Just for fun

Mark 22 Comments

I’ve been at the races at Cheltenham for the last three days. My first visit to this racecourse was 26 years ago on the Wednesday (at that time, the middle day of three) of the 1994 Cheltenham festival (of racing, I gather there are other Cheltenham festivals). On that day the first race was won by an Irish horse called Danoli and the crowd went wild; hats in the air, racecards in the air and newspapers in the air (and probably some losing betting tickets too). Danoli was the 7/4 favourite for the race and I backed him at 15/8.

Since then I’ve attended at least one day of every Cheltenham festival (there wasn’t one in 2001 because of foot and mouth disease) and have watched horses, people and birds while there. I’ll write more about the people and horses some time later, but there are birds everywhere and I can’t help myself from looking at them, listening to them and identifying them.

My visits to this site started before Birdtrack was in existence, and I certainly haven’t recorded a list of birds on every visit here, but I’ve 65 complete lists and here are the 39 species I’ve ever recorded at Cheltenham raceourse (with the number of occasions they have been on my 65 lists).

Black-headed Gull 64
Carrion Crow 63
Common Gull 59
Lesser Black-backed Gull 45
Pied Wagtail 45
Robin 44
Woodpigeon 35
Herring Gull 27
Jackdaw 27
Greenfinch 18
Buzzard 17
Collared Dove 16
Rook 15
Starling 15
Blackbird 15
Dunnock 15
Magpie 11
Goldfinch 11
Skylark 10
Mallard 9
Fieldfare 7
Great Tit 6
Kestrel 5
Blue Tit 4
Cormorant 3
Raven 3
Song Thrush 3
House Sparrow 3
Chaffinch 3
Coot 2
Green Woodpecker 2
Linnet 2
Great Crested Grebe 1
Red Kite 1
Great Spotted Woodpecker 1
Waxwing 1
Swallow 1
Wren 1
Meadow Pipit 1

There aren’t many surprises in this list, I guess. It’s pretty much a list of birds you might see anywhere in southern England, from October to March, over that period at what is basically a large field, a large piece of sky to look at and a few bushes but with large crowds of people.

Considering the number of racegoers carrying binoculars, I wonder what a full list of reliably identified birds would look like. Have there been any rarer gulls that I have missed?

The Waxwings were recorded on New Year’s Day 2011 (that winter was a Waxwing winter) and the Red Kite was at the festival in 2017. The Coot and Great-crested Grebe records are from a small pond to the west of the home straight on the New course, which used to be visible from the stands but is now mostly obscured by trees and bushes. The Swallow was from a far from spring-like day in March 2012.

This year’s first three days of the festival have added another Raven to the list (the others were March and October 2011 and March 2017) but also two completely new species. I wonder whether you can guess what they were?

[registration_form]

22 Replies to “Just for fun”

    1. Trevor – thanks for having a go, I will post answers later today and not give anything away in the interim.

    1. dave – thanks for having a go, I will post answers later today and not give anything away in the interim (but Skylark is on the list)

    1. Richard – thanks for having a go, I will post answers later today and not give anything away in the interim (but both are already on the list)

  4. Glad you are enjoying it. Mind the coronavirus though. It’s good to hear a bit about a part of English life most of the conservation-minded have no connection to. More connected to the grouse shooters section of society I expect. Do you get the impression they are quite different kind of people to the bird watching posse?

  5. For a bet on rank outsiders
    Dodo and Great Auk
    as my grandfather used to say
    “You never see a bookmaker riding a bike”

  9. I’m going for long tailed tit and coal tit. Are we limited to one go? I might have a change of mind after a strong coffee!

  12. Like others I am surprised at the lack of raptors on this list so I wil go with sparrow hawk. In the belief that you are counting flyovers I will also go for common crane. Had it been a few weeks ago you mignt have seen the imm white tailed eagle that that flew South from north good over Wiltshire (a likely European bird according to Roy Dennis)

  13. My wife noticed two Mute Swans flying over the course in the televised race that wasn’t quite won by Tiger Roll.
    I wonder if Canada Goose (Geese) might be the other species.

  15. Had me coffee, some Weetabix (three) and a long think – my second guess after reading other suggestions, sneaky I know, is pheasant and sparrowhawk.

Comments are closed.