The maddnes in birding

21 March 2012

Have you read the latest blog from TUB, David Lindo?  Well, he managed to hit my the nerve of my bad tooth, my hobby horse tooth, the twitcher.  I find these people to be in need of help.  A drunk or a gambler who has time off work because of their addiction would be encouraged to go and get help to get over it.  But when it is the 'harmless' birdwatching that all us birders enjoy, then that is not seen as serious problem.  But think about it ...

Did you see that show on telly about twitchers, it had Lee Evans on it too?  Well, at one point a load of guys were standing around on a dock somewhere waiting for boat so they could get over to one of the Scottish Isles to see a sand hill crane or something.  Whatever ... a lot of those guys turned their backs to the camera.  One of those who had agreed to be filmed explained that a lot of them had thrown a sickie to go up to see this bird and didn't want their bass to see them. 

But think about it a bit - how much did that crane cost Britain?  Did these men commit a criminal offence by going as they did - fraud at least?  How does it impact on family life, cost and time away from wife and kids?  That makes the whole hobby look shabby and shameful to my mind. 

It won't stop me going birding of course.  I shall still go out in my scooter with my bins and scope and see what I can find.  The chance of me finding a rarity is about zero because my ID skills are not up to scratch.  Besides, I'm happy watching coots paddling about.  I remember once speaking to the wife of David Cormack once at an introduction to birding thingy they had on at Rutland Water one time.  Anyway, David's wife, sorry I can't remember her name,                  told me of the time they had gone off a twitch to see one particular bird.  They arrive on site and started looking but got so tied up with all the other birds in the area, they completely forgot about the one they had gone to find. 

Years ago a cattle egret was spotted a few miles outside Dorktown, a first for Warwickshire.  It was our first year as birders so living only a few miles away we made our way up there to see it.  And see it we did.  I went up a couple of days later and it was still there but while I was there a guy came running up and said, "Well, where is it?"  I pointed it out.  He lifted his bins and focused; made a note of the time and was gone that quickly.  That was my first experience of a twitcher.  Late that day another guy came along and looked at it too.  Then he scanned around and finally approached me.  "Do you know how I can get to Blithfield Reservoir from here please?" he asked.  I shook my head so he spoke again, "There's a med gull there and I haven't got a med gull in Staffordshire yet so I need to get over there today, I'm back to work tomorrow."  I could help.  Two in one day ... amazing!  When I told Jan about it she nearly fell off her chair laughing.

Well, enough of my ramblings for now.  Jan thins she's feeding the whole neighbourhoods green finches on her feeder.  I don't know, every time I look out of the window I don't see any birds at all.