Tuesday 2 June 2015

One! Point?

Well, here goes; a slight spleen ventilation follows. I have been birding 'seriously' for nine years, next to no time compared with many others but we all have to start at some time. In the near-decade that followed my initial scope / bins / Birdguides expenditure, I have developed a reasonable grasp of the politics in upper and lower cased letters. An aspect of this great pursuit that still frustrates immensely is the often lack of detail on web-based facilities that are surely intended to assist the viewer to see what's about and then act, or not. I realise that each service provider may gather intelligence from others, and so the detail in their notification is only as good as that which was provided originally. The onus must, therefore, be on the submitter to be specific. Birds do move (unless it's the B-w P at Bothal who has clearly been watching those street statue artists in Amsterdam's Dam Square!) and so there may be nowt to gain by stating the quarry is '...in the 3rd bush from the left if viewing from the gate' etc. But it's a good start. Let me decide if I want to watch an empty bush, don't decide for me; after all, it's my time I'm wasting! The opposite end of the spectrum of an almost worthless 'one today' or similar is equally futile, especially if the area is substantial, such as Holy Island or Cramlington. Whilst there may have been a Honey Buzzard over Cramlington yesterday morning, give those who may want to go and see if it's going to repeat the journey a chance to have a look by adding some value; my town's a big place! The Black Kite of May 2013 returned to Wessie H twice after the initial sighting and to keep the Bothal thread running, the G-b Tern came back once more (as those who were waiting on night no. 3 will vouch). The rantings of this mad man will not change anything, but the cathartic aspect of this narrative has benefited me enormously. Thanks for reading this far.

3 comments:

  1. Speen relieved, i trust. Man from Liverpool speak sense. Unbelievably for one from north west.

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  2. I sympathise with your rant. My problem is that the rare birds always seem to turn up when I am occupied elsewhere. I tried for the BWP this morning having just returned from Devon, but understand that it did a bunk with some Lapwings at 07:30 yesterday.

    I have just retired and, in theory, have more scope (pardon the pun) for chasing after sightings. When I think of my best birdwatching days they do not involve seeing the unusual; they are the days filled with sightings of the familiar. As I continue to be the worlds worst twitcher, perhaps I should stop looking at the Bird Forum altogether and just enjoy whatever turns up.

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  3. Oh such an old git and such a youngster. When I started twitching rather than just observing in 1998 the internet was just coming to the fore but subject to the observer the time lag between finding and reporting was still one to three days. Previous to that remember if you were not part of the inner sanctum and got a phone call from your mate it would be one month or more before you would know of any rarity via the bird club report.

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