The sad thing is I am a twitcher too..... I don't know why I go twitching because I quite often really hate it.... But I keep doing it !!
When a rare bird that I haven't seen before turns up I feel a mixture of excitement and dread, excitement because I love my birds, and dread because I know I'm probably going to end up in a crown full of listing idiots who are just playing a competitive numbers game......
So.... It's Sunday and I'm having a great days birding round Newton, then I look at my pager and my heart drops when I read.... "MEGA ALERT - WHITE CROWNED SPARROW, NORFOLK".....
Here we go......
I wish i could ignore such messages.... don't ask me why, but I just can't.....
So..... to cut a long story short I get 1 hours kip and leave my house with TC at 1 am..... By 7.30am we are both very tired, but in position sitting in the gutter of a road, staring at a gate and driveway, in the village of Cley in Norfolk....
Excellent views...... This gateway showed extremely well for 3 and half hours. We both agreed that this was the best views of 5 bar gate we had ever had......This rare American sparrow had been coming to feed on some bird seed on the path just behind this gate, the homeowners here fed the birds and had very kindly spread some seed to encourage the birds down to give good views for visiting birders.....
Of course if you get too close the birds spook, so birders were politely asked to stay on the other side of the road from the gate......
Here is a group of well behaved birders waiting patiently for the sparrow to appear.....
Of course if you get too close the birds spook, so birders were politely asked to stay on the other side of the road from the gate......
Here is a group of well behaved birders waiting patiently for the sparrow to appear.....Myself and TC arrived early and were lucky enough to get good viewing point at the front of this group crouching on the ground...... Spirits were high...
Unfortunately the viewing was very limited and some other people could hardly see the gate let alone the seeded area..... So when the bird put in its first appearance at 10.50am this happened....
Unfortunately the viewing was very limited and some other people could hardly see the gate let alone the seeded area..... So when the bird put in its first appearance at 10.50am this happened....
Those who couldn't see the area immediately filled the road and ran towards the gate to get themselves views of the bird... Ignoring the sign, the requests of the homeowners and the pleas well behaved birders who had been freezing their bollox off since 7 am waiting in postion !Now this really pissed me off for many reasons, but two in particular....
1 - It was a sudden rugby scrum affair and my scope and bag just got kicked over and trodden on without any apology...
2 - Many of the people in the top picture who were waiting patiently didn't see the bird because all of these selfish wankers ran in front of them and blocked their view !!
This was a truly pathetic display.... the road was blocked and people wouldn't let cars through.... everyone was just out for number one and didn't give a shit about anyone else so long as they saw the bird.....
So if you're reading this and you are one of those people stood at the front of everyone else (on the right hand side of that car), then you are a selfish wanker and you should be ashamed of yourself... Despite the rugby scrum I was lucky enough to get some views of the bird, the whole incident was badly soured by this bunch of total tossers tho..... Once again I came away from a twitch wondering why the hell I bothered.....
After my views of the bird I marched away from the mayhem rapidly, just couldn't stand it, needed to get away......
The sad thing is that I've seen hundreds of white-crowned sparrows in the States..... so what the hell was I doing standing with this bunch of idiots ???
The even sadder thing is that I know next time something rare turns up there's a good chance I'll do it all again....... I must be fuggin mental or something...... I think I need therapy..... or maybe sectioning....
After all of this bullshit my stress levels needed sorting, but luckily a quick walk away from that crowd of nobheads, and a couple of nice birds sorted me out !
This lap bunt put the smile back on my face........
Black brant....Sorted....
Remember kids... twitching..... just say no.......
9 comments:
Lovely Black Brants, were they in Norfolk - I guess so. Forget the Fuckwits and concentrate on the real thing - wildfowl!!!
Gary, never mind the tick is on and your total has gone up. Thats the main thing. Isn't it? I didn't have that bother at Boulmer but I didnt get yankee spuggies and geese either!
God that looks awful, Twitches do attract the worst sorts of birders (I know, I occasionaly twitch myself). I might have to supress my cattle egret at Druridge on Saturday to avoid such unruly scenes!
and another thing....anyone who wears a cap like the wazack in the front of the pic should be shot with balls of shit anyway..it may as well have 'TIT' written across the front
Druridge Bay Fashion Police
One reason why I don't twitch (unless local to me) - all that travelling to get trampled and your kit squashed by the hordes. Nightmare. There's always a few fuckwits that don't give a toss about others, let alone the bird.
Your comments did make me laugh though, especially the 5-bar gate that was showing well.
Great blog, I look forward to reading more
Cheers!
Cheers all
Yep I think I'm giving up twitching..... well until then next time !
Gonna try and stick to the patch.... local patching is definitely the way forward.....
good post well said.
Had a very similar experience though I was waiting patiently off to the side to enable those who arrived ahead of me to get a look and move off, when the late comers and said tossers started the scrum. Managed the briefest of views and like you chilled out surrounded by snow buntings and lapland bunting until the tossers arrived there as well. See my comments and photo's on bird guides. friends and myself are in your neck of the woods in a couple of weeks, enjoying birding without the crowds.
holy crap!
Now i'm glad birding's not that popular here.
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