Working the office window (Bird Race Update 4)
This Bird Race is tough for me: I’m not like the other teams, gallivanting round the reserve all day, in amongst the birds all the time. They only have to stumble over them to add them to their lists. I am busy taking one for the team, working the desk and ploughing my way through the paperwork, glued to a computer so that they can bird all day (and I am not bitter at all).
So to do my birding and add to my list, I need to be a bit creative. So if I can’t get out on the reserve during daylight hours how about a cheeky early morning saunter in the dark?
This proved to be a good tactic as Finn and I headed out onto Powhillon merse, stumbling over creeks and through pools to reach the Lochar Water. Once there, we settled down in the dark, eyes closed and ears open. As we tuned in to the surrounds, a skylark burbled in the tussocky grass somewhere close by, waiting out the poor weather until it can greet the spring with that most stunning of song flights. A snipe creaked overhead on the way to a quiet roosting spot after a night time of feeding. A golden plover peeped mournfully from further off across the merse grassland. And another sad peeper, the redwing, flew overhead calling to reconnect with others of the flock. Four more on the list and a bit of a special moment as well. Another morning and a stumble alongside the reedbeds and a water rail checked in with its trade mark wheezy squeal.
Snipe by Alex Hillier
I have also been taking outside lunch breaks – instead of the usual but unhealthy option of working through lunch at the desk, I have been taking a short half hour stroll to one of the hides. In this way pintail and greater black-backed gull were added to the list on a brisk foray to the Saltcot Merse Observatory.
Pintail by Alex Hillier
On the plus side I do have a rather good office. There is a big window that looks out over the Folly Pond so during and in-between meetings, I scan the water for anything new. I now understand the favoured topography of the pond so can quickly check the little island for waders (ruff – tick), the duck loafing areas for anything different (gadwall – tick) and the airspace over the pond (group of long tailed tit passing through and peregrine diving the lapwing flock – double tick). And then as I was ploughing my way through a budget spreadsheet (tough going but made easier by the window birding), I heard a distinctive half “kronk”. A dash outside and two large noisy black birds drifted over, passing judgement on what they saw below (raven – tick).
I would have to add that if my line manager is reading this I have been unusually productive with desk work due to the mental health benefits of connecting to all this nature. As it is, writing a floodbank erosion assessment and a staff survey response plan have proved to have been the most fruitful office sessions so far…for birds anyway.
So the list is coming along nicely – and despite being stuck in the office, I have proven to still be a formidable competitor, second place is nothing to be sniffed at! But the quick wins are nearly all achieved so the stakes are raised. It is time to get canny, sharpen those ears and hope for a sprinkling of luck.
Scores
Team Warden: 72
Team Placement: 63
Team Dave: 69
Words by David Pickett
Feature image of water rail by Alex Hillier
