Robert Ayers
Birding from town to country Having recently made the short (and hopefully one-way) migratory journey from West London to the village of Dalham in West Suffolk, and with a life-long passion for birds and wildlife, getting to know the local birding hotspots was as important to me as re-establishing my landscaping business. Immediate novelties for an urbanite were Red Kites and Buzzards over the cottage while moving our furniture in, later followed by heart-warming sights of House Martins rebuilding their nest under the eaves of the thatch and a Spotted Flycatcher hunting from our TV aerial.
London local patch In London my local greenspace of any ornithological interest was Wormwood Scrubs, an 183-acre site perhaps better known for its jail-birds, but regularly watched by the dedicated David Lindo (aka ‘The Urban Birder’) and his band of merry ‘Scrubbers’.
With a list of over 150 species since 1980, including surprising rarities for an urban area such as Great Grey Shrike, Dartford Warbler, Rosefinch, Ortolan Bunting and Richard’s Pipit, we ‘Scrubbers’ never quite managed to reach our illusive annual target of 100 species. Thus to see 115 in my first four months of sporadic birding at my now-favoured Cavenham Heath was quite a revelation. I’m avoiding the use of the word ‘patch’ here as, for me, it suggests some kind of ownership and from my experience in the London area especially, this seemed to lead to spats between birders and an aggressive competition that I was uncomfortable with. I’m also not a great keeper of ‘lists’ though I do believe in the importance of good record keeping, and would encourage anyone who does not already submit sightings to the BTO’s ‘BirdTrack’ to do so, especially now it’s possible to submit even casual sightings in the field with their ‘App’ for Android and iPhone. [Ed: But for the County recorder’s sakes make sure you get the record’s location correctly labelled.]
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