And so it begins... (Bird Race update 1)
Ed
It’s the first day of the Bird Race so I arrive at the reserve early for extra time – I know that Jake has dedicated too much of his life to birding so was going to be tough competition. When I opened up the reserve office I knew that I was the first one in – just as planned – but Jake wasn’t far behind arriving only 10 minutes later. After some pleasantries (we can pretend that I was nice), we both quickly rushed off.
Folly Pond in morning sunlight by Ed (Emily) Dixon
The first thing I had to do was decide where to start. Knowing that I’m not the best at identifying birds from a distance, I started at the Folly Pond Hide. Once I arrived, I realised that I had definitely made the right choice. Within half an hour I had already seen lapwing, shelduck, little egret, redshank, oystercatcher and ruff. What a result! After I decided to move on to the Peter Scott Trail to cover the garden and woodland birds. The bird feeders were surrounded by house sparrows, tree sparrows and various tit species. Then there was further success (after a little bit of patience) and I saw the little grebe on the Back Pond and two curlew from the Newfield Hide! Having only been birding for just over an hour I was pretty satisfied with my total so went back to complete the morning jobs. But I couldn’t help but wonder how Jake’s morning went (poorly I hoped) …
Jake
I arrive at Caerlaverock just before 8am, a little later than I had hoped but it’s still fairly dark and I seem to be the first here. As the old saying goes the early bird catches the worm…
I make my way to the reserve office to pick up my things but when I open the door, to my displeased surprise Ed is standing there! We exchange pleasantries… well for the most part anyway: Ed tries to play mind games, telling me that I won’t see that merlin today. Trivial games won’t work on me however, this isn’t my first bird race.
I may not have been first on the reserve but I still feel confident that I can get a high tally of birds this morning. I’ve decided to head to the Saltcot Merse Observatory. There are two reasons for this: 1. it’s a favourite spot of mine on the reserve and a place where I’ve been very lucky of late and 2. I knew Ed wouldn’t be going up there as her attention span won’t let her sit and watch for birds for any length of time (ah, young people!).
Saltcot Merse Observatory in the first dawn light by Jake Goodwin
The walk down the loaning is fairly fruitful too with goldcrest and yellowhammer spotted. Once I arrive at my destination and set up my scope I suddenly wonder if I’ve made the wrong decision. It’s quiet and I start thinking that I should have left the Saltcot for high tide. I was slowly adding species you’d expect to see on the saltmarsh, like shelduck, when suddenly I see a white flash way off in the distance.
Recently we’ve had a spoonbill sporadically spotted on the saltmarsh so I zoomed in and watched this bird. I see it feed with the classic swaying motion as it moves its bill from side to side through the surface of the water and know it’s the spoonbill. I watch it for a while longer and as I’m starting to think about heading off, I take one more look around the fence posts and I see a large bird perched on one. I zoom the scope in and see that it’s a ghostly pale male hen harrier! I then notice a smaller bird on a branch of drift wood just behind the harrier and to my surprise it’s a merlin! You couldn’t make this stuff up… You can see why this is one of my favourite spots and I have to pull myself away to get back to my “real job”.
Male hen harrier sitting on a fence post taken through a scope by Jake Goodwin
So far, the totals sit at Team Placement: 36, Team Warden: 41 and Team Dave: 0 but it is only day one!
Words by Jake Goodwin and Ed (Emily) Dixon
Feature image of spoonbill by Alex Hillier (taken previously when a spoonbill was on the Folly Pond)
