The Great Ayrshire Bird Race 2004
A record six teams assembled at Angus and Mary Hogg's house in Crosshill to do battle for the coveted Sri Lanka Trophy in the 2004 Ayrshire Bird Race. The stated purpose of this nonsense is to zoom around the county trying to spot as many bird species as possible before returning to Crosshill at 4.30pm. The weather forecast promised strong winds and heavy rain, but fortunately the atmosphere hadn't read this and we were treated to a reasonably calm and dry day's birding.
Typically, all the teams were keeping their strategies and routes to themselves. However, in what is obviously a sign of the increasing seriousness of the competition, some of the teams dropped their previous years' strategy of spending a couple of hours in the Ship Inn in favour of sandwiches in the car as they desperately drive for the next tick. Would this cause an upset when the final scores were tallied? Only time would tell.
Many of the teams had the same members as in previous years, but there were noticeable defections as people dropped dead weight, e.g. why are people so desperate to get out of Angus's team? The defending champions decided that because their Spotter-in-Chief was 7 months pregnant they would take a more sedate approach and go for quality rather than quantity.
The Cumnock Boys, newcomers to the competition and obviously keen to make an early impression, were away before the Starter could pull the trigger. The other teams participated in the now traditional planting of disinformation, questioning of other teams' parentage and letting down their tyres. But then we were off!
Unlike previous years' races, this year there was a dearth of special birds to contrast the usual fare. This year we have no Snowy Egret, American Wigeon or Glaucous Gull. Instead it would be a matter of getting our bread-and-butter birds and so the chances of a high species count looked very much in doubt. As is common on Bird Races, every team had some bogey birds that just wouldn't appear, e.g. Goldfinch, Long-tailed Tit or even House Sparrow! Some teams did stoop to suggesting that some birds (such as Shewalton's Long-tailed Duck) had been scared off by earlier teams — a suggestion we treat with derision (although Dave's aim has improved…).
With darkness we all returned to Crosshill (taking care not to incur the late penalty). First order of business was winding up the other teams, closely followed by a concerted attack on the mountain of wonderful food that Mary Hogg had prepared. Then the serious business of comparing lists accompanied by the usual derisive statements and howls of incredulity. However, after several recounts the final results were published (with their species count in parentheses):
- Dave and Julie Grant, and Kevin Waite (96)
- Bill McKechnie, Mike Howes and Jim McGrady (92)
- Angus Hogg, Dick Vernon and Eleanor Forrester (88)
- Tony Scott, Ronnie Coombes and Jim Thomson (75)
- Robin Turner, Joan Strachan and Mark Ruggeri (69)
- Brian Lennox (and son), Ronnie Bryce and Sandy Martin (50)
The defending champions had succeeded in retaining the trophy! There was lots of discussion over failed strategies and how things would be different next year, but general shock that last year's surprise winners had shown this was no fluke and that a team led by a pregnant woman could beat the County's best birders:-)
The total cumulative number of species seen was 112, which given the time of year is a superb tally for Ayrshire and the best yet on a Bird Race. Highlights included Pintail, Peregrine, Water Pipit, Kingfisher, Long-tailed Duck, Brent Goose, Iceland Gull, Whooper Swan, and all three Diver species.
The Winning Team
The Newcomers Award
Everyone thought the whole event a great success, building on the successes of previous years. Our thanks go especially to Mary Hogg for preparing the superb post-race buffet which despite our best efforts we couldn't finish!
Cumulative List of Species
The cumulative list of species seen by all the teams is given below. The number of teams that saw the species is shown in brackets.
- Red-throated Diver (5)
- Black-throated Diver (2)
- Great Northern Diver (1)
- Little Grebe (6)
- Great Crested Grebe (3)
- Fulmar (3)
- Cormorant (6)
- Shag (6)
- Grey Heron (6)
- Mute Swan (6)
- Whooper Swan (5)
- Greylag Goose (5)
- Canada Goose (3)
- Brent Goose (5)
- Shelduck (6)
- Wigeon (6)
- Teal (6)
- Mallard (6)
- Pintail (3)
- Pochard (6)
- Tufted Duck (6)
- Scaup (1)
- Eider (6)
- Long-tailed Duck (2)
- Common Scoter (3)
- Goldeneye (6)
- Red-breasted Merganser (5)
- Goosander (6)
- Sparrowhawk (4)
- Buzzard (5)
- Kestrel (6)
- Peregrine (2)
- Red Grouse (2)
- Red-legged Partridge (2)
- Pheasant (6)
- Water Rail (1)
- Moorhen (6)
- Coot (6)
- Oystercatcher (6)
- Ringed Plover (6)
- Golden Plover (2)
- Lapwing (6)
- Knot (3)
- Sanderling (3)
- Purple Sandpiper (5)
- Dunlin (6)
- Jack Snipe (1)
- Snipe (4)
- Bar-tailed Godwit (4)
- Curlew (6)
- Redshank (6)
- Greenshank (1)
- Turnstone (6)
- Black-headed Gull (6)
- Common Gull (6)
- Lesser Black-backed Gull (3)
- Herring Gull (6)
- Iceland Gull (4)
- Greater Black-backed Gull (6)
- Kittiwake (2)
- Guillemot (3)
- Razorbill (4)
- Black Guillemot (4)
- Puffin (1)
- Rock Dove (6)
- Stock Dove (4)
- Woodpigeon (6)
- Collared Dove (6)
- Kingfisher (1)
- Great Spotted Woodpecker (2)
- Skylark (4)
- Meadow Pipit (4)
- Rock Pipit (5)
- Water Pipit (1)
- Grey Wagtail (2)
- Pied Wagtail (6)
- Dipper (3)
- Wren (5)
- Dunnock (4)
- Robin (6)
- Stonechat (4)
- Blackbird (6)
- Fieldfare (6)
- Song Thrush (4)
- Redwing (4)
- Mistle Thrush (5)
- Blackcap (1)
- Goldcrest (5)
- Long-tailed Tit (2)
- Coal Tit (5)
- Blue Tit (6)
- Great Tit (6)
- Treecreeper (4)
- Jay (3)
- Magpie (6)
- Jackdaw (6)
- Rook (6)
- Carrion Crow (6)
- Hooded Crow (1)
- Raven (4)
- Starling (6)
- House Sparrow (5)
- Tree Sparrow (1)
- Chaffinch (6)
- Greenfinch (6)
- Goldfinch (5)
- Siskin (3)
- Linnet (3)
- Twite (2)
- Bullfinch (4)
- Yellowhammer (5)
- Reed Bunting (2)