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UK500: Birding in the Fast Lane
by James Hanlon
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| James Hanlon was born in South London in December 1974. By his mid-teens he had established himself as a keen 'birder'. In 1996 he graduated from Bangor University with a degree in Zoology and then shortly after this embarked on a round-the-world adventure that saw him birding, busking and bungee-jumping across Australasia. The prospect of seeing nearly 500 species in the UK before his 30th birthday spurred him on to return to the UK. Few people have achieved this. James would have to be prepared to travel anywhere in the British Isles at the drop of a hat. |
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This book is more about the 'chase' than the birds themselves. Getting to some wayward rarity in a hurry can be the most horrendously nerve-racking experience. Personal relationships can be tested and so can the chequebook, but have the rewards been worth all the effort? Never mind it has meant being dragged from the Minch by a lifeboat or having a small piece of ear glued back on after a car crash.... James Hanlon thinks so.
And exclusively for surfbirds readers he shares three of his chases from UK500: Birding in the Fast Lane. If you've felt the adrenalin flow on hearing the news of a rare bird near your home then read on.....
Chase number 3: All at Sea
For a single memorable day out, it is hard to beat a ‘pelagic’, a birding trip on a boat which takes you far out to sea to search for ocean-going seabirds. But it’s not always necessary to take to a boat to see such birds. During onshore winds in late summer and autumn, many shearwaters and petrels are driven close to land and can be seen passing from headland cliff-tops. Porthgwarra, near Land’s End in Cornwall, is one such spot and in August 2002, the birds were there a-plenty, as were the birdwatchers, all sat in a small group on the cliff top.
I love the sea and there is something special about seeing the birds which spend their lives wandering the open ocean. It was with this in mind that I decided to spend a week in Cornwall and the Isles of Scilly during the prime seawatching month of August. On the agenda was some land-based seawatching in Cornwall and as many boat trips as we could fit in.
The bad weather had brought in seabirds and as it improved over the next few days the light westerlies, occasionally backing south-west, brought in a shearwater bonanza. Small numbers of Sooty, Balearic and Great Shearwaters were passing and on the very first day my ‘bogey-bird’ fell when I found a Cory’s Shearwater passing the Runnel Stone buoy, nearly two kilometres offshore. The first new bird I had found for myself in the UK for many years, it was not particularly awe-inspiring but was closer than the next Cory’s which passed shortly afterwards.
The following day I arose at around 4.00am - an hour I didn’t think existed. The overcast sky and calm sea provided ideal conditions and by 8.30am I had called the first (and to be the only) Cory’s of the day. This one was much better and instantly identifiable. Another excellent day’s seawatching was had, with similar birds to those seen the day before. We had settled into a pattern of seawatching for a few hours each early morning and again in the evening. These seemed by far the most productive times but, on August 13th, we stuck it out all day, having at one point missed a possible Wilson’s Petrel by 15 minutes. Another lone Wilson’s was called at around midday and everyone saw the bird, despite the fact that it appeared to be passing somewhere in the vicinity of the continental shelf. At a range of about two kilometres it will only go down in my notebook as a ‘possible’ but, to be fair, nearly everyone present agreed it was neither Storm (on account of its size) nor Leach’s. In fact it was the only storm-type petrel at that range everyone managed to lock onto – even if the views could be compared to locating a speck of dust on the lens of your ’scope and concentrating on it as one panned right over the distant waves. At higher magnification, the speck of dust did however sprout wings.
We next headed for the Isles of Scilly. That evening we boarded the Kingfisher out of St Mary’s and headed south. It was a slow start with only a few Great Shearwaters and Storm Petrels. We had been seeing these on a daily basis. Eventually more and more petrels gathered to feed and at last came the cry we had been waiting for: ‘Wilson’s coming in!’ as a rather worn individual glided past the stern and began to feed on the ‘chum’ slick consisting of minced rotten fish and fish/vegetable oil. The bird was joined by another, and then another. One sailed in with a distinctive notch in its wing. Then a blue-phase Fulmar appeared – a rare sighting in these waters. Shortly afterwards, a pristine, newly moulted Wilson’s, looking like it had been crafted from velvet, joined the throng. At one point, there were three Wilson’s feeding together on the slick. Local birder Bob Flood kept tabs on the numbers, and we finished the evening on a staggering six plus birds, apparently the second highest count ever in British waters, and we were only eight kilometres from St Mary’s. But it was the views that made the trip special. The petrels skipped and danced over the waves just ten metres from the boat, sometimes passing within half that distance of the stern. They would then brake sharply and, dangling those long legs and yellow webbed feet, patter away from us over the surface on raised paddle-shaped wings. As the sun set, the petrels became silhouetted against a sea water backdrop of deep blue and pink, perhaps one of my most memorable birding images. It had been a magical day.
Re-read Chase no.1
Re-read Chase no.2
Three birds, three tales but does James reach 500 before turning 30? Treat yourself......Buy the book now and find out.
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