About Me
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This website and blog are about my love of birds and wildlife so hopefully through it you’ll get a picture of me!
Aside from my hobby I am a family man, married to Kathy with three grown-up children all of whom have so far steered clear of my hobby! They express reserved interest at my ornithological antics and only really share my enthusiasm in special moments such as seeing vultures overhead while canoeing the Gorges du Verdon in France or watching bright blue and green Rollers on wires along a French lane. Most of the time I am based in St Albans in Hertfordshire so my local birding is very much land-locked birding, targeting the many gravel pits and wider farmland around St Albans. Since the national lockdowns of 2020-21 in relation to coronavirus my garden too has become a focal point and a remarkably productive one as far as birds are concerned. |
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About My Hobby
I am essentially a birdwatcher but prefer to call myself a birder. ‘Birding’ is more all-encompassing – including, for instance, the fact that I listen for birds as well as watch for them. Within the hobby too, birding distinguishes me from the non-hobbyist ‘bird-spotter’ whose interest is only occasionally piqued when visiting a nature reserve or perhaps when a bird they don’t recognise lands on their lawn.
Birding is proactive – I will specifically go out regularly looking for birds, recording what I see and hear, keeping lists and submitting records to county recorders. It is a ‘proper hobby’ with kit (binoculars, telescopes, sound recorders & cameras) and what I do when I go to my metaphorical ‘shed’!
Like many birders, I will occasionally stray into that fraught world of ‘twitching’ where a newly arrived rarity is targeted in the hope of seeing it before it continues on its journey. However, this is rare and while I enjoy such moments cannot justify regularly (almost daily at some times of the year) traversing the country to find new birds to add to my ‘Life List’.
My hobby has and always will be about the birds (and wildlife) local to me. Above all else, in recent years, the birds present in and flying over my garden. Beyond that I have had ‘local patches’ and most recently targeted a 5 mile radius from home that takes in all the regular walks I do. My annual target is to record 150 species in the year within this radius and finally, in 2023, I achieved this!
Local also means ‘local to me’ so wherever I am I will be birding – Cornwall, Scotland, France and so on. I take great pleasure in connecting with both the local wildlife of different areas and other wildlife enthusiasts, sharing the commonalities and differences between respective patches.
I keep lists and enter records (at least the more notable ones) on local bird club databases. Making lists I enjoy in and of itself but over the years I have disciplined myself to make sure some of these make it into the official archives through County Recorders. This data can be very valuable in helping others – eg planning authorities – make informed decisions and potentially saving wildlife from unwitting extinction.
Birding is proactive – I will specifically go out regularly looking for birds, recording what I see and hear, keeping lists and submitting records to county recorders. It is a ‘proper hobby’ with kit (binoculars, telescopes, sound recorders & cameras) and what I do when I go to my metaphorical ‘shed’!
Like many birders, I will occasionally stray into that fraught world of ‘twitching’ where a newly arrived rarity is targeted in the hope of seeing it before it continues on its journey. However, this is rare and while I enjoy such moments cannot justify regularly (almost daily at some times of the year) traversing the country to find new birds to add to my ‘Life List’.
My hobby has and always will be about the birds (and wildlife) local to me. Above all else, in recent years, the birds present in and flying over my garden. Beyond that I have had ‘local patches’ and most recently targeted a 5 mile radius from home that takes in all the regular walks I do. My annual target is to record 150 species in the year within this radius and finally, in 2023, I achieved this!
Local also means ‘local to me’ so wherever I am I will be birding – Cornwall, Scotland, France and so on. I take great pleasure in connecting with both the local wildlife of different areas and other wildlife enthusiasts, sharing the commonalities and differences between respective patches.
I keep lists and enter records (at least the more notable ones) on local bird club databases. Making lists I enjoy in and of itself but over the years I have disciplined myself to make sure some of these make it into the official archives through County Recorders. This data can be very valuable in helping others – eg planning authorities – make informed decisions and potentially saving wildlife from unwitting extinction.