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
To unsubscribe from this mailing list, send the message
"unsubscribe birding-aus" (no quotes, no Subject line)
to
|
