CHEEP THRILLS

With over 80 recognised sites, North Norfolk is practically one enormous bird reserve. Rob Ainsley rides Britain's best route for seeing them, whether you're expert twitcher, bird-curious, or just want a good ride...

- Rob Ainsley

Birds? They were all the same to me. I couldn't tell a lapwing from a peewit, or a green plover from a pyewipe. (For good reason: they are all the same.) So: there are bird spotters (aka 'birders' or perhaps 'twitchers') and there are bird watchers. They're different, just like Strava nerds are different from cafe/ cake trundlers. Birders keep lists, tables and stats, and travel miles to bag a new species. They wear woolly hats and carry binoculars and flasks. Whereas watchers like, well, watching birds. It's not about trophy lists; it's the nature-vibe, the tranquillity and birdsong, the ambience. They wear woolly hats and carry binoculars and flasks.

Well, now I'm a watcher, with binoculars in my panniers, just like I'm a cafe/cake trundler. My birds epiphany came at a gravel pit in East Yorkshire. I cycle regularly from York to Hull; en route there's North Cave's nature reserve, with a bird hide. It's become my regular stop-off: toilet, shelter, picnic tables, burger van - and birds, doing birdy things on the ponds and pools. Watching them is a treat, a meditative, relaxing wind-down.

But it's had me wondering what the best ride in Britain for seeing birds might be. I canvassed knowledgeable friends. Rutland Water (ospreys!), Mull (eagles!), Anglesey (puffins!), Bridlington (puffins again!), Northumbria (more puffins!) and Minsmere (no puffins! but lots else) all came up. But one area stood out: North Norfolk. The ideal combination for birding and biking, my friend Tony suggested. He knows as he lives there, having moved for those two reasons.