The trouble with visiting Minsmere/Titchwell etc. (1 Viewer)

[GaryS]

You should be grateful - at least your local patch won't be full of old duffers and dudes wandering around with RSPB carrier bags full of tat.

Its great to see the tolerant birdwatcher have their say - why not get rid of older people, children, the disabled, those with budget optics............ then there would be space for the perfect ones amongst us!

 

[Andrew]

Spent two weeks in North Norfolk and LOVED Titchwell even though I spent little time there. It is very handy as it draws everyone and leaves you to thrash out lesser known spots such as Stiffkey, Warham, Burnham Norton, the lanes of Norfolk and so on. If anything turns up at Titchwell or Cley then you WILL know about it and it will be very unlikely that you will not miss it if you are within ten or fifteen miles. Sadly I did not find much myself but cleaned up on most of what others found.

 

[florall]

I get just as much pleasure, if not more, from my patch, and by that I mean the area around my house. Last weekend for example, I found a Common Sandpiper less that a mile from my house, a patch first for me. Then the next day I turned up at Brandon to find two Temminck's Stints there. I got far more excitement from the Common Sandpiper than I did from the much rarer stints. Not only was it was a first for me on my local patch walk (indeed the first wader) but it was self found.

Many of my favourite birding moments have been with a couple of miles of my house - a Spotted Flycatcher, Little Owls, a breeding pair of Tree Sparrow, Goosander, the sandpiper etc. Not as rare as some of the birds I've seen elsewhere, but I've found all of them myself, they've all be unexpected. That adds something special to the experience. You'd be amazed what is on your doorstep (I mean seriously amazed - I've found out that several of the birds on my wish list are regularly(ish) found within 10 miles of my house!)./QUOTE]

I couldn't agree more with all you say here, Hornet. I've never found anything rare on my local patch, but when I find a new species of bird there, it's always exciting because of the unexpectedness of it, and because of the excitement of finding it myself. (I've yet to find my first wader there, although someone else who does a WeBs count along the same bit of river, sees waders there, so I know if I keep looking, I will eventually.)

I just love local patchwatching, and I love reading the reports from people here on their local patches. One of my favourite bits of BF.

 

[midge]

You should be grateful - at least your local patch won't be full of old duffers and dudes wandering around with RSPB carrier bags full of tat.

As a newcomer to actively going out to watch birds this is unfortunately the kind of attitude I have already encountered amongst those who consider themselves real birders. And arent those "dudes" with their RSPB carrier bags" helping to support what I consider to be an important organisation?
Midge