The original and still the best Blog for Birders across South Wales
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A programme on twitching and they didn't mention the flush word once !! Good to see Portly taking pride of place at the Eastern Crowned Warbler.. obviously chomping at the bit to get in there and boot it out !!
don't like that lee evans, who the fuck does he think he is, telling people they haven't seen the bird when he wasn't even there,ok i can understand where he's coming from, but for fuck sake to call 5 or 6 birders liars is a bit too far,he don't even trust his mate for fuck sake
As AB states, nice for Cardiff to be represented in the form of PL, our WRP rep. As for the programme, it was a bit naff, however you have know Lee Evans to get the real inside of where he's at. The lists they go by are also very ambiguous, some birders count all the splits - two Bean Geese, God knows how many gulls, European, Asiatic, Eurasian blah blah etc etc. I for one have only Bean Goose on my list, so which list do people go by, I've no idea, the one with the most ticks on it seems more likely. What struck me was that these 'big listers' didn't seem to know what they were looking at. Anyone can drive round the country ticking off species, all you need is time & cash. Many have come into birding without a background of a local patch, looking critically at common birds and knowing what is what. Although I felt quite sorry for the guy coming up to retirement: no cash - no twitching - no ticks. His comment of 'I'll kill myself' may turn out to be true. Personally I lost complete interest in twitching when reaching 400 in Sept. 1994. I much prefer local birding with odd occasional drive to see a GB rarity. Birding abroad however is by far the best form of birdwatching. Loads of new birds, interesting people (and tucker) and none of the numpties Slaphead refers too!
As Meriwether says - many of them seem to count everything - Lee's mate seemed to be saying Azorian Yell-l Gull was a new tick for his list. It also came out that for many it really is an obsession and again Lee's mate admitted to formerly being a stamp collector and then a train spotter and plane spotter. I think Lee is also an avid collector of something or other [in addition to birdy ticks] but I can't remember what. I also found it a bit pathetic that the same guy [Lee's mate] travelled all the way to an island off the W coast of Ireland, and then having been told the bird hadn't been showing, couldn't even be arsed to go and search.
I had the impression that for some of these people it is not about birds at all. It's about collecting. You might as well substitute birds with any other collector's obsession, the result would be the same.
Also, I agree with J&J that twitching has very little to do with birding. Very few of that lot have ever found a rarity themselves, they just run after someone else's find. I thought it all a bit pathetic to be honest.
Looking at the lists on surfbirds, I must say the ones I like the most are the self-found lists. At least there was some birding involved.
Nothing wrong with twitching as such but its changed. 4 in the car going to see a bird can be a good day out and a diversion from local birding, which lets be honest is often quite dull. As rightly pointed out the list is the main motivation rather than the bird. However when it all started don't forget few people could travel abroad and vagrants provided the only opportunity of seeing these rarities. Now its a bit pointless.
I was birding for years before I first twitched anything but I love doing both and wished I started the latter a few years earlier cos I've have the likes of American Redstart and Varied Thrush on my list! Most of the best birders across Britain are twitchers (whether locally or nationally) or have a history of doing so. I've certainly learned more about bird ID from seeing and studying vagrants in the UK than I would have done if I had never twitched. I do agree though that many modern-day twitchers seem to be most interested in the numbers game rather than ID but so what? Good luck to them!
Seymour, your statement that most of the best birders are twitchers is debatable, there are others that study birds in depth but don't give a fig for listing. Most serious articles that come out about birds aren't done by Twitchers.
No, but they're very often written by scientists, not birdwatchers (although a few are both). I've never met a birdwatcher (and I've met thousands) who hasn't strayed away from their local patch to see a rare or unusual bird found by someone else ie. "twitched" a bird. It then becomes an issue of scale and that would be a futile debate.
Yes it was a bit shit, perhaps we should all make our own documentary on birding in Glam organ? Christ that'd be interesting wouldn't it? Definitely have to be after the watershed though! I seem to remember some film crew following everyone round on Scilly in 1994 and the documentary that followed was funnier and far better in that it featured some great characters / birders as well as LGRE (Let's Get Running Everyone!) Agree with Maurice and the Hon Rec. though. Arrival of Budget airlines meant birding abroad is far more accessible. Then seeing something different entailed a bit of a twitch.
Seymour Selleck,that would mean everybody is a twitcher cos everything is found by someone at least once.How big is a local patch.Twitchers are not right in the head and i take offence at being tarred with same brush as those nutters on the telly.A bit of news comes out and maybe,just maybe i'll get off my arse,but behave like that,no way.Dump my family,drag the kids around or pretend tO be some sort of Judge Dread is utterly headfuck,these people are in dire need of therapy and guidance.I AM NOT A TWITCHER ALLRIGHT??
Erm, like travelling from Cardiff (your local patch) to Eggy Nun (not your local patch) to see a Bobolink found by our Sid (not you); that's a twitch whichever way you dress it up and who threw their toys out of the pram' when they didn't get to hear about it and therefore missed the chance to see it? Weren't you there the next morning?? That's Twitching mentality mate :-)
I thought it was a very poor program concentrating on a few extreem individuals (for comic effect?), possibly because only nutters like these go on programs like that. Its a pitty LRGE doesn't put his undoubted skill and experience to better use. It would have been much better if they had portrayed a more balanced account of what twitching represents. The views above have shown it to cover a wide spectrum from those who won't travel more than five miles to those for whom distance and discomfort is no barrier to seeing a tick. All birders are twitchers to some degree. Who doesn't want to see a rare bird? I defy anyone with an interst in birds to say no!
Very well put Wayne. Personaly I would have liked to have seen a little flushing, perhaps showing a few Birders faces after they have realized the bird had been booted. Or some photographers getting tooo close and winding other birders up, and fights breaking out and the arrival of ambulances, lots of blood...but no, very boring.
OK OK,i know you Cardiff Basterds are right,so what i've got a problem just like the rest of you,its just hard admitting it.I'm so very sorry and i've got to come to terms with it.By saying this you can see the recovery programme is starting to work.I have twitched.Please don't let me end up like those idiots on the box.
You twitchers from cardiff are a right funny lot aye, all i've got to say is birdwatching is supposed to be fun and enjoyable so if racing up and down the country looking for birds is fun then fine do it, but not for me i enjoy birding in my local patch,county or whatever,so you can argue all day about twitching it's down to the individual at the end of the day.
Yes the program was shit,i used to do a bit years ago but now get much more of a buzz out of finding something on my patch.My greatest dip would have to be the Red breasted Nuthatch in Norfolk many years ago but the one that hurts the most (and still does) is the Hoopoe i missed by seconds five minutes from my house.I found no matter which twitch i found myself at there was always one arsehole bellowing out about his latest exotic holiday he's just came back from.YAAAAAWN!!!
What I want to know is who was the guy smoking that cigar, he looked real happy with himself. As for the rest of the people involved they were right D H. As for Twitching it's like Seymour said earlier , we all do it just to different degrees. It's not how rare a bird is to me, but what it looks like, for example I went to see the Roller down west, but wouldn't be arsed to go see a Redhead or some bland warbler , no matter how rare.
You just got excited because you thought it was a spliff Misty. The only reason you valleys boyos don't twitch out of the county is because your tags and conditions of bail won't allow you to?
I've given up on the spliffs Tony (do I know you?)moved back onto the bong, who needs that tobacco shite fcuking up your lungs, keep it pure and you won't go far wrong. As for twitching outside the county I found it was a bit unfair on the donkey having to travel days on end just to see a bird
Bloody hell Mike C, if you had a programme of Glamorgan birders it would XXX certificate. Like Wader states: blood and gore and it's only birds. As for twitching, I thoroughly enjoy it when I go, which isn't often. It's a good craic and a chance to have a day out with your mates [aka Cardiff B's]. As for local birding, I'm being fitting up with some lightweight segmented armour [Roman style] and XL earplugs, otherwise tickerty-boo.
Have to admit to a fair bit of twitching in the past. Did see the American Redstart and the Red Breasted Nuthatch but did not go for the Varied Thrush as it was not initially identified as such. The Golden Winged Warbler was a bad scene and made me think what the hell am I doing. British list is now stalled on about 444 with only about 40 ticks in the past 20 years. Best bird was not really a twitch as was on Scilly when it turned up- Yellow Bellied Sapsucker. Currently a blocker but it will go eventually. However birding abroad is much more exiting. Re the programme the media will always pick on these kind of people as they make good copy or programme material. The guy who kept phoning Lee appeared a bit pathetic.
Well I'm taking my camcorder on the next twitch! Hon Rec, it may be Triple X rated, but wouldn't it be a good watch? Anyone want to suggest a possible title for such a documentary?
31 comments:
Monday night BBC4.
Next Monday... Flushers: A very Cardiff bastards obsession.
Wader, yooooou arrrrr plumbing new depths with that gag, butty!
A programme on twitching and they didn't mention the flush word once !! Good to see Portly taking pride of place at the Eastern Crowned Warbler.. obviously chomping at the bit to get in there and boot it out !!
10 mins was enough of that!
don't like that lee evans, who the fuck does he think he is, telling people they haven't seen the bird when he wasn't even there,ok i can understand where he's coming from, but for fuck sake to call 5 or 6 birders liars is a bit too far,he don't even trust his mate for fuck sake
there are also one or two within Glamorgan who fit a similar bill,it seems every county has its token pair of bigots.
As AB states, nice for Cardiff to be represented in the form of PL, our WRP rep. As for the programme, it was a bit naff, however you have know Lee Evans to get the real inside of where he's at. The lists they go by are also very ambiguous, some birders count all the splits - two Bean Geese, God knows how many gulls, European, Asiatic, Eurasian blah blah etc etc. I for one have only Bean Goose on my list, so which list do people go by, I've no idea, the one with the most ticks on it seems more likely. What struck me was that these 'big listers' didn't seem to know what they were looking at. Anyone can drive round the country ticking off species, all you need is time & cash. Many have come into birding without a background of a local patch, looking critically at common birds and knowing what is what. Although I felt quite sorry for the guy coming up to retirement: no cash - no twitching - no ticks. His comment of 'I'll kill myself' may turn out to be true. Personally I lost complete interest in twitching when reaching 400 in Sept. 1994. I much prefer local birding with odd occasional drive to see a GB rarity. Birding abroad however is by far the best form of birdwatching. Loads of new birds, interesting people (and tucker) and none of the numpties Slaphead refers too!
As Meriwether says - many of them seem to count everything - Lee's mate seemed to be saying Azorian Yell-l Gull was a new tick for his list. It also came out that for many it really is an obsession and again Lee's mate admitted to formerly being a stamp collector and then a train spotter and plane spotter. I think Lee is also an avid collector of something or other [in addition to birdy ticks] but I can't remember what. I also found it a bit pathetic that the same guy [Lee's mate] travelled all the way to an island off the W coast of Ireland, and then having been told the bird hadn't been showing, couldn't even be arsed to go and search.
I had the impression that for some of these people it is not about birds at all. It's about collecting. You might as well substitute birds with any other collector's obsession, the result would be the same.
Also, I agree with J&J that twitching has very little to do with birding. Very few of that lot have ever found a rarity themselves, they just run after someone else's find. I thought it all a bit pathetic to be honest.
Looking at the lists on surfbirds, I must say the ones I like the most are the self-found lists. At least there was some birding involved.
Nothing wrong with twitching as such but its changed. 4 in the car going to see a bird can be a good day out and a diversion from local birding, which lets be honest is often quite dull. As rightly pointed out the list is the main motivation rather than the bird.
However when it all started don't forget few people could travel abroad and vagrants provided the only opportunity of seeing these rarities. Now its a bit pointless.
2 Jack Snipe at Peterston Gout this afternoon.
You can see why Lee Evans is such a superb comic.
I was birding for years before I first twitched anything but I love doing both and wished I started the latter a few years earlier cos I've have the likes of American Redstart and Varied Thrush on my list! Most of the best birders across Britain are twitchers (whether locally or nationally) or have a history of doing so. I've certainly learned more about bird ID from seeing and studying vagrants in the UK than I would have done if I had never twitched. I do agree though that many modern-day twitchers seem to be most interested in the numbers game rather than ID but so what? Good luck to them!
Its all about the autistic tendencies lads, so I guess the bigger the list(collection) the more autistic you are;-)
Seymour, your statement that most of the best birders are twitchers is debatable, there are others that study birds in depth but don't give a fig for listing.
Most serious articles that come out about birds aren't done by Twitchers.
No, but they're very often written by scientists, not birdwatchers (although a few are both). I've never met a birdwatcher (and I've met thousands) who hasn't strayed away from their local patch to see a rare or unusual bird found by someone else ie. "twitched" a bird. It then becomes an issue of scale and that would be a futile debate.
Yes it was a bit shit, perhaps we should all make our own documentary on birding in Glam organ? Christ that'd be interesting wouldn't it? Definitely have to be after the watershed though! I seem to remember some film crew following everyone round on Scilly in 1994 and the documentary that followed was funnier and far better in that it featured some great characters / birders as well as LGRE (Let's Get Running Everyone!) Agree with Maurice and the Hon Rec. though. Arrival of Budget airlines meant birding abroad is far more accessible. Then seeing something different entailed a bit of a twitch.
Seymour Selleck,that would mean everybody is a twitcher cos everything is found by someone at least once.How big is a local patch.Twitchers are not right in the head and i take offence at being tarred with same brush as those nutters on the telly.A bit of news comes out and maybe,just maybe i'll get off my arse,but behave like that,no way.Dump my family,drag the kids around or pretend tO be some sort of Judge Dread is utterly headfuck,these people are in dire need of therapy and guidance.I AM NOT A TWITCHER ALLRIGHT??
Erm, like travelling from Cardiff (your local patch) to Eggy Nun (not your local patch) to see a Bobolink found by our Sid (not you); that's a twitch whichever way you dress it up and who threw their toys out of the pram' when they didn't get to hear about it and therefore missed the chance to see it? Weren't you there the next morning?? That's Twitching mentality mate :-)
I thought it was a very poor program concentrating on a few extreem individuals (for comic effect?), possibly because only nutters like these go on programs like that. Its a pitty LRGE doesn't put his undoubted skill and experience to better use. It would have been much better if they had portrayed a more balanced account of what twitching represents. The views above have shown it to cover a wide spectrum from those who won't travel more than five miles to those for whom distance and discomfort is no barrier to seeing a tick. All birders are twitchers to some degree. Who doesn't want to see a rare bird? I defy anyone with an interst in birds to say no!
Very well put Wayne. Personaly I would have liked to have seen a little flushing, perhaps showing a few Birders faces after they have realized the bird had been booted. Or some photographers getting tooo close and winding other birders up, and fights breaking out and the arrival of ambulances, lots of blood...but no, very boring.
OK OK,i know you Cardiff Basterds are right,so what i've got a problem just like the rest of you,its just hard admitting it.I'm so very sorry and i've got to come to terms with it.By saying this you can see the recovery programme is starting to work.I have twitched.Please don't let me end up like those idiots on the box.
You twitchers from cardiff are a right funny lot aye, all i've got to say is birdwatching is supposed to be fun and enjoyable so if racing up and down the country looking for birds is fun then fine do it, but not for me i enjoy birding in my local patch,county or whatever,so you can argue all day about twitching it's down to the individual at the end of the day.
Yes the program was shit,i used to do a bit years ago but now get much more of a buzz out of finding something on my patch.My greatest dip would have to be the Red breasted Nuthatch in Norfolk many years ago but the one that hurts the most (and still does) is the Hoopoe i missed by seconds five minutes from my house.I found no matter which twitch i found myself at there was always one arsehole bellowing out about his latest exotic holiday he's just came back from.YAAAAAWN!!!
What I want to know is who was the guy smoking that cigar, he looked real happy with himself.
As for the rest of the people involved they were right D H.
As for Twitching it's like Seymour said earlier , we all do it just to different degrees.
It's not how rare a bird is to me, but what it looks like, for example I went to see the Roller down west, but wouldn't be arsed to go see a Redhead or some bland warbler , no matter how rare.
You just got excited because you thought it was a spliff Misty. The only reason you valleys boyos don't twitch out of the county is because your tags and conditions of bail won't allow you to?
I've given up on the spliffs Tony (do I know you?)moved back onto the bong, who needs that tobacco shite fcuking up your lungs, keep it pure and you won't go far wrong.
As for twitching outside the county I found it was a bit unfair on the donkey having to travel days on end just to see a bird
Bloody hell Mike C, if you had a programme of Glamorgan birders it would XXX certificate. Like Wader states: blood and gore and it's only birds.
As for twitching, I thoroughly enjoy it when I go, which isn't often. It's a good craic and a chance to have a day out with your mates [aka Cardiff B's]. As for local birding, I'm being fitting up with some lightweight segmented armour [Roman style] and XL earplugs, otherwise tickerty-boo.
Have to admit to a fair bit of twitching in the past. Did see the American Redstart and the Red Breasted Nuthatch but did not go for the Varied Thrush as it was not initially identified as such. The Golden Winged Warbler was a bad scene and made me think what the hell am I doing. British list is now stalled on about 444 with only about 40 ticks in the past 20 years. Best bird was not really a twitch as was on Scilly when it turned up- Yellow Bellied Sapsucker. Currently a blocker but it will go eventually.
However birding abroad is much more exiting.
Re the programme the media will always pick on these kind of people as they make good copy or programme material. The guy who kept phoning Lee appeared a bit pathetic.
Well I'm taking my camcorder on the next twitch! Hon Rec, it may be Triple X rated, but wouldn't it be a good watch? Anyone want to suggest a possible title for such a documentary?
Meriwether Murders Murray Mint?
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