Footing It

One of the things I am enjoying about the January Foot It challenge is getting into local areas that I've either forgotten about, ignored or never thought of going to. One such area is Bouskell Park in Blaby. On the face of it there's not really too much to it, but a walk around there this morning during a 15.4km 4hr 35min slog in my wellies was pretty rewarding. Main highlight was a couple of Nuthatches chasing each other around - I had no idea that there were any sites within my 3km challenge radius for this species. Great Spotted Woodpecker, Green Woodpecker, Bullfinch and Goldcrest were also seen in the park, and c200m away on Mill Lane I picked up a small group of Lesser Redpoll drinking from a ditch. Great local birding which is what the challenge is all about.

Yesterday morning I also took a round trip to Narborough Bog. I set out in the dark and arrived for first light, heading straight through the reserve to a small wooded area south of the railway line where I eventually managed to find a Woodcock - sadly just the usual arse-end view of a disappearing Woodcock but they all count.

As it stands I've walked c38miles and I'm on 63 species for Foot It, which equates to a nice round 100% of my target. I've seen a few unexpected species, but there are still some expected or possibles that have eluded me - most notably Sparrowhawk. I've only seen one Sprawk so far this year and I was in the car at the time.

A Morning Walk

Once again, up early enough to get out early to slog around my local environ in wellies. Before I set out though I quickly checked through the 80W/20W Actinic/CFL combo trap that I'd out in the garden overnight. Nothing actually in the trap, but I did find my first identifiable adult moth of the year on the adjacent fence (having noted a few moths fluttering in the car headlights last night as well). Probably the drabbest looking geometrid you could imagine, but very pleased to see this one nonetheless ...

Early Moth

When I did get going, it was just starting to get light. It was mild but pretty cloudy and dull - highly unlikely to make for any good photos. I had a really good morning seeing some excellent local birds (all good for the square challenge and also a few for Foot It). As I ambled down Springwell Lane, a Green Woodpecker was yaffling away and one of the regular Little Owls was obligingly sitting out in the open. I carried on down the lane and headed over to 'Countesthorpe Meadow' - or at least that's what I'm calling it. A small series of damp meadows with Whetstone brook running through it. The northern half of this is within my square, and so were Jay, Kestrel, Kingfisher and best of all a couple of Treecreepers. I then got a message that there was a decent flock of Waxwings over in Cosby so I started walking west. Cosby is still within my Foot It area but well outside of my 1k square unfortunately.

When I got there, 35+ Waxwings were still knocking about - making tentative feeding forays down to a single berry-laden tree. Not entirely sure what the tree was, but looks very similar to what the Enderby birds were feeding on late in the 2010 influx. I think it may be Himalayan Tree-cotoneaster, but with so many berries on it still it's obviously not favoured by anything until there is no choice.

The Waxwings were not quite as obliging as they can sometimes be, mainly due to an ageing Staff Terrier barking its head off from one of the houses around the green. The same mental dog had earlier barked agressively at me when it arrived home with its owner - thought it was going to come for me so I was fully prepared to shut it up with my right welly. So with wary Waxwings, crappy light, a demented twat of a dog and to be honest little time and patience, I got no good photos. So here's a rubbish one and some arty efforts which hide my lack of photographic prowess.

By now I'd walked a good way and needed to head home to get stuck into some decorating .....

By the time I arrived home, I'd walked another 9km and been out for 2.75hrs. Aside from the above mentioned birds that were all Foot It ticks, I also picked up Wren, Black-headed Gull, Redwing and Mistle Thrush for my 1k square. Just as I got to the door I also noted a large harvestman on the wall - Opilio canestrinii.

A Challenging Start

Yesterday morning, bright and early, I set out from home on foot to start my 2013 challenges. After all the recent shite weather, it was really nice to set out into clear, still skies with the sun rising, and not too nippy either with the merest hint of a ground frost. I was also stone-cold sober - a feat in itself for 1st January - due to having been on Dad's Taxi service for Isabelle.

I'd planned to head straight through the village and on to Jubilee Park, but on the way I took a slight diversion through a local park in Whetstone and eventually found my way through fields and across the railway line following a path that I didn't know existed. All being well, if you click the links under the following photos you see where it was taken on the map.

Sun rising and moon still high in the sky - Warwick Road park

Stop, Look, Listen, ignore the pants graffitti - railway crossing

I thoroughly enjoyed the early morning birding - nothing scarce or unexpected but good to see the common finches, tits and all five expected thrushes. I carried on walking to Jubilee Park where the Soar was still very high but the floodwaters had receded a little. Plenty of Wigeon around the pool, masses of gulls including a menacing Great Black-backed, big flyover flock of Lapwing and a nice male Shoveler on the pool to boot.

River Soar

Looking toward Jubilee Park

By the time I left Jubilee Park, I was on 34 species for my Foot It list, and 28 for my Patch Challenge list (some overlap north of the railway line, but my home estate is not in the patch area). I decided to keep going and headed to Narborough Bog in the hope of picking up Woodcock. Turned out to be a bad idea on the whole - despite the nice conditions on the day, the wet woodland at the Bog was very boggy indeed. Trying to walk through all of that was energy sapping to say the least and I was flagging a bit.

Turns out that wellies are great for bog trotting, but completely rubbish for a lengthy yomp from home.

Who ate all the mince pies - it would help if I wasn't so lardy

(some may recall an abandoned attempt to shift some lard last year).

By the time I'd hiked back home, I'd done a 13 and a bit kilometer circuit and walked/birded for 3.5 hours and was on 41 for Foot It, 35 for the patch - if the links work you can see my respective Bubo lists. I was in need of some hot tea and a light brunch.

I pottered about for a bit, headed into the loft to get the boxes down for the Christmas decos, and had a mooch about in the garden with my 1000 in 1kmsq challenge in mind.

After a tip off from Neil Hagley, I was out again in the afternoon for another hike to the Guthlaxton Trail where the flooded marsh that I noted last year was still looking good and was holding Snipe and Teal - two good birds for the lists. Also Goosander on the canal, plus Grey Heron and (oddly) Mallard that I'd missed earlier taking me to 46 Foot It, 40 Patch.

That really was it for the day - aside from getting some records onto BirdTrack and MapMate.

Today was back to work, so no hiking around in wellies (thankfully), though I did nip out to the balancing pool at Grove Park at lunch - a good move as Pochard, Gadwall and Little Grebe were good patch additions, along with Coot an Greylag Goose.

Back home after work, I ponced around in the garden for a few minutes with a torch and camera.

I'm hoping to get down the lane sometime this weekend - which will be good for the Foot It list and really kick-start my 1kmsq list.

Local birding on a National scale

Looks like 2013 is the year that local patches and green birding are the main national birding focus, with two challenges set up that are sure to get a lot of people out flogging their patches and local areas.

When I defined my patch, I wanted it to be away from the generally well-watched hot-spots in the county but also to have at least some potential, and also to be close to home but to keep it separate from my garden list and immediate local area list (which is generally south from home). I therefore defined what I call the Soar Valley South patch which is within a few minutes drive north and outside of Whetstone.

So what are the two challenges ...

First up is an on foot from home in January challenge - Foot It. The area can be as big or small as you like with one constraint - you have to walk the whole way there and back from home. I've registered with a 3km radius from my home which means I can just about get to Jubilee Park and Narborough Bog, which are actually in the southern part of the patch. I can also go the other way from home down the lane towards Whetstone Pastures. This means I get the best potential out of my three local lists (garden, OFFH and patch). Here is my Foot It area:

As you can probably gather from this, I've set myself a target of 63 species. This will not be a doddle, and there will be a few species that I see south from home that may not register on the patch list (like Yellowhammer).

The Patchwork Challenge covers the whole year, and is a patch yearlisting challenge with the only contraint being that the patch must be 3km2 max. I order to meet this, I've basically defined a cut-out from my normal patch which includes all the best birdy bits I visit. See how I've managed to include Narborough Bog and the balancing pool and scrape field at Grove Park.

Both challenges are being run with a handicap scoring system. For Foot It, the score that will be compared is your actual achieved number of species as a percentage of the target you declared in advance - my target is 63 species. For the Patchwork Challenge, each species has a point value and the comparative score is your achieved point value versus an average that you've previously achieved on the patch. As my patch is essentially an inland birding wasteland then my average is a very modest 83 'points'.

The competitive element is just for fun, but the main thing is getting everyone out doing some local birding and logging records on the BTO BirdTrack system. Looking forward to getting started.