for later as it was the slowest(cunning what!) we just might need those extra few minutes 24 hours later on if we're still awake.DONG !!!(no, not the dodgy chinky Man Utd striker) But the sound of Heswall Church (oh bugger! I've given the top secret site away, whoops) sounding midnight..........let the race begin.
Bird number one, a distant Welsh Oystercatcher, followed immediately by a reeling Gropper, singing Sedge Warbler and calling Redshank, we were off and running, but unfortunately, our two target birds were fast asleep.
A rumble of thunder or was it someone's arse seemed to curtail any other avian sounds, and a bolt of lightning struck the Dee estuary.....great just what the daylist doctor didn't order. After a week of blisteringly hot days and balmy nights, could our timing be so unfortunate as to get the first rain of the Indian Spring...dam blast and double bugger!!!
We left the Wizzal and raced back down the M56 to our first Owl site of the night. Armed with a zillion-watt B&Q searchlight that wouldn't go a miss on some remote headland, i.e lighthouse, we burned the eyes of a Barn Owl as it peered out of its nest hole...whap owl number one. A decision was unanimously made (so much for all the itineraries I'd produced) that a quick diversion to the local patch would hopefully get us back on one of our missed Wizzal target birds.
Trudging through the wet grass at the back of Coward Reedbed, the rest of the team inquired why on earth I'd suggested we ditch our wellies before the off...whoops! (my feet being bone dry in my designer Brashers, ha ha!). We waited and waited and waited some more, then bingo, a Water Rail squealed its displeasure at the racket the local Tawnies(tick) were making. Even better, the Little Owl at the back of Insomniac's house also piped up, magic three owls whapped plus one target bird, we were back on schedule.
Another itinerary change due again to the weather and our success had us flying down the M6 to a farm near Crewe. Incredulously, my three companions listened on as a QUAIL 'wet its lips' nearby. Now that's a daylist gripper, what? High fives were duly exchanged.
3.00am and we're on 17.
Next stop and its Macc Forest for the dawn chorus. Time for my 5th wee of the day, must be the constant adrenaline rushes I'm having from all the grippers we've heard. Out comes the B&Q owl blinder, and I fry the eyes of a new Macc Forest colonist, a gaudy Mandarin of all things, no need for the Raby plastics now. Several roding Woodcocks well pre dawn and Redstart (one of the first dawn singers) are ticked off.
.jpg)
The team casually walks back to the CCC twitch mobile, having got Red Grouse, Golden Plover and Curlew, the sun just over the horizon as we make our way to the famous Chimney. Rouzel, Wheatear, and, for the first time ever on a May bird race, a Stonechat. Dropping down into Wildboarclough, we give the distant hillsides a quick scan and another first and our fourth owl, a Shorty, glides by. A wander down the clough produces yet more goodies with Pied Fly, Dipper (not us dudes), Grey Wag, Sparrowhawk and low and behold another daylist first two Spotted Flycatchers. Fred and I are beginning to think this could be a very good day, so I have yet another wee to relieve the tension....aahhhh!
Stopping at pre-selected sites (on our way out of Macc), we rack up more quality birds such as Xbill, Siskin, Wood Warbler, Lesser Redpoll and rarest of all, a Tree Pipit.
7.30am we're on 69
As we leave the hills, the opposition speed by Groucho, Big Al, Phillis and Chequebook collectively now known as team GARY and thus 'Glitter Band'....do ya wanna be in my gang, my gang...no! En route back to the Wizzal for the'high tide' we call in at various stakeouts, some not even on the itinerary the previous day (the birds always dictate where you end up). Sandbach for one proved awesome (cheers Andy) with Wood Sand, Common Sand, Greenshank, Tree Sparrow, Wigeon and Garganey. Neumann's had to be done for the nesting Stilts. Here, with hindsight, we messed up, pushed for time, and we collectively decided to leave and head for Grisley Risley, thus missing out on Cuckoo and Green Woody. We then dipped Hobby (seen an hour later by the Glitter boys...bummer!) at the moss but got our only Jay and Treecreeper of the day, big deal!.
11.30ish we're on 109, bird 100 being Peregrine at Lostock (10.05am)
The afternoon shift started at IMF, and what daylist birds we got here - Whiskered Tern (Fred not impressed), Exocet, Little Egret, a single Knot and I found a 1st sum Med Gull. Unfortunately, we missed a skulking fem. Pintail and no Ruff, not a sausage.
We then hit the coast at Meols to be greeted by our lookout Jane T straddling the seawall. What a wader fest we had here, timed to perfection. The incoming tide washed up Turnstone, Dunlin, Sanderling, Barwit, Grey Plover, Ringed Plover, Whimbrel, several gull species, all expertly picked out by JT (I take it all back). In the heat haze, the black slick floating out to sea near the windmills turned out to be 2500 Common Scoter (no, we didn't count them), another daylist first.
Hitting New Brighton on a hot, sunny weekend afternoon is not a good idea . The oil-washed beach was infested with burnt blobby Mickey Mousers hurling rocks at passing ferries, Jesus, if only we could conjure up a mersey tsunami!!!
A truly horrendous sight, Frank Goes To New Brighton...
We move on quickly to Red Rocks and connect with Brent Goose (another first) and two Sarny Terns, adding to the Kittiwake and Common Tern at NB.
With the score now at 130, it's getting harder to add new species as we run out of birds and sites to visit. A stop at Thurstaston gets us Lesser Throat (cheers again JT), then we're zooming off the Wizzal to good old Frodders, where Statto has been scouting ahead for us.
Within quick fire succession, we whap on Little Stint, Ruddy Duck(take that Defra) and Stattos' favourite daylist bird, Whinchat.
Bird number 135 requires a detour to the local patch again! cos we've somehow missed Nuthatch in all the excitement. A walk around the patch would surely have gotten us this and several other easy birds, but time and pressure is always upon one. The planned R&R stop never happened.
At Moss Side, Eastern Reedbed, we were deafened by the Cetti's Warbler (136), yet another impressive addition to a Cheshire Daylist.
Last stop stalag Woolston for two easy padders Black necked Grebe(137) and Pochard(138) with our final bird of the day Little Gull(139) flying in late on...sorted. My 19th wee of the day and we retire to The Stag for a well-earned bevvie.
.jpg)
Pod entering the forbidden zone, sshhhh! Don't tell AP.
Big thanks to the rest of the team, Malc for doing all of the driving, Doc for keeping score, Fred for giving me his cold, Jane T and Statto are able scouts, Andrew D for the owl sites, my Mum and Dad(god bless him) for having me, Debs for marrying me, etc, etc.
Final tally 139, the 5th highest score ever in Cheshire. Team Glitter scored 130, a very creditable effort, thwarted by Radar's inability to read tide tables(oh dear, we'll never let him forget). Next year there's always next year...bring it on!
