AA Birdpix, Birds, Travel and More

Waders and the British List  As you know, I have a great intersest in waders and Frampton. I went there recently to see a Baird's Sandpiper, which rewarded me by being asleep most of the time. Got some photos of its back though! My Frampton wader list is currently 44, the reserve's is 50, and this was my second Baird's there. Driving there and back I was thinking about the status of species on the British List. WARNING-THIS BLOG MAY CAUSE DISTRESS TO THOSE OF A TWITCHING DISPOSITION WHO HAVEN'T BEEN DOING IT LONG.    There are currently 79 waders on Category A of the British List. I have seen them all, but three only abroad. Caspian Plover only in Kazakhstan, and Mongolian Plover and Wilson's Snipe in several foreign locations. The splits haven't helped there, as I only ever went for one Lesser Sand-plover, which is (was?) Tibetan, and Wilson's Snipe has only ever been confirmed on Scilly. Not that I haven't tried, in 1988 I twitched a one day spring adu...

  Hudwit Musings In my very early birding days I was on holiday in Devon when I drove past a group of people looking at something through telescopes. As it wasn't convenient to stop, and I knew nothing of twitching then, I drove on. However, I have always wondered if they were looking at the Countess Wear Hudsonian Godwit. That bird was seen at Blacktoft for a month in 1981 from 10th September, disappeared and turned up in Devon from 22nd November to 14th January 1982. It then re-appeared at Blacktoft from 26th April to 6th May 1982. Joining Cream Coloured Courser and Long-toed Stint on my "wish I'd started twitching sooner" list, there was another record in Aberdeenshire in 1988, but that was only seen by a couple of people, I believe. It had become a "blocker" by then, and in terms of my UK list I put it to the back of my mind. In 1990 I went on a private trip to Chile, my room-mate was a wader enthusiast, and I remember driving some considerable distance ...

Do Redpolls have split personalities?  So Redpolls are now all one species, according to the latest IOC list. The photos below would indicate otherwise to any self-respecting birder. To me they indicate a lack of consensus as to what constitutes a species, but nowadays it is probably an insurmountable problem. I, for one, only make changes to my list if common sense prevails. If birds look different, then that should be recognised in some way, whatever scientists theorise, because as sure as eggs are eggs, they will be split again when someone needs a thesis for their PhD. I've mentioned this before, so 'nuff said, but recent changes resulting in a couple of new species are interesting, to me at least.  The first is Mongolian Gull, split from Vega Gull, which was originally a Herring Gull. Although breeding closer to Western Europe than Vega Gull, because it's confined to Mongolia and winters in South China I would think it less likely to take the route across the Arctic Ci...

Listeria (no not the disease) I completed my census form, and was tempted to put, under religion, the term “listerism”, in the manner of the now famous Jedi Knights. I didn’t, because I don’t believe a census form to be the place for frivolity, but it did make me think that for many birders listing is a religion. It is certainly easy to be a “failed lister” in the way you can be a “failed Catholic”. However, whilst a list may be the most important thing in your life, it is also a very personal thing, and therein lies the beauty of a list. It is your list, and you can do with it what you will, put on it your own opinion if you like, but most importantly, the rest of the world is largely uninterested, except perhaps your own circle of friends. It matters not what varying taxonomic viewpoints are, nor what a committee of people, many of whom have never seen the species involved, choose to vote on. It is your list, your opinion, and most of all your memories that are triggered.  F...

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 for...

Cruising for Wildlife. Cruising holidays, love 'em or hate 'em? If you're a birder it's not always clear cut. Ann and I went on a five week cruise for our 25th Wedding Anniversary, but we're both birders, the route we chose (Buenos Aires to Los Angeles) was deliberate, and enabled us to see twelve species of Albatross and much more besides. The point is that the typical image of a cruising holiday is normally suited to a person somewhat less likely to be interested in wildlife (ship's captains will slow down to enable people to see dolphins if they happen to be close by, but that's about it). There are many specialist cruises both on the oceans and rivers such as the Amazon, several of which we have undertaken, but they have sadly become very expensive as costs have risen and the pound falls against the dollar. If you can afford them they are unbeatable in terms of species seen and sheer experience, plus most people on board will be like-minded (if you don...

Ecomath- a new word? I have come up with a new word. Why not? Shakespeare did it, a rapper did it (the word "dench"), new words appear all the time. This is a derivative of "Polymath"; nothing to do with maths, but defined as a person who is interested in and has knowledge of a large range of subjects. Obviously an Ecomath would be one who is interested in all things natural.  Many birders are just birders, and remain so, but most, either through boredom or a natural interest, become interested in moths or butterflies. Mothing is an obvious "first step" as it does not entail leaving home, it takes a lot of learning (if you don't rely on AI) and has a far lower cost and carbon footprint than birding. I had a general interest in animals from an early age, I used to watch horse racing on the TV from about the age of four,  just to see the horses. I have only attended one horse race (the 200th Derby, as it happens) and never entered a betting shop, but I k...