Kev's Christmas Bird Count: Day Three - final prep (and the necessary health and safety announcements)

Up at dawn, open the curtains and, yup, fog again. Bugger.

Well, many of the various local CBC guides to be found on the internet explain that scouting days are neither compulsory nor necessary, and this was a scouting day. The last. Over the pond a good circle compiler will make sure there's always a 'local' on each team. There shouldn't be much I don't know about the south Medway by now, my tenth winter birding it nigh daily. As DIMW always said, you can't really know your local patch until you've worked it for at least seven years; that way you get to experience all sorts of conditions.

And yet I still bunk off when inclement. I'll often do the same for fog. I can afford to be a fair weather birder. But this week is all about the CBC so I really should do something this morning. Bugger.

Okay, there's a covering tide a couple of hours after dawn, the last of a run of neaps. So, a good chance of waders overnight roosting close to south shore feeding and just enough daylight to fill bellies (they scoff then rest up to digest) before the covering. They really should be loafing by their favourite spots. Won't work for wildfowl today, too many onshore shoots operating yesterday and always takes a few tides to resume preferred feeding patterns. But individual, territorial waders could be checked out. Spotted Redshanks, Greenshanks, Green and Common Sands. Quick checks. Sounds like a plan. That relies on sound.

Foggy flats are often silent. No need to call, not seeing much to get alarmed at. Took some time, but the time wasn't wasted, as my back was to the reed bed and a couple of other must-gets were confirmed on call. 

That was about as much as I could hope for in these conditions. Besides, mustn't overdo it the day before the Count.

Go easy, keep safe.

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Typical CBC Safety Guidelines (based on our Canadian CBC chums' guidebook)

- A Christmas Bird Count should be fun and enjoyable, but safety always come first.
(This is Blighty. We're not going to have snowdrifts, wolves and murderers in log cabins- the things that'd make a day fun and enjoyable. I'm ready to face the mizzle.)

- Conducting your CBC in a safe manner is your responsibility, and if have concerns about your safety, do not survey.
(Didn't the BTO once say to ringers 'the buck stops with you'? Common sense people. Let's be careful out there. And watch out for Covidiots.)

 -  Bring a charged cell phone
(What the heck is a cell phone? This Luddite still shouts and waves.)

- Tell a friend or relative where you are going and when you will return.
(One flaw. All too often when a birder says they're popping to their local patch and will be back for dinner, they end up chasing off over six county lines and get be back for dawn if lucky.. No-one ever believes a birders' hometime promise)

- Bring a first aid kit.
(Translates to drink a Lemsip before you leave and pack a spare tissue.)

- Bring more food and water than you think you will need.
(I've already stashed my emergency cache. Stockpiled choccie and crisps are at the halfway point on my allotment.)

Bring a partner!
(What? Break the habit of the past decade? I'm happiest arguing with myself nowadays.)

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Afternoon saw the start of the pre-race rituals. Laying out the layers. Filling the gadget bag. Setting the tally counters to zero. Two notebooks, two pens. Two headtorches as well. A ninety minute nap, with another planned for ten-ish tonight. Wellies in from the porch for a bit of a warm (pair of waders already at the allotment for the badly flooded paths in the gravel pit).

And of course, my tally counters. Two sets of pairs on lanyards. I'm so sad I usually count five species at once, four listed alphabetically left to right on the tally counters, fifth by memory, with maybe an odd fellow traveller or two remembered as well. Sounds mad, but it's the way I've been doing it for ten years now.

But more on counting methodologies in tomorrow's post. Right now, it's time to stop proof-reading this, finish my coffee, get out the door and start 'owling'.

Midnight. It's time. I'm out for the count.