In the beginning

I can be rather impulsive, but when I took up birding again at the age of thirty, after fifteen years of university, typical young male pursuits including rallying, and the purchase of my first house, I decided to see all the "regular" British birds before doing any twitching. This resulted in my missing the long-staying Steller's Eider whilst on holiday in the Hebrides, because I wasn't told about it. I was married to Linda then, who some may remember, and four years later I had seen all but Lady Amherst's Pheasant and Long-eared Owl, so whilst on an autumn holiday in Norfolk we went on our first twitch, to Wells Wood for a Red-breasted Flycatcher. Later that week, after a little dispute about the distance travelled, we twitched a Wilson's Phalarope at Gibraltar Point.

The following February saw us walking down the quay on Shetland trying to get to a Harlequin Duck, and following on from people we met there I travelled again to Shetland a fortnight later for a Brunnich's Guillemot. The following August we were on one of Peter Harrison's pelagic trips on the MV Chalice, I still have the "Wilson's Triangle" badge. The result of this rapid escalation from birdwatching to a twitcher who went for everything was that I met many of the "top" birders who became friends, and I am very grateful for the help and guidance given to me in my early days. However the impulsive side to my character reared its head a couple of years later, and we started foreign travel.

 

I remember sitting on Lundy in autumn 1987 having twitched a Veery, and Lee said to me "so you'll be out of the country for three weeks?" I had gained a place on "Lee's list", a fully-fledged twitcher! The reason for his question was that we had decided on our first trip abroad, something I had thought would never happen as I was perfectly happy with the UK birding scene. We got a Cygnus wildlife catalogue (remember them?) and looked for a suitable tour. I had a good job and lived in company accomodation which in those days wasn't subject to the taxman's attentions, so having looked at all the usual first ventures abroad, Spain, Turkey, Florida etc. we opted for Ecuador and Galapagos! I asked Steve Whitehouse for a trip report, no internet in those days, and he suggested I might just be jumping in at the deep end. But I ploughed through the relevant field guide, all those unfamilair families such as Woodcreepers and Tanagers, and off we went.

 

So what was my overiding memory of that trip, nearly forty years on? Yes I remember the birds, their tameness on Galapagos, and I remember we failed to see Zigzag Heron. But what I remember most was our lodge in Ecuador, accessed by a boat trip down the River Napo. Very different to modern lodges, much of our time was conducted by torchlight, if there was any electricity it failed more often than it was on, and we slept in bunk beds with no ensuite facilities. None of this was a problem, but one morning we were due to get up early, still in darkness, and we were trying to be very quiet as there were other guests present. I was in the top bunk, and as I moved to get up there was a crack, a crashing sound, and a loud squeal from Linda. My bunk had collapsed and she was woken by me falling on her, rather than an alarm clock! Of course this woke half the lodge, and we were still laughing at breakfast. Health and safety is still non-existent in many countries, but standards have now improved no end. It transpired that the bunks were of a slatted design, and slats had been removed for other purposes, probably firewood. (Although there may have been some tunneling, as in The Great Escape). 

The following May I self-organised a trip to California, which was the last foreign trip Linda did with me, the bug had well and truly bitten! A scheduled trip to Ethiopia was cancelled due to a war (nothing changes) so I went to Gambia instead, and Mel Billington and I, whom I had met that first trip to Shetland, went to see the last of the Slender-billed Curlews. Much of those early trips requires reference to photographs or my lists to bring back memories, but my first trip with Ann was our honeymoon (which we had two years before we married due to legal complications), a cruise across the Pacific. In our hotel the night before joining the trip we were suddenly deluged by water from the room above! We still love travelling for wildlife.