A green twitching A-Z

With birding by bike dominating my spare time over the last four years, I thought I should follow up my last post with a 'green' birding equivalent: an A-Z of the best birds seen travelling under my own steam. Quality of the photos was a criteria in the 'brown' version but I'm afraid I don't have that luxury for this one! 

We start, with indisputable logic, with the letter 'A': an Alpine Swift at Old Harry Rocks in May 2022, which took two attempts to catch up with, was a strong contender, as was an 'in the hand' Aquatic Warbler at Lytchett Bay in August of the same year, at which I arrived quicker than several local birders who drove. But anything with 'American' in the name is a mega for this bike list: American Golden Plover at Lodmoor in 2023 was a good option - but not as good as this drake American Wigeon at Keyhaven in December 2022 - chosen in part for the effort required to see it - a 69-mile round trip in mid-winter.

B: Black-winged Stilt was the first species which tempted me to break the new ground of twitching Weymouth by bike in April 2021 but that journey is a bit more common place these days. A self-found Bee-eater in September 2022, heard calling over a local heathland whilst I twitched a Wryneck found by James Leaver, might have made it but for the fact that I never managed a photo, whilst the West Bay Barred Warbler (a 70 mile journey, and the second most westerly location I have reached by bike) was also a strong candidate. A Lodmoor Bonaparte's Gull which involved cycling into the teeth of a southwesterly gale was another contender but my first choice is the Black Guillemot just over the border in Hampshire in July 2021, twitched on a school night in a heatwave - a 57-mile epic which ended with me locating the bird after a tense search racing against a setting sun, and cycling home along Bournemouth seafront in the dark.

C. Citrine Wagtail is probably my rarest option here (Lodmoor, September 2022), and my first West Bexington Cirl Bunting (December 2021) would have been in with a shout had not the spread of this species across Dorset made them an easier target these days, But for the combination of rarity and distance I'm going with the Stanpit Caspian Tern from July 2022 - it took two attempts but on the second I doubled up with another bike-mega the same evening (see 'L' below).

D. A Durlston Dusky Warbler is the only national rarity candidate here, but rarity is all relative for the bike list and there are two other candidates: a St Aldhelm's Head Dotterel in April 2023, successfully twitched from home in a mad dash having dipped Black-winged Stilt earlier that morning at Lodmoor and getting the train home from Weymouth; and Dipper, normally confined to the most westerly parts of Dorset, and always requiring a fair bit of effort. The first time I twitched Dipper by bike was in Lyme Regis in June 2021 - at 88.54 miles it remains my longest bike journey to date, during which I clocked what is still my fastest speed (36.91 mph), highest elevation (945 feet) and most elevation gain (7,710 feet) in a single journey. I also added the county of Devon to the bike list that day - so it has to be the Dipper!

E: on the same day I twitched the Dipper in Lyme Regis I also added Eider to the bike list - a long staying bird in the harbour there. While that was apretty good, Bubo reliably informs me that the correct name for Red-rumped Swallow is 'European Red-rumped Swallow' so I'm going to go for that. I made an early start one morning in April 2021 to meet Phil Saunders at St Aldhelm's Head hoping he would find something good, and sure enough, after we met up with Steve Smith I heard them call the Red-rumped Swallow as it came in off the sea. It perched briefly on a fence along the clifftop - still one of the best moments of my birding by bike career to date.

F: Two main protagonists here: the returning Ferruginous Duck in the Blashford Lakes complex which I saw on a monster day in December 2021 - a last gasp, 70-mile marathon which added 3 species to the year-list, ending in a Hawfinch at dusk in the New Forset. But rarity trumps effort on this occasion: the Forster's Tern at Lytchett Bay in April 2023 (and later that year at Arne) wasn't far from home at all and is still one of the rarest birds on my non-motorised list.

G: No mega-rarities to choose from but several based on effort: a New Forest Great Grey Shrike in February 2023 (my second longest bike twitch at 80 miles) and a Stanpit Green-winged Teal, also in February 2023 (seen at the second attempt). However, more memorable than either of these was an elusive Glaucous Gull in Poole in April 2021 - I saw this at the third attempt spanning a period of several weeks and 70+ miles of cycling in total in all weathers, including snow!

H: The New Forest Hawfinch mentioned above would have been my choice for 'H' but for a very obliging Hoopoe at Lytchett Bay allotments in October 2021. I was half way to Portland on what would probably have been a fruitless search for a Caspian Gull when news of this bird, and a spoke on my bike, broke at about the same time. I returned home, swapped bikes and high tailed it to Lychett where my hi-viz caused much mirth among the khaki-clad locals. 

I: Not a lot of choice here - just one species in fact: an Iceland Gull, twitched at Lodmoor after supporting my son at an interminably long tennis match - definitely a day for whites! It was a good year for Iceland Gulls with several long-staying birds in Weymouth, and although I saw this species again in 2022 I'm still waiting for one to appear in 2024...

J: Again, not exactly spoilt for choice here, but it's not easy to see a Jack Snipe at the best of times, but I've booted a few up around the Swineham patch over the years so that will have to do.

K: Kittiwake: the dearth of options continues as we approach the mid-point of the alphabet, but, again the rarity of a species is all relative for the biking-birder, and for those of us some distance from the open sea, Kittiwake is a always a bit of a treat. I first added this species to the bike list in 2021 on a trip to Blackers Hole just along the Purbeck coast from the Puffin colony at Dancing Ledge, but now see them every year on regular trips to Portland Bill.

L: Two American species in the frame for 'L': the Lesser Yellowlegs which I saw off Keyhaven in Hampshire in July 2022 after successfully twitching Caspian Tern at Stanpit and a somewhat closer Long-billed Dowitcher in Poole Park which I was able to walk to when we lived nearby. But neither of those gave me as much pleasure as the long-staying Little Auk in Weymouth Harbour in November 2021 - first twitched on a very early start before work I enjoyed it so much that I went back for seconds on the weekend!

M: a singing Melodious Warbler at Middlebere in June 2021 and my first Marsh Sandpiper in a couple of decades at Keyhaven earlier this year, 72 miles to the east, would have been worthy selections for the letter 'M' but I'm going for the singing male Marsh Warbler which I found myself at Bestwall during the lockdown period at the end of May 2020 - this bird gave a lot of people some pleasure at a strange time in all of our lives.

N: Back to a relative paucity of options but I saw not one but two Night Herons at Iford Bridge in April last year after an early start which saw me then heading north to Blashford Lakes to dip a Ring-necked Duck. The Night Heron showed nicely though, and a Scaup at the latter location was some consolation.

O: Again, not exactly spoilt for choice, Osprey or Oystercatcher being my only options. Osprey it is then. This one was at Morden Bog in 2020.

P: Pomarine Skua was a bike tick for me this year but I didn't manage a photo as I was viewing through a telescope. My annual pilgrimage to see Puffin at Dancing Ledge made that a candidate, and I've see a few Pectoral Sandpipers including one I found myself at Swineham. But the Pallas's Warbler I twitched at Durlton in November 2021, a year when everything I went for seemed to fall in my place, is my best option for the letter 'P'.

Q: Quail: not a lot of choice here - but still a good bird to see in Dorset, or to see anywhere in fact. This one was seen in June 2021, a good year for them around Tarrant Keynston.

R: a few Red-backed Shrikes (at Portland, St Aldhelm's Head and Lytchett Bay) to choose from, plus a Red-necked Phalarope above Abbotsbury and a Red-footed Falcon on Wareham Water Meadows. But it comes down to two 'Red-breased' species, both of which were bike ticks in 2024: Flycatcher on Portland and Goose at Keyhaven. Both lovely species but the latter one of my favourites, and it took a 70+ mile slog to see it, so the Goose gets it!

S: plenty of choice under 'S' from a storm blown Sabine's Gull in Chesil Cove, a couple of Surf Scoter at Keyhaven and Studland, and a Shore Lark at Hurst Spit in Hampshire - a long, chilly but successful winter twitch in January 2023. But for rarity value alone, and as it was one of my first twitches by bike, I'm going for the Short-toed Eagle which started its tour of southern England at Morden Bog, just 4 miles away, in May 2014.

T: A couple of Temminck's Stint on the patch wouldn't have been a bad option, including one I found myself, but for effort and rarity the Cogden Tawny Pipit in May 2021 edges it - 66 miles in a SW gale was quite a struggle, though it was a bit easier on the way back!

V: Velvet Scoter: my first Velvet Scoter by bike were at Studland in my record year of 2021, but a much closer one graced Longham Lakes earlier this year - it took me two attempts, before and after work on the same day to see it, 56 miles in total - but well worth it to get such close views of a normally distant species.

W: spoilt for choice again as we approach the end of the alphabet with Waxwing at Upton, White-rumped Sandpiper at Ferrybridge, White-winged Tern at Blashford Lakes, several Wrynecks and a couple of Woodchats making the short-list. Wood Warbler wasn't a bad option, being the only bird which has taken me over the border into Wiltshire - sadly as a result of their extirpation from Dorset and rapid decline in the New Forest. But for star quality, the Upton Waxwings from earlier in the year would be difficult to beat.

Y: Not much competition here: my first Yellow-browed Warbler by bike was in Bridport in March 2022 - a huge 77.79 miles lung-buster which started with a Dipper in Maiden Newton, saw me clock my second fastest time of 36.86mph dropping down into Brid, and ended with a Red-necked Grebe in Portland Harbour before the last 20 gruelling miles back to Wareham. 

I have nothing to offer for the letters U, X and Z I'm afraid (without dipping into scientific names) so that's the 'green' A-Z - at least until that Upland Sandpiper or Zitting Cisticola turn up on Portland...