kb57
Well-known member
Day 1/31: March 01
Feeling particularly slothful one day last month, I signed up for the Prostate Cancer UK 'March for March' 11,000 step a day challenge. I stuck in £50 to show some commitment, and will proceed to hassle my friends and family for cash over the next 31 days. For once I haven't got too much work on, so it should in theory be achievable if I can maintain motivation.
To make it a bit more interesting, I've decided to do a bird list for my walks; if anyone else is signed up for the challenge, feel free to jump in on the thread and post your walk lists.
I started from my NW Durham home on a circuit of footpaths I used to walk a lot in the past, which I reckoned would get me over the line in one go. Didn't expect to see many birds as I set off uphill at a brisk pace - to far from the coast / too much ex-opencast pastureland / conifer plantations...but in the end it proved better for birds than steps, as it only turned out to be just under 6km, and gave me under 8000 steps - another walk needed this evening!
The total of 21 species in order of appearance were:
House sparrow
Robin
Great tit
Carrion crow
Blackbird
Curlew (3 heard in total on higher (>200m) parts of the route)
Chaffinch
Jackdaw
Dunnock
Woodpigeon
Blue tit
Pheasant
Bullfinch
Greenfinch
Siskin
Great spotted woodpecker (heard-only)
Willow tit (in wet woodland about 1km from my home)
Lesser redpoll (about 4 in a rural garden)
Dipper (first one I've seen for ages in the small river near my home)
Jay
Magpie
I was happy to hear the curlews back, but overall it was very quiet apart from robins in hedgerows and patches of woodland. It all kicked off in the last km or so with deciduous woodland, gardens and riparian habitat, with dipper the outstanding addition (willow tits at least I know are around). The main 'dip' was coal tit, which is one of the most common birds in my garden, and which I saw immediately on returning to the house.
Feeling particularly slothful one day last month, I signed up for the Prostate Cancer UK 'March for March' 11,000 step a day challenge. I stuck in £50 to show some commitment, and will proceed to hassle my friends and family for cash over the next 31 days. For once I haven't got too much work on, so it should in theory be achievable if I can maintain motivation.
To make it a bit more interesting, I've decided to do a bird list for my walks; if anyone else is signed up for the challenge, feel free to jump in on the thread and post your walk lists.
I started from my NW Durham home on a circuit of footpaths I used to walk a lot in the past, which I reckoned would get me over the line in one go. Didn't expect to see many birds as I set off uphill at a brisk pace - to far from the coast / too much ex-opencast pastureland / conifer plantations...but in the end it proved better for birds than steps, as it only turned out to be just under 6km, and gave me under 8000 steps - another walk needed this evening!
The total of 21 species in order of appearance were:
House sparrow
Robin
Great tit
Carrion crow
Blackbird
Curlew (3 heard in total on higher (>200m) parts of the route)
Chaffinch
Jackdaw
Dunnock
Woodpigeon
Blue tit
Pheasant
Bullfinch
Greenfinch
Siskin
Great spotted woodpecker (heard-only)
Willow tit (in wet woodland about 1km from my home)
Lesser redpoll (about 4 in a rural garden)
Dipper (first one I've seen for ages in the small river near my home)
Jay
Magpie
I was happy to hear the curlews back, but overall it was very quiet apart from robins in hedgerows and patches of woodland. It all kicked off in the last km or so with deciduous woodland, gardens and riparian habitat, with dipper the outstanding addition (willow tits at least I know are around). The main 'dip' was coal tit, which is one of the most common birds in my garden, and which I saw immediately on returning to the house.