: Countryside - A golden Opportunity.

Byline: Alan Davies

THE TENSION was electric. Only seconds to go but would the drake garganey remain in view? 7pm! Yes, garganey became our first species on our 24-hour bird race; we were off to a flying start.

Conwy RSPB reserve had much to offer - common sandpiper on the causeway, great crested grebe, shoveler, ruddy duck, tufted duck, wigeon.

Twenty minutes later and our score had raced to 30 species all from one hide on the reserve.

The idea of a bird race is to record as many species of bird in a given period (in this case we chose 24 hours) usually in a defined area. We had decided to make our race a little different as we had pre-identified a finishing point back at Conwy RSPB reserve by 7pm the following day. Our idea was that teams should have a common finishing point so we could compare scores and enjoy a hard earned drink or two.

A score of more than 100 species is considered good so that was our first target, after that any new birds would be a bonus.

South down the Conwy Valley and a quick stop near Tal-y-Cafn picks out a redshank. Llanrwst next, but no sign of the usual goosander on the river, but a peregrine flies over and we are on 46 species with only one hour gone.

Into the woods and we are relieved that there is plenty of bird song despite the cool windy evening. Pied flycatcher is added almost at once, nuthatch, spotted flycatcher, goldcrest and long-tailed tit soon follow.

On the bridge and we spot dipper and grey wagtail but again goosander eludes us.

Then it was up into the conifer forests in search of more new birds. A cuckoo calls from the top of a small birch but no crossbills and siskins can be found, and no tree pipit at its usual spot.

After we had made such a great start we had now missed several critical species. We try again for goosander on a nearby lake but there is still no chance.

As dusk falls our luck returns and we score with great views of nightjar and tawny owl. Perhaps now we can get agoosander? Another lake, another failure.

We reach Menai Bridge at 11.30pmand at Steve's house review the list and our tactics. In the last four and a half hours we have recorded 72 species.

Three hours of sleep are over in an instant and it's time to get back to the race.

A barn owl is the first bird sighted in the second half and what a beauty. We narrowly avoid a traffic accident as we meet a man driving with no lights on a narrow lane at 3.30am. Unscathed we continue our tour of Anglesey.

At 5.25am we are at Pen-y-parc woods and all four of us can hear a beautiful, fluty call ringing through the tree tops, no one speaks, then Marc breaks the news we are all thinking, that's a golden oriole. It can't be, of course, because they don't occur in Wales.

The calls continue and Tony exclaims: ``I can see it.'' Wow, a golden oriole here in Wales and on our bird race. With luck like that we can't fail and the rest of the day sees us amass a fantastic score of 136 species - a newrecord for a 24hour bird race in Wales. What a day, and that drink at Conwy RSPB at 7pm certainly tasted very sweet.

Many thanks to Steve Culley, Tony Kearney and Marc Hughes for making our bird race such a success, roll on next May when the target will be 137!

Birdline: 09068-700 249; report sightings: 0151-336 6188; website: www.uk-birding.co.uk

CAPTION(S):

IMPRESSIVE SIGHT: The barn owl figured in the bird race