For as long as I've been watching
birds, I've been a patch birder. Up in Scotland, patching is a force to be
reckoned with. Those in southern Scotland are prone to twitching across the
border, but for the large part the further north you go twitching tendencies,
apart from on a county level, gradually peter out. Hence in Aberdeenshire,
where I was brought up, patching is the birding culture.
This taught me, in terms of my
individual pleasure in birding, that patching is unrivalled in its emotional
and physical rewards: it puts the responsibility to eke out good species
entirely into my hands and allows me to think creatively and to feel motivated to
make individual contributions to the local birding scene and to conservation. Yet
paradoxically, patching has also routinized and limited my birding by encouraging
me to work the same old circuit incessantly and become immersed in its birds, instead
of constantly going for rares elsewhere. The beauty of the beast lies in the
sudden metamorphosis when those fruitless hours of patching deprivation turn
into unbridled euphoria, as a mixture of your creative ideas and dogged
persistence rewards you with a self-found local, regional or national scarce.
Up at the Loch of Strathbeg in Aberdeenshire, my patching haunt for over 10 years before I moved to Edinburgh last year, chancing upon decent birds was not entirely unprecedented: male Montagu’s Harrier, Pectoral Sandpiper and Green-winged Teal, for example. This was made possible simply because I had been working a top nationwide site renowned for its ability to produce Grade A rares. Expectations and standards were high and so fantastic birds on site, more so those that were twitched, retrospectively have lost some novelty. That may seem overly pessimistic, but I genuinely think that one of the best kinds of patch gold – that is patch gold you will savour for as long as you’re birding – comes from the patches that you least expect decent species to crop up in; an inland, unwatched site with limited habitat, somewhere that truly tests your birding and patching abilities. Small goals and low standards broaden the scope for surprise and great pleasure.
My Norfolk patch, which I have been
working since October 2011, fits the bill completely. When I’m in the region, I
live on and patch Costessey House
Private Estate, which is situated between the villages of Old Costessey and
Drayton on the western outskirts of Norwich. It comprises of a mix of
deciduous woodland and marshland habitat, interspersed with sparse
reed-beds and scrub. Much of the marshland is located along the Fishermen’s
Trail and Costessey Marsh, making these the main areas of interest, while the
River Wensum runs throughout the patch.
One of the most rewarding things
about it from a patching perspective is that it’s entirely private land, so I
have its beauty, its tranquillity, and its birds to myself. Because my mother’s
cottage is actually on site, I’m the only birder who can feasibly access the
area with the permission of the landowners. Thus, I’m left with the
responsibility to record everything there, which is a challenge I embrace whole-heartedly
and one which has been very gratifying thus far.
Another winning factor for me about
Costessey House Private Estate is the relatively of rarity there. The complete
privacy of the patch has allowed me to independently establish what is locally
common or scarce on site and has helped me to discover its breeding birds, its
every nook and cranny for the first time, and by doing so I have given it a
birding ‘identity’. Frankly, I’ve found this process more rewarding than any
previous long term birding I’ve done, something which has let me form a unique
bond with the area and its birds. Its limitations are made clear by the fact that
the vast majority of ducks, geese and waders are uncommon. Ironically I have
had more wader species than either of the other two families: Jack Snipe, Woodcock, Golden Plover,
Greenshank and Green
Sandpiper are the highlights
of 8 wader species recorded on site.
Wildfowl have been much harder to come by: with just Egyptian, Canada, Greylag
and Pinkfoot recorded goose-wise and Mallard, Gadwall and Teal duck-wise. Only
Mallard, Greylag and Egyptian Goose are regular. The rest are notable and have
been much enjoyed for their patch rarity. That lack of expectation for some of the
broadly common species one would simply take for granted at a stereotypically
decent coastal site, has become a novelty thanks to the patch: it gives Teal
and Pinkfoots the tribute they deserve. This owes a lot to the fact that apart
from the River Wensum, the patch is just agricultural land apart from when it floods, hence water faring species steer clear
most of the time. Herein lies the challenge that I relish: a site deprived of
many typical water birds, in which my aim is to patiently dig out locally
uncommon species and simultaneously get to know its commoner species.
The patch is accessible through Mill
Lane, which runs all the way to Costessey Marsh. The cottages, where the patch
starts, are based around a barn and some paddocks which hold up to 3 Little
Owls during the summer and are viewable from the comfort of the living room.
Owls are definitely one of the patch’s consistent strong points, with all 3 of
the regular species available. Barn Owl is easy over Costessey Marsh and
near to the cottage at Mill Meadow. Both species occasionally appear on the
front lawn.
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| Little Owl in the front garden |
Costessey Marsh is the largest and most productive area of habitat
on site, consisting of low lying boggy marshland, and a line of deciduous woodland
and reeds at the back. Breeding species here include 6 pairs of Reed Bunting and several pairs of Sedge Warbler in the summer. A pair of Hobby
hawk over here very regularly until September, providing a dose of real quality
to summer patching. Flooded conditions regularly produces Little Egret and Snipe on the marsh, with up to 50 of the latter noted here in
April 2013, and has also heralded Water Rail and a Peregrine. Most
notably however, the marsh was lucky enough to hold a Bittern and to have 6 Cranes
flying over in February 2013. These two species, well off the radar, really got
the adrenaline pumping and have gone down as the best birds that the patch has
ever produced; very much testimony to the range of species that this small bit
of land can offer and to that unique, unadulterated gratification and satisfaction
that patching can give you.
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| 6 Cranes in Feb 2013 |
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| Bittern in Feb 2013 |
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| Costessey Marsh in the summer (+ pair of hunting Barn Owl) |
Fishermen’s Trail can also be productive; a small path running
alongside the River Wensum opposite a patch of reeds and scrub which have occasionally
held Cetti’s, Grasshopper and Reed
Warblers and Lesser
Whitethroat. It is far more reliable for breeding Kingfisher, Grey Wagtail and Otter. Mill Field is more conditions dependent, but is susceptible to flooding
and can produce very good numbers of Larus when this happens. This has
included a major patch highlight in the form of an adult Yellow-legged Gull in
July 2012. The varied cover throughout the patch has held 10 warbler
species – 6 of which breed on site – and passerines such as Spotted Flycatcher, Brambling and Common Crossbill. There is no reason
why species such as Cuckoo and Redstart cannot crop up in these areas in the
future.
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| Fishermen’s Trail |
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| a marvellous michahellis on Mill Field |
I've managed exactly 100 species in just over two years of sporadically
working this random, untouched patch of private land, accessible simply through
walking out the front door. Yet there’s still species such as Redshank and
Shelduck that elude me, but will bring much satisfaction when I finally
connect. Costessey H.P.E. is by absolutely no means a Strathbeg or a Rutland
Water. It is not even a reserve nor a birding
site, yet it still covers all my
desired birding bases: the challenges of patching, the adrenaline of the find, immersion
in the elements, getting to know the specific movements of the breeding species,
record collation, that sense of release from the strains of everyday life, and realising
the foundation that birds have within me. It is also a home, quite literally. For
that reason, Costessey House Private Estate has transcended the objectivity of
this hobby for me; it has helped me realise that patching is inherent within me.
And I’m especially glad to say that for many of us involved in Next Generation
Birders patching has become a mode of life and a source of great birding
inspiration and joy; long may that continue, I hope, among the future
generations of young birders.
For more information and accounts from Costessey House Private Estate,
see here.
-Joseph Nichols
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