Julian, you may well be right in most of what you say. But I realy need to
pull you up on one point: I'm a pom who spent the first 30 of my 32 years in
the UK, so it isn't a cultural cringe. 'Tis true I didn't do much serious
birding there - I got so pissed off by the hordes of people that I couldn't
be bothered!
Even the remotest part of the UK sees far more people than most of Namdagi
Nationala Park, say, just an hour from Canberra. I guess there were
occasional moments of solititude over there but I found them increasingly
hard to find, which is one reason why I'm here.
cheers
Jon
-----Original Message-----
From: Julian & Fay Bielewicz <>
To: <>
Date: 11 July 2000 07:17
Subject: birding in the UK
>Tony
>
>Blow me down with a feather!!
>
>>It's not just you Jon!! I too prefer things the way they are here
>
>I'd come to expect better of you. Jon can be forgiven. He clearly has
>never been to the UK birding, or at least must have gone with his eyes and
>ears closed. I suspect he was simply repeating a trite cliche (sorry, my
>email program doesn't support accents - Pommie or otherwise). You know the
>sort of thing... Poms only bath once a week... Poms tug forelocks to
>Royalty...etc.
>
>Sure, there are the mad twitchers who chase every British rarity under the
>sun. Lee Evans reigns supreme. Or did when I was last there. But that is
>simply one end (the small end) of the spectrum. Would you describe the
>round-Australia antics of Mike Carter as atypical of Aussie birding? I
>think not. Would you describe the hordes that descended on the outskirts
of
>Bowenville (south east Queensland) to "tick" the Letter-winged Kite as
>atypical Aussie birding? And what about the Noosa Blue Rock Thrush?
>
>Please note Jon that these two episodes put the lie to your assertion that
>it would never happen here. It would. It has! Only per capita
mathematics
>keeps the sour grapes apart.
>
>Jon adds a prime piece of misguided poppycock to bolster his complaint:
>
>>Partly this is just a function of the UK generally (too
>>small and too crowded).
>
>A sweeping generalisation that convinces me Jon has never done any serious
>birding in the UK. If he can get over his rather overexposed defensive
>mechanisms (the inverse cultural cringe) he may care to sample the
>"crowdedness" of the Scottish Highlands, the Yorkshire Moors or the
>mountains of central Wales.
>
>Fay and I have returned to the UK (primarly on birding trips) on a number
of
>occasions and while we have experienced, been part of, mass twitches, we
>have also enjoyed all those quieter bird/wildlife watching activities that
>Jon seems to think do not exist in the UK. I can assure him he is wrong.
>
>I could wax lyrical about the innumerable occasions on which Fay and I were
>the only birders around. The "Swallow Moss" Black Grouse will remain with
us
>forever. The King Eider at Ythan Estuary. Three days along the Cumbrian
>Way. "Lion's Den" on Cannock Chase. Etc. No one for miles around.
Indeed,
>Fay and I have wandered through Cannock Chase (a remnant of the ancient
>Great Forest of Arden in the Midlands) for days on end without sighting
>another soul - and all on the back doorstep of "The Black Country" and
>cities such as Lichfield (great eccelsiastical architecture if you're into
>cathedrals) and Stafford.
>
>A spit and a jump from Southhampton we found the new Forest (which of
course
>is hundreds of years old) where again we chased Willow Warbler and came
>across a mere handful of other birders. At the nearby popular bird reserve
>at Arne we were in the massed company of ONE other birder when the
>delightful Dartford Warbler showed. We walked several miles of the
>Monarch's Way (Shropshire section) long-distance footpath and encountered
>three birders, a farmer's wife and glorious views of Grey Patridge. The
>list is endless.
>
>We have of course come across those who would compare chalk with cheese and
>come up with raspberry jam - mostly all over their face.
>
>Ah well, better check that Fay has the water on the hob and the tin tub
>ready for my weekly "all over" wash; would never do to allow the thinning
>forelock to get too greasy to tug properly.
>
>Julian
>
>
>
>Birding-Aus is on the Web at
>www.shc.melb.catholic.edu.au/home/birding/index.html
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>
>
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