Finding a mentor

[BrianB555]

*****

[helenol]

If you have any spare mentors, direct them this way. ta. :)

[Darren Oakley-Martin]

Try:

www.birdingpal.com (http://www.birdingpal.com)

or you could join your local birding group.

Regards,

[Elizabeth Bigg]

There's an RSPB local group in Chichester - I found the details in my 2003 BirdWatcher's Yearbook - PM me if you'd like me to send you the details.

Forgot to say - Malcolm went out for the morning recently with the Guildford group, and found it extremely helpful.

[Charles Harper]

Talk to every birder you meet-- you are bound to make the acquaintance of an experienced birder who is copacetic-- companionable, knowledgeable, and on a similar schedule-- before too long.

[Nina P]

What an interesting thread, I often wish I had someone to go with, and end up taking my long suffering husband to help me cope with some awkward places, although he likes to see them he isn't really interested anywhere near the way I am, so I often end up going it alone but he worries about me being out alone. How much easier it would be to find an able person who shares the same interests, and willing to help set up the tripod and scope! I never even thought about it before!

[Elizabeth Bigg]

Nina - in my Yearbook for 2003, there is a Dorset Bird Club, and the contact lives in Wimborne. There is also the East Dorset RSPB group whose contact lives in Corfe Mullen. Let me know if you are not aware of either of these, and I'll PM the details to you.

[Adey Baker]

When I first started out I used to walk my local patch regularly and occasionally bumped into other birdwatchers

Mentioning what I had seen to anyone listening in the local pub also got a few interesting responses

Gradually we formed an informal group of birding friends of varying degrees of ability who 'learned our trade' together

Having a 'mentor' may seem fine to get started but it can lean towards an unequal relationship

I know of a local group of birders who have an experienced birder as their 'leader' and look on him almost with awe - "***** says this, ****says that, ***** has arranged this trip, this meeting, etc." I'm sure it's just as embarrassing for him as for anyone else listening to the eulogies!

[Ben Dickinson]

I'd definitely recommend joining your local RSPB group - after a while of going you'll find there are plenty of friendly faces who'll help you out getting to grips with the basics - and aswell as the indoor meetings, the outside meetings are great for going to places where you've not been to before to test out your skills :)

[Beverlybaynes]

Hi, Brian!

I did much the same as others here have mentioned. After starting out on my own, for the most part, I finally joined a field trip with the local Audubon group at a local county park. I couldn't have asked for a more helpful and friendly group of people. I ended up joining Audubon, and still go on their field trips whenever I can (which is not nearly enough!). I've ended up with several truly good and close friends from it, too.

Our local Audubon group has always welcomed new birders. Several of the people who are recurring trip leaders are some of the finest birders I know, with decades of experience (people I half-jokingly refer to as the local 'bird gods'), who have forgotten more about birds than I'll ever know. They are the kind of person who will vary a trip route to help a newbie get a Bald Eagle lifer (unsuccessfully, in my case -- and it took another 3-4 years before I got one!), or who will delay moving along until EVERYONE has seen the rarity (like the Glossy Ibis we saw along Great Lake Erie in '96, far out of its range).

I hope you can be as fortunate as I have been in finding people like this. It will only increase both you knowledge and pleasure in this wonderful pasttime.

[BORIS]

Brian, you seem to be in the same situation as me [check my other posts!] my birding is very informal and I too would now like to take it further, I will follow up some of the great advice given on this thread, all these years of 'doing it alone takes it's tole!' I do have my two young lads now to keep me company 5yrs & 7yrs! they seem to love it, gulp, i hope so!