98 species - 127 miles - 266k steps
Some of my earlier Foot It posts - from those heady days of early January 2026 - are frankly intoxicating. Maximum miles, maximum birds, maximum awesome… as the species per mile ratio diminishes and the targets dry up, it’s harder to motivate oneself to absolutely crush miles.
Work and family responsibility held Foot It opportunity at bay, with this afternoon my first opportunity to get out and crunch miles. The weather was beauts yesterday, but other commitments came first. I could’ve chased down Goshawk, I might have kicked out a Woodcock. Life is so cruel…
Once the morning downpour finally eased off - I left the house at 13:20, for the first time in this Foot It campaign I headed south - water bodies, the river valley and Breckland are all north of my position. But I did want to include at least one southerly march, just to cover the points of the compass… there was also the tease of having seen Red-crested Pochard on a farm reservoir at Rushbrooke back on 14th December 2015. You should’ve been there - it was so magnificent.
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| Red-crested Pochard - Rushbrooke, 14th December 2025 |
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| Red-crested Pochard - Rushbrooke, 14th December 2025 |
The southerly bearing, the drizzle, the A14 underpass, the poor visibility.
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| Walking into the drizzle |
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| Farm reservoir |
It is rare that I think something I am doing is mental - at the time - sometimes after the event, hours or even months later I’ll reflect on a life choice and think; that was mad. But I knew marching out on a driech afternoon was, mental. I knew it when I started, I knew it half way through, I knew when I got the the farm reservoir (which held no birds) and I knew it when I got about 2 miles from the house… then…
Through a gap in the hedge I saw a large bird perched on a pylon. I backed up, the large bird was actually two; two Raven perched up and looking absolutely magnificent.
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| The now hallowed pylons! You can just make out the Raven on the last pylon |
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| Record shot of Ravens |
Raven could’ve evaded me all month even all year locally, given how sporadic they are. That said, I rarely head south and it is covered in pylons! It wouldn’t surprise me if they breed on one of the pylons that way.
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