Mole Valley Bird Race

I met Ian Jones at a suitably ridiculous hour for the sixth annual Mole Valley Bird Race. As always, pre-dawn on Leith Hill was the plan but a stupid navigational error knocked us back up to 20 minutes and to our horror it was fairly light as we arrived on Duke's Warren to a chorus of at least three Cuckoos, including a female. After an anxious few minutes, a Nightjar churred but we were too late for Woodcock and had missed Woodlark too. A circuit of the heath and the wooded valley to the west added singing Redstart, Willow Warbler and Whitethroat, as well as Stonechat and Siskin. At least three Garden Warblers were in song and we heard a small number of Treecreepers in the woods, as well as a Nuthatch, which can be tricky to locate at this time of year. Juvenile Long-tailed Tits and Robin were my first of the year.

Buckland Sand Pits provided three drake Mandarins, a Sparrowhawk mobbed by a Mistle Thrush, three Egyptian Geese, a Reed Warbler, two Lapwings, a Red Kite, a few Buzzards, a Kestrel, a Pied Wagtail, six Tufted Ducks, Grey Heron, Garden Warbler, two Little Grebes and three Great Crested Grebes, a few Swifts, a Lesser Black-backed Gull, and best of all perhaps 60 Sand Martins which had suddenly taken a liking to one of the cliff faces and were busying around their nest holes. Much smaller numbers of House Martins and Swallows were also around.  At this point we were joined by Darragh Culley for a few hours.

Sand Martin at Buckland Park Pit

drake Mandarins at Buckland Sand Pits

At Betchworth Quarry Ian spotted the old female Peregrine loafing on the grass.

Along the River Mole behind the Dorking Wyevale garden centre, we found a Grey Wagtail with food, plus a Kestrel and two Buzzards.

Leatherhead offered a Black-headed Gull - always a valuable species for this race. Also a brood of five Mute Swans, Grey and Pied Wagtails and a Grey Heron.

Mickleham produced Kingfisher and Little Egret (three) for our day's total, as well as Red Kite, two Buzzards and Green and Great Spotted Woodpeckers.

Juniper Bottom was extremely quiet, with Sparrowhawk, two Buzzards, a Kestrel and a Green Woodpecker noted.

Denbies Wine Estate was twitched, yes twitched, for Starling! Far more interesting was the apparent House Martin colony.

Darragh left us and Ian and I headed towards Leith Hill again. We stopped at Chadhurst Farm, adding Red-legged Partridge and noting few birds of any note at all beyond Pied Wagtail, Swallow, Canada Goose, Greylag and Buzzard.

At Leith Hill again, this time we tracked down a pair of Dartford Warblers and heard/saw a Woodlark in spectacular song flight. Sadly, Tree Pipits are not present on the hill this year but it is great to see Dartfords and Stonechats breeding on site again.

At Newdigate Lakes early evening, we had a pair of Mute Swans with seven young, 10 Tufted Ducks, Little Grebe, Kestrel, Reed Warbler, Pied Wagtail, Red Kite, Grey Heron, Red-legged Partridge, a few Swifts, Greylags etc, while Reed Bunting was added to the day list.

Mute Swans at Newdigate Lakes

Our failure was protracted last thing at Capel where we didn't hear Nightingale, but did hear a Reed Bunting and young Great Spotted Woodpeckers.

My worst-ever Mole Valley Bird Race, my team finishing last on 76 species.

Mole Valley Bird Race

That special diary date came around once more, the annual battle for the coveted MVBR trophy. This year the Nightingales of Laughter comprised just me and Ian J, a MVBR first-timer. We started ridiculously early, climbing up Leith Hill in the darkness for the classic suite of pre-dawn heathland songsters. The choir was a couple short this time, with no Tree Pipit or Woodlark in foggy conditions, but it was magical to hear at least three of both Woodcock and Nightjar, as well as a brief burst of Redstart song and a minimum of five Tawny Owls and three male Cuckoos battling for airtime. Once it was vaguely light we proceeded to walk through some of the woodland on site, adding a singing Marsh Tit and a few Treecreepers. Small numbers of Garden Warbler, Willow Warbler and Whitethroat were in voice and a Hawfinch provided a welcome bonus as it ticked above the canopy (although it didn't count towards the race total as Ian didn't hear it). Two Greylags were notable for the site. Driving towards Capel, the craziest encounter of the whole day ensued as a Barnacle Goose flew from Broom Hall Lake with two Canada Geese! A Red-legged Partridge narrowly escaped becoming an RTA but was nice to get on the day list early.

Next up was Capel, where we heard a distant Nightingale singing, as well as three Garden Warblers, and a Cormorant flew over. On the drive out of here near Beare Green, our only Red Kite of the day flew over the main road. Newdigate Lakes, our next venue, always makes for some pleasant birding and the sound of Reed Buntings and Reed Warblers was uplifting both for our spirits and race total. A Yellowhammer sang from an adjacent field and a Sand Martin was seen with a mixed frenzy of House Martins, Swallows and Swifts. Two Little Grebes and 18 Tufted Ducks were counted but we made a hasty retreat when loud machinery made the birding a grating experience.

At Buckland Sand Pits, Ian M served as our guide for a couple of hours. Here we added a Raven, a pair of Grey Wagtails, three Egyptian Geese. Grilling the over-flying gulls paid off with singles of Black-headed and Lesser Black-backed - important day ticks. Seven Sand Martins, a Garden Warbler and a Reed Bunting added to our site tally, while a Grey Heron, two Mistle Thrushes and seven Great Crested Grebes were new for the day. Crossing the road, Lawrence Lane hosted another Yellowhammer and two Red-legged Partridges of note. A short visit to Betchworth Quarry only added a Nuthatch but this turned out to be the only example we saw all day!

Raven at Buckland

Grey Wagtail and Egyptian Geese at Buckland

The weather had closed in by now and was rather damp and miserable so getting to 80 species was looking like a struggle, with passerine activity dulled down. A stroll along the River Mole just south of Leatherhead produced a Little Egret and yet another Yellowhammer (we struggled with this species last year!). After this, we returned to Leith Hill via a blank stop at Friday Street pond (where we hoped to find Mandarin). Searching the Rhododenron Wood and a couple of the car parks, eventually we found a singing Firecrest. A return to Newdigate Lakes seemed fruitless but our two target species showed up at the eleventh hour, a pair of Common Terns passing us, followed by a Hobby which took a break in a nearby tree. Things were looking up. We felt that, considering the weather, we were probably doing well and, now on 80 species, were hoping to add a couple more in the final couple of hours. At Parkgate, it was satisfying to track down a Lapwing, a bird we missed last year, and here we saw another pair of Mistle Thrushes. We were still missing Kingfisher and the most productive thing we could think of doing in the final hour before the 20:00 finishing line was to drive to Brockham and hope that one flew along the Mole. Alas, that did not happen but we enjoyed watching a pair of Grey Wagtails.

Feeling cautiously confident as contenders for the trophy, we entered the pub at 20:00 with the feeling of a job done well, given the challenging weather. It was a bit of a knock down, therefore, to hear team 'Linnet to Win It' once again claimed top prize with 89 species, some eight more than us. A damn fine effort on their part. It seems a strong 90+ total is necessary for any hope of pipping these guys, and some detailed planning for next year's race...