"Hey girls, look at my machinery!" 106 species in total
New bike! New bike! Light, sleek, fast and sexy - and the bike's pretty good too....
What might have been a 'family duty only' ride to Lockerley did in fact turn up the goods near Braishfield, as hoped - Yellowhammer finally made its way onto the list. No new ones in my parents' garden, but crippling views of five tit species, including point-blank Marsh Tits, and also Nuthatches.
A high-speed (honestly!) ride across to Eastleigh, and to Simon Ingram's house. He had kindly agreed to try for Jack Snipe at a local spot of his, and Julia had equally kindly agreed to come and help, and to bring my wellies! Along with Simon's son Joe, we gave the small marsh a good searching ("an organised flush"?), but unfortunately couldn't turn up the main target species - but we did see several Common Snipe, and heard a Water Rail squealing.
Another 59km on the clock - so far it's 5.6km pedalled per species seen - what's your equivalent figure in Norfolk, Chris?