Percentage of target to date - 85%

Distance cycled - 266.1mls / 428.2km

Latest addition - Cuckoo (131) 25 April

Reeling 'em in

Took the kilometres pedalled past the 400 mark yesterday, thought the target bird (Sunday's Redstart) failed to oblige. Hardly surprising really, given that it was a lunch hour blast up to East Wretham, leaving me <10 minutes to try to locate the bird(s), and in a stiff breeze at that. Another time.

A very damp mooch down to the flood (of dipped Whimbrel fame) this morning revealed more activity than the weather might have predicted, including several Whitethroats finally finding their voices, and a Grasshopper Warbler (128) barely finding his.

ps Simon - are you reelly telling us that gropper isn't annual in your circle?!

Percentage of target to date - 83%

Distance cycled - 249.7mls / 401.9km

Latest addition - Grasshopper Warbler (128) 24 April

Jack of Diamonds

It's a funny old spring. March more like July, April more like February, migrants conspicuous by their absence. A few better-late-than-nevers notched up in my circle this weekend (namely Tree Pipit, Nightingale, Cuckoo and Redstart) but with sister, bro-in-law and their nipper staying, all 4 were carbon-fuelled. I was just mustering the enthusiasm for a late afternoon shower-dodging pedal somewhere or other, to try to make non-motorised amends, when Richard Thewlis rang to say he'd pulled something special out of the bag down at the Nunnery Lakes. 10 minutes, 1.2 miles later and I was scoping the following:

...or to make it a little easier:

Like Chris, I can now officially hang up my wellies! Fantastic Jack Snipe (127) OML - altogether more 'winter' than 'spring' but no complaints here!

Percentage of target to date - 82%

Distance cycled - 238.2mls / 383.3km

Latest addition - Jack Snipe (127) 22 April

Humdrum

Despite a slew of Arctic Terns at inland sites around England earlier today, the best a lunchtime stroll round the Nunnery Lakes produced was a chuntering Reed Warbler (125). Cuckoo in the morning, then?!

Edit: Just shamelessly twitched a Whitethroat (126) during coffee break - partly because I was annoyed that John Marchant and I managed to walk past it at lunch time, mainly to take away the sickening taste left by the following message on the local bird forum:

One Arctic Tern at Livermere c1400 but chased off by BH Gulls & flew North. [Or in other words, right over the Nunnery Lakes, approx. 30 mins after we got back to our desks?!]

Percentage of target to date - 81%

Distance cycled - 235.2mls / 378.5km

Latest addition - Whitethroat (126) 17 April

Finally...

Back in the land of the non-motorised, things are finally showing signs of picking up: A couple of House Martin (122) with 30-odd Swallow (123) over the Nunnery Lakes in a biting Northerly yesterday, and despite a sharp frost, a Sedge Warbler (124) singing away this morning.

To illustrate just how slow/late things have been this year, my 2011 Nunnery / Nunnery Lakes list hit 107 on 12 April; this year I'm on just 96 for these 2 sites as of today.

My Nunnery / Nunnery Lakes species accummulation during the TEAL Cup

Missed a Peregrine over the Lakes yesterday - that's one of 5 motorised-only species in my circle this year that are yet to fall to the only list that matters, the others being Marsh Harrier [fair chance], Merlin [tough], Golden Plover [fair chance] and Green Sandpiper [straightforward].

Percentage of target to date - 80%

Distance cycled - 235.2mls / 378.5km

Latest addition - Sedge Warbler (124)

WW1

Willow Warbler (1). Strictly speaking, another 'twitch', as Neil Calbrade found it this morning and texted to let me know. It was still singing away in the same place when I gave the Nunnery Lakes a thorough bashing this evening (though frankly I'm confident I'll find my own before too long, Pete) ;)

Percentage of target to date - 78%

Distance cycled - 235.2mls / 378.5km

Latest addition - Willow Warbler (121) 1 Apr

A quick chat

The beauty of working at the BTO is that even when you have to spend a glorious spring lunch hour punching in ringing data (at least partly for personal gain I must add - a C permit is tantalisingly close now, with 1,850 birds under my belt), there's always someone covering the Lakes! Cue a text from Andy Musgrove alerting me to a male Stonechat (107), and a quick pedal down there to scoop up another one.

Little Owl, Caspian Gull and Golden Plover remain elusive but with March underway, it's just a few weeks until the next big list-injection, as shown by my species accumulation for the same sites last year:

Percentage of target to date - 69%

Distance cycled - 126.6mls / 203.7km

Latest addition - Stonechat (107) 1 Mar

Walking in a white-winged wonderland!

Everyone else seems to have Goshawk on their Nunnery Lakes list. I don't, and in a bid to rectify this, I came to work prepared with bike and 'scope today so as to get as much of my lunch break as possible at my 'raptor watch point' (raised bank round one of the fishermens' carparks - you have to take what you can get in the way of hills in Breckland!).

Only a couple of distant Buzzards ion the raptor front but just as I was about to leave, a ghostly gull loomed into view - 3rd calendar year Iceland Gull (106)! Incredibly it landed on one of the lakes (big gulls tend to be reticent about this as the lakes are fairly small, and quite disturbed), before giving fine 'scope views overhead as it drifted off.

Couldn't quite believe my luck after my 'double dip weekend' with this species. One nagging question remains: can I garden-tick it retrospectively?!

Percentage of target to date - 68%

Distance cycled - 126.6mls / 203.7km

Latest addition - Iceland Gull (106) 27 Feb

Ups and downs

The first Nunnery Lakes Oystercatcher (104) of the year was in on Saturday morning. I spent much of the rest of the day (and a fair bit of Sun) fighting a losing battle with Leylandii stumps in my garden. Repeated sky-scans failed to yield the hoped-for Red Kite and worse was to come - squadrons of (mainly Lesser Black-backed) gulls over in the afternoon included a white-winger... but I didn't see it til it was right over head and within a second or two, it was a***-end only views, after which it was never to be seen again.

When I was texted about a 4cy Iceland Gull at Livermere today (Sun) I naturally wanted to get even so I put down the axe and hit the tarmac. Missed it by about 45 mins - though friends who'd set off from Thetford by car, 15 mins ahead of me, missed it too which made me feel slightly better. Mediterranean Gull (105) was fair compensation, and 7 European White-fronted Geese were not asleep (unlike the ones I biked all the way to Micklemere for, little more than a week ago!).

Percentage of target to date - 68%

Distance cycled - 126.6mls / 203.7km

Latest addition - Mediterranean Gull (105) 26 Feb

Do you want a flake with that?

2 hours on the Nunnery Lakes reserve this morning yielded 55 species and revealed a few signs of spring (can't quite believe it was -13 on Sun!): Singing Skylark, displaying Lapwing and my first Breckland Curlew of the year (99).

Actually I could argue (but won't!) that yesterday's efforts put me on 99.5 - the lunchtime Lakes thrashing produced a gull like none I've seen before - though someone has! Still haven't had a 100% Mediterranean Gull at the Lakes but yesterday's bird was half way there... sadly the other half was firmly in the Black-headed camp. Educational though, if bloody annoying.

Digiscauped

Broken New Year's Resolution #17: Do not get involved in competitive listing for the second successive year.

After 365 days embroiled in hardcore (non-motorised) listing action - the TEAL Cup / BirdTrack Challenge 2011 - 2012 promised to be a tranquil sea of low-key birding. Until Chris came up with this bright idea, that is. Thanks Chris. Thris.

Anyhows, the White Nuns failed to magic up a Scaup at the Nunnery Lakes in 2011, and being a Breck-mega, this dirty female sparked a bit of excitement on 10 January. Fortunately for me (as Chris was yet to have his 'bright idea' at the time) I cycled down from home to twitch it... having been deep in the forest - motorised - looking for undisclosed raptors at an undisclosed location when the news broke ;)