The Norfolk Bird Race!

The Norfolk Bird Race was first held in May 2015 with two teams competing against each other to try and see or hear as many bird species as possible in 24 hours. The race owes it origins to the original Big Bird Race held back in the 1980s between teams from The Flora and Fauna Preservation Society (containing Bill Oddie) and Countrylife Magazine (with David Tomlinson). This race and the subsequent book acted as inspiration for me when I read it as a teenager many years ago and in 2015 I finally got round to emulating my heroes and participating in a bird race of my own.

The race is a sponsored event in association with The Norfolk Bird and Wildlife Fair and raises money for worthwhile conservation charities and projects, which in 2015 was the BTO's House Martin Appeal.  In 2016 the race will raise funds for the wonderful Wader Quest.

Last year two teams took part, with the Norfolk Team narrowly pipping the Visitors Team to the Norfolk Bird Fair Bird Race Trophy. This year the race is back and is bigger and better with five teams competing for the prize.

The Norfolk Home Guard

Last year’s winning captain Ian Dearing has a new team this year and is strong favourite to retain the trophy. His team of seasoned birders offer experience, guile and local knowledge making them the team to beat.

Team: Ian Dearing (@IanDearing1), Chris (@LewishamBirder), Tim (@suburbanbirder) and Mark Clements (@MarkClements27)

Northern Raiders

Still smarting from last year’s narrow defeat, team captain Andrew Whitelee has brought together a crack squad of birders from the north and over the border who are keen to grab the trophy. Refusing to announce the final team until race day, do they have something cunning up their sleeve?

Squad: Andrew Whitelee (@VerdantWildlife), Penny Insole (@Dotterel4), Dave Foster (@Pratorum2112), Scott O’Hara (@Scott_OHara) and Dr Stuart Crutchfield (@stucrutchfield).

Wader Quest

This year’s chosen charity is Wader Quest, and they have entered a team into the race. Captained by Dan Bradbury who has links to the original Big Bird Race (John Burton is his boss!) they bring racing pedigree to the event with a blend of experience and youth. Definitely this year’s dark horses.

Team: Dan Bradbury (@cantdonoses), Rick and Elis Simpson (@WaderQuest) and Oliver Simms (@OSimmsBirding)

The Fellowship of the Wing

The other half of last year’s winning team, Jack Baddams has split from Ian Dearing (artistic birding differences perhaps?) and has a new team of young guns vying for the prize. Has Jack poached enough local knowledge off Ian to retain the trophy with his new team?

Team: Jack Baddams (@), Samuel Jones (@samuel_ei_jones), Joseph Monkhouse (@josephmonkhouse) and Liam Curson.

Tit Flock

Another team of Next Gen Birders, bringing youth and enthusiasm to the race. Captained by Jake Gearty, this team is a real unknown quantity – don’t back against them when it comes to race day.

Squad: Jake Gearty (@Jake_Gearty), Alex Berryman (@AlexJB497) , Drew Lyness (@DJLbirding) Michael Murphy (@MSMurphy300) and Dan McGib (@DanMcgib)

So pick a team and give them and waders your support by donating on our Just Giving page

https://crowdfunding.justgiving.com/Norfolk-Bird-Race-2016

Remember, waders need love too.

Andrew Whitelee

Wader Quest - an introduction by Rick and Elis Simpson

Wader Quest is a charity that aims to encourage more people to get involved in Community Wader Conservation projects by highlighting the need for such projects and for those that can’t get directly involved, to do so indirectly through Wader Quest.

I have been a birder nearly all my life - some 50 odd years, in that time life has become less tolerable for birds and not least among them the waders. While I have been alive 60% of the intertidal zone in the Yellow Sea has been destroyed, Lapwings have tumbled by 50% in the UK and now 48% of all known wader populations are in decline. The realisation that all is not well with the waders is a relatively new one, we watched from the sidelines as the Slender-billed Curlew slipped through our fingers, only reacting when it was too late.

Northern Lapwing 50% decline in the UK in 30 years

It was the Spoon-billed Sandpiper that brought everything into sharp focus, it became an iconic symbol of all that was, and is, going wrong and in looking at the threats which were nudging it ever closer to extinction, we realised that the same threats were also having a devastating effect on other previously common wader species.

Spoon-billed Sandpiper, Thailand.

If you were to go out into your local high street and stop 100 passers-by and ask them to name a natural environment that was being destroyed at an unsustainable rate, of those that would have the slightest notion of what you are talking about (such is the disconnect between people and the environment these days) I can almost guarantee that 100% of them would cite rainforests in one form or another.

The chronic problem that rainforest face is unrelenting, it has been going on all my life, it has been widely publicised and has been given much attention by conservationists with varying degrees of success, however the same cannot be said of the intertidal zone and other, mostly wetland habitats, upon which our favourite birds depend. For many years, these have been swallowed up piecemeal, the cumulative effect of which has been devastating and it all happened under the radar. Only now, due to one little enigmatic bird, when the problem has become acute and pivotal, has it come to our attention; hopefully though it is not too late.

It’s easy to turn people onto forest conservation, not so easy when you are trying to save mud! Photo: Elis Simpson

With the aim of widening awareness about these issues, Wader Quest devised and created, with the support of Birdwatching Magazine, the Wader Conservation November initiative. This is a series of events designed to draw attention to the plight of waders around the world and what better way to start it off than a world-wide event?

On the 7^th and 8^th of November this year we are inviting people around the world to go out and look at waders. We then ask them to let us know what they have seen. For our part we will compile a list of the waders seen around the world and participants will have their name published on the Wader Quest website in a roll of honour. They will also be entered into a Prize Daw, the prize of which is a wonderful signed Lars Jonsson wader poster and a set of Wader Quest wader pin badges.

Does it matter if you don’t see a huge number of species? Does it matter if you just see common species? Not one bit of it, a contribution containing a single abundant species is just as valid as one with several exotic species and this is because it is the taking part that is important, by doing so you are saying ‘Yes! I care!’

Spoon-billed Sandpiper, Hooded Plover  and Magellanic Plover; our three main projects so far. Photo: Elis Simpson

We also have initiated the first ever wader festivals in the UK at two locations, the Wirral Wader Festival (14^th and 15^th November) and the Wash Wader Festival (28^th and 29^th November); both are celebrations of areas of immense importance to waders in the UK and it would be fantastic to see some NGB members there to help us celebrate.

As young people you will want to believe that as you get older there will still be places such as these to celebrate, Elis and I are passionate about our waders and will continue to fight for their collective survival for as long as we can and we hope that you will also want to do the same so that, when you are our age, you will still be able to share the swirling flocks of waders and the huge high tide roosts they settle down to become with the next generation of birders that will follow behind you.

We must not let this become a thing of the past.

Becoming a Friend of Wader Quest costs just £5.00 a year; we hope that this low rate will make anyone who wants to, feel they are able to be part of our growing community of wader loving friends. Wader Quest is totally voluntary and 100% of all donations and Friends’ fees are used to assist lower budget wader conservation and research projects.

WADERS NEED LOVE TOO