Birding is what makes me tick

I've been a birder for as long as I can remember, and my Mum advises I even used to point out the birds from my pushchair. A rumour that I cannot confirm or deny, but I trust my mum, so I can well believe it. I do find birds absolutely fascinating.

I keep records of what I see where, so I still tick birds, however:.

Am I a "twitcher"? At the first mention of watching birds, people always say "a twitcher". I like to think not, but explaining to people what a twitcher actually is, is often more trouble than it's worth.

Here follows the gospel according to Phil Davey:
My philosophy is that the birds welfare should always come first, so if I'm in an area where a rare bird has been sighted, I would like to see it, but I will not chase it.
A rarity by definition, is something that is not where it is supposed to be. These birds are often distressed enough without humans inflicting more. They are often young, hungry, disorientated and probably facing unknown dangers. Why add to their stress by gathering round them in large flocks, pressing forward to get a "good view" or a "good shot"
Apart from that, you're probably also wasting good birding time when the other more common birds are almost certainly being more entertaining anyway.

I also feel that any rarity in the UK is likely to be a lot more common elsewhere, so why not save all the money you would normally spend twitching, until you can go see these birds in their natural habitat. You will probably get a lot more for your "list" in the long run, because a lot of birds don't migrate, so are unlikely to turn up in the UK anyway.
OK, you will create a carbon footprint doing this, but that may well be smaller than your twitching footprint. The foreign trip is also likely to benefit the birds indirectly as well. If the locals see their birds as a financial asset, they are more likely to want to protect them.

If you're not convinced yet, check out some of my trip photos

Disclaimer (for my philosophy)

Opinions expressed in this document are totally my own and I know that some people are likely to disagree.

This just emphasises my favourite saying "Everyone to their own bad taste ".

Me and IT

My main IT history is in Unix and Linux with a bit of networking, functional design, testing, helpdesk and support thrown in. Full details are in my CV for anyone interested. I have built computers, and networks for personal use, and although I still occasionally use Windows, my preference is for Linux.

I prefer Firefox, so I don't know what this site will look like in IE, (although I will check it out later).