Day 5 of 30 days wild in Hedge End

On day 5 I went to the cricket. Hampshire lost to Essex by the way.

I remembered a column in The Times by Simon Barnes. Mr Barnes was that paper's correspondent for both sport and countryside matters. He is also the author of  How to Be a Bad Birdwatcher, a book I find it easy to relate to.

In his Times column, Mr Barnes wrote how he liked to combine his duties reporting on sporting events with his interest in birds by keeping a list of species seen at Wembley, Badminton or more exotic sporting venues. So I thought I would do the same at the home of Hampshire cricket.

The only bird I saw land on the pitch was a pied wagtail. There was a domestic pigeon resting in the roof of the Colin Ingleby-Mackenzie stand, and a small flock of domestic or feral pigeons flying about. Other birds seen on the wing were a starling, a carrion crow, a black headed gull and three herring gulls.

In total six species, or one for every hundred runs scored in the course of the one day match.