Mr Gary B Prescott

The Biking Birder 2016 Mr Gary B Prescott

"Chris Boardman, Chris Hoy, Jason Kenny, Chris Froome, Laura Trott, Bradley Wiggins .... in 2016 one Gary Prescott attempted to add his name to this long line of illustrious British cycling champions. At sixty years old, asthmatic and (by his own admission) slightly over-weight, Gary - often simply referred to as the Biking Birder - cut a slightly surprising figure as a potential cycling record holder but what he may have lacked in physical prowess he more than compensated for in sheer will and determination and in 2016 he reached for the stars in attempting to set a new European Green Birding for the most species recorded in one calendar year." The thought of seeing 300 different birds in a year in the UK is one that many birders dream of. To achieve such by cycling over 7,000 miles from Lands End to Shetland, to see those birds, whilst challenging for the European record is an undertaking few would take on. In fact this book tells of a unique quest. Green Birding is a growing, yet vital phenomenon. Whereas most will know of a birders desire to list the birds seen, or maybe be aware of a twitcher's need to travel possibly hundreds of miles to see a lost waif, a bird far away from it's chosen migratory path, a Siberian Accentor or a Franklin's Gull; few will know that there are some birders who pursue birds through Green means. Gary details not only his remarkable journey undertaken in 2016 and how he saw over 300 bird species but also tells of people met, the places seen and fills the pages with anecdote and nostalgia. Some stories are taken from his previous Biking Birding years, those two years when Gary cycled to every RSPB and W& WT nature reserve in the UK - twice! The first in a forthcoming series, The Biking Birder Adventures, Gary will be cycling and kayaking around Peru in 2018, aiming to become the World Green Big Year record holder.