Commute List - Record Broken (4 Viewers)

[halftwo]

On every journey to work, from/to Holmfirth, to or from Manchester Airport I keep a note of the birds I see or hear, to keep boredom/road rage at bay.

Usually I get about twenty-five to thirty-five species - depending on the time of day or night (I work shifts), but sometimes as many as forty.

Yesterday I broke my personal best of 41 by four! - to give a total of 45.

This morning I scored 37 - and five of those I hadn't had the previous day.

Of those 49 my best birds were:

Common Sandpiper
Common Snipe
Oystercatcher
Curlew
Little Owl
Sand Martin

These did not incude others sometimes seen on other commutes, such as:

Long-eared Owl
Short-eared Owl
Tawny Owl
Barn Owl
Common Buzzard
Raven
Golden Plover

Some seasonal and passage birds include:

Goosander
Fieldfare
Redwing
Stonechat
Wheatear

And along with a whole host of one-offs/seldoms:

Red Kite
Peregrine
Merlin
Common Tern
Mute Swan

And several others seen not infrequently:

Herring & Great black-backed Gulls
Sparrowhawk
Bullfinch
Long-tailed Tit
etc

mean that I never know which of many species might grace the journey.

It makes for an interesting commute, enlivening the 37 miles each working day.

My personal rules are:

Any bird heard or seen between my front door & workplace door.
No detours except under 50 metres - mainly to get off the road.
No prolongued stops (I generally reckon five minutes to have a scan/listen).

Anyone else do this?

 

[delia todd]

What a great way to liven up your commute H2.

I don't commute any more, but when I did on a nice day I had the sunroof open and one day heard my first Perthshire Chiffchaff (they're actually quite difficult to get inland here (or were... they getting a bit more common now)). That was a red-letter day!

My commuting days are a bit too far in the past to remember now, but maybe I could compile an overall list if I sat down and though about it. Probably wouldn't get to more than about 30 though.

 

[njlarsen]

Your one day list is almost as long as the list of breeding birds in the country I live in!

Niels

 

[halftwo]

A brilliant trip this pm - two Red Kites!

 

[halftwo]

Your one day list is almost as long as the list of breeding birds in the country I live in!

Niels

That's an eye-opener, Niels!

A tot-up of all species seen so far is at least 80.

So over half in any one journey isn't bad.

 

[halftwo]

A beautiful morning again today. Common Sandpiper visible from the road. Heron, Great-spotted Woodpecker and Bullfinch all added to the numbers - an excellent count of 41. And Red Grouse refused to show again.

I'll see if this evening's journey can top that.

 

[dave598]

Nice list I usually end up with same birds all the time with a few different ones thrown in for good measure.

 

[halftwo]

Thick fog this morning kept the numbers low: 31.

 

[halftwo]

Despite fog over the tops again this morning I managed a very reasonable 39.
Common Sandpiper and Oystercatcher heard, Snipe sitting on telegraph pole by the road, Curlew and Lapwing both obliged, and three warblers heard as I passed.
The Red Grouse have come out of hiding now too.
If only a single Rook could have shown!

 

[AmazonSupreme12]

On every journey to work, from/to Holmfirth, to or from Manchester Airport I keep a note of the birds I see or hear, to keep boredom/road rage at bay.

Usually I get about twenty-five to thirty-five species - depending on the time of day or night (I work shifts), but sometimes as many as forty.

Yesterday I broke my personal best of 41 by four! - to give a total of 45.

This morning I scored 37 - and five of those I hadn't had the previous day.

Of those 49 my best birds were:

Common Sandpiper
Common Snipe
Oystercatcher
Curlew
Little Owl
Sand Martin

These did not incude others sometimes seen on other commutes, such as:

Long-eared Owl
Short-eared Owl
Tawny Owl
Barn Owl
Common Buzzard
Raven
Golden Plover

Some seasonal and passage birds include:

Goosander
Fieldfare
Redwing
Stonechat
Wheatear

And along with a whole host of one-offs/seldoms:

Red Kite
Peregrine
Merlin
Common Tern
Mute Swan

And several others seen not infrequently:

Herring & Great black-backed Gulls
Sparrowhawk
Bullfinch
Long-tailed Tit
etc

mean that I never know which of many species might grace the journey.

It makes for an interesting commute, enlivening the 37 miles each working day.

My personal rules are:

Any bird heard or seen between my front door & workplace door.
No detours except under 50 metres - mainly to get off the road.
No prolongued stops (I generally reckon five minutes to have a scan/listen).

Anyone else do this?

WOW! I wish my day at work could be so exciting!
I only see about 20 different species...

 

[halftwo]

After several days of atrocious weather it was somewhat brighter today, which meant that there was a much better commute.

Several Buzzards - inc. three together, a Cormorant, a Grey Wagtail, two or three Reed Buntings, and highlight of the journey - a male Peregrine at Manchester Airport just before I went in.

Unlike on the way home last night at 23:30 hours - zero birds heard or seen must be another kind of record!

 

[halftwo]

Amazingly a Cuckoo was singing this morning - which took my journey total to 40.

On the way home two of the first four were new for the day - Blue Tit & Dunnock! And a Stonechat later took the day's tally to 43.

 

[RuberyBlue]

Now this is a great idea! It will encourage me to take the more relaxed country route rather than the motorway. Starting tomorrow...

 

[MK90]

What a brilliant idea. Unfortunately, my commute consists of the Victoria line and then the Jubilee line. Not sure i'll get too many on that.

 

[MK90]

Inspired by your efforts halftwo i decided to cycle to work today rather than get the miserable tube. Of the 10 or so miles, 8 of them are along canals and rivers so it was a really nice bike ride with plenty of birds.

My 'commute list' now stands at 22 with the highlights being House Martin and Sand Martin. A few common birds missing from that list so hopefully i can add them on my way home.

I'll keep you updated.

 

[halftwo]

Hi Rubery Blue & MK90.

I'm on holiday at the moment (just back from the Seychelles (honeymoon)) & still have several more days off. So no posts from my commutes for a while.

 

[halftwo]

Yesterday fairly low numbers on the way - but including at least five birds not seen or heard on my way home - and that total was 41.
If only some of those showed I would have broken the record!

Unusual birds yesterday including Common Gull - summer ending?!

 

[stuartvine]

I've got a problem with my weekly commute route; it takes me through St James's Park (London). Sadly, most of the waterfowl aren't countable!

 

[MK90]

My commute cycle take me past Walthamstow Marshes. The other day i was lucky enough to cycle right underneath the Rosefinch there, singing his heart out. Don't think i'll beat that.

 

[stuartvine]

My commute cycle take me past Walthamstow Marshes. The other day i was lucky enough to cycle right underneath the Rosefinch there, singing his heart out. Don't think i'll beat that.

Now that's pretty cool