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ZEISS DTI thermal imaging cameras. For more discoveries at night, and during the day.

Lucky pants? (1 Viewer)

SimonC

Still listing - I'll capsize one day
That made you look didn't it!.................................Dave!

Has anyone got a "lucky" piece of clothing or whatever that they like to take birding with them? (you can't include lucky binoculars, 'scopes or tripods 'cos that's just stupid!)
I've got a couple of things that I'm a bit weird about!

First is a pen, just a normal, throw away biro, but I have to use it for note taking, filling out day lists etc. dunno why! :gn:

Second was my old (circa 1977) Y.O.C club badge but I lost that (wasn't lucky then was it?) but I've recently found one on eBay - the only match for the search & I was the only bidder - fated you see!!

And if rogerk hadn't broken his 'puter shortly after registering here, he could tell you a tale or two about a blue shoe..........but maybe we'll leave that one!

So, come on, 'fess up, what superstitious nonsense have you succumbed to?
 
Well I used to always wear a pair of white (yes white!) Jeans on every twitch. They were very lucky for a long time. They were burnt though, when they failed to work on a twitch to scillies for Cliff Swallow and Solitary Sandpiper.

Oh yes I also have to 'salute' every solitary Magpie I see!
 
I used to have a lucky hat. It was a genuine hand knitted Fair Isle one. Not sure why I thought it lucky as I bought it on there shortly before I was banned from the Island (Oh the shame of it all). Anyway as far as my mates were concerned it wasn't lucky at all and it strangely dissapeared in the boot of one of their cars, never to be seen again.

Mark

P.S
Before anyone asks I was banned, from Fair Isle, for childish mischief on a Y.O.C trip some 18 years ago. As far as I am aware I was the first and possibly the last person to be banned.
 
Tim Allwood said:
spill the beans then Mark.........

Well seeing as you asked Tim.

It was back in August 1986. We were on a ten day trip to Fair Isle (though we actually had a week on there, the rest travelling there) with the Y.O.C. It turned out to be one of the warmest sunniest Augusts ever recorded on Fair Isle, not the best conditions for fall migrants. However within the first few days we had seen Rosefinch, Barred Warb' and several Wrynecks all very nice ,and new birds for us all. However after about four days a high pressure was sat over us and the wind was a draught from no particular direction. One very hot afternoon we came across a Garden Warbler in one of the heligoland traps. Concerned about the birds welfare we decided to release it. Later in the day we were confronted by Nick Riddiford, the then Obs' warden, and given the mother of all rollockings about removing birds from traps without a ringing permit. It turned out a weasley trainee ringer, who was visiting the Island independently, had seen us and squeeled. With nothing better to do we set about our vengeance. Our first revenge act was to take the P' out of him without making it look obvious to anyone else. This worked well until he grassed us up for that! Our revenge - to nail a dead Garden Warbler (can't remember whether we found it in a trap!) to the side of his bed in a kind of God Father style. Another rollocking followed. They were several other acts that I can't remember though sheep worrying might have been one of them. But on the last night me and another, who we shall call Rob F, ventured out with a torch and a plastic bag in search of some very fresh sheep droppings, which we duly deposited in the grass's boots- nice. The final nail in my coffin was a comment placed by an ex mate (not RF) in the visitors book . It basically threatened the grass with death. Unfortunately for me this comment spread on to mine, which were the normal, had a great time etc. This was the final straw for N Riddiford, who issued three of us with a three year ban from the island. I can't say that we did'nt deserve it because we did. Anyhow I'm hoping to go back in 2006 so I best grow a beard and wear a false nose.

Mark
 
.. and just how old were you lads then, Mark?

My daypack is 25 years old, cost fifty cents in the Sally Ann, is still in perfect condition, and I never go birding without it.
 
Charles Harper said:
.. and just how old were you lads then, Mark?

My daypack is 25 years old, cost fifty cents in the Sally Ann, is still in perfect condition, and I never go birding without it.

16 Charles.



Back on the subject of lucky items. I still have a pair Zeiss 10X40 Dialyt which have been in a draw for 7 years now, with very little use. I could never bring myself to sell them as I feel we've been through too much together. Is this weird or normal?

Mark
 
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M N Reeder said:
16 Charles.



Back on the subject of lucky items. I still have a pair Zeiss 10X40 Dialyt which have been in a draw for 7 years now, with very little use. I could never bring myself to sell them as I feel we've been through too much together. Is this weird or normal?

Mark

Normal - surely?!

Here's a photo of my pen btw, sitting on my other "lucky" thing which I forgot to mention, it's an old British Army personal skill at arms record holder that i keep my note-books/lists (& the pen) in!! ;)
 

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SimonC said:
That made you look didn't it!.................................Dave!
Has anyone got a "lucky" piece of clothing or whatever that they like to take birding with them? (you can't include lucky binoculars, 'scopes or tripods 'cos that's just stupid!) <<<snip>>>

So, come on, 'fess up, what superstitious nonsense have you succumbed to?

I have a small 3" x 6" loose-leaf leather-bound notebook that goes into a 25-year-old blue daypack that has been schlepped all over the world and that I'd feel naked without. Don't know how much luck they actually bring, but I'm sure if I ever did NOT have them, I'd only get half as many birds.

An ex-boyfriend always wore red socks or red briefs for luck. One time he wanted me to wear one or the other so we'd have "twice the luck." The socks fit him better. :)
 
Katy Penland said:
An ex-boyfriend always wore red socks or red briefs for luck. One time he wanted me to wear one or the other so we'd have "twice the luck." The socks fit him better. :)
Bit of a relief that the lucky underwear was his & not yours. UK birders are not renowned for sartorial elegance and as yet crossdressing has not caught on (well except for the House of Commons!)
 
lucky pants

lucky pants eh?????????

What's worrying is the amount of replies you have had on this.
I don't have anything particularly lucky, unless, of course, you include the blue shoe. A shoe such as this is imbued with such arcane powers that mere mortals such as ourselves can only shudder at the awesome levels of mystical influence and cross ourselves that such ancient testament is only to be wondered at.
Blue shoe - where angels fear to tread.
 
Ahhh, the Blue Shoe......

But let's not forget the awesome weather changing powers of the Dead Shrew!

After three

1.....2......3 Pay homage to the dead shrew
 

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yes, the dead shrew indeed! together the shoe/shrew embodiment may still take over the world, nay the galaxy, dare i say, THE UNIVERSE!!!!!!!!!
 
Yeah, lost everybody now! We'll get branded as loonies & no-one will take us seriously (do we care? ;) )

Have a look around chap, lot's of interesting stuff going on at the mo
 
Deja-vu said:
Well seeing as you asked Tim.

It was back in August 1986. We were on a ten day trip to Fair Isle (though we actually had a week on there, the rest travelling there) with the Y.O.C. It turned out to be one of the warmest sunniest Augusts ever recorded on Fair Isle, not the best conditions for fall migrants. However within the first few days we had seen Rosefinch, Barred Warb' and several Wrynecks all very nice ,and new birds for us all. However after about four days a high pressure was sat over us and the wind was a draught from no particular direction. One very hot afternoon we came across a Garden Warbler in one of the heligoland traps. Concerned about the birds welfare we decided to release it. Later in the day we were confronted by Nick Riddiford, the then Obs' warden, and given the mother of all rollockings about removing birds from traps without a ringing permit. It turned out a weasley trainee ringer, who was visiting the Island independently, had seen us and squeeled. With nothing better to do we set about our vengeance. Our first revenge act was to take the P' out of him without making it look obvious to anyone else. This worked well until he grassed us up for that! Our revenge - to nail a dead Garden Warbler (can't remember whether we found it in a trap!) to the side of his bed in a kind of God Father style. Another rollocking followed. They were several other acts that I can't remember though sheep worrying might have been one of them. But on the last night me and another, who we shall call Rob F, ventured out with a torch and a plastic bag in search of some very fresh sheep droppings, which we duly deposited in the grass's boots- nice. The final nail in my coffin was a comment placed by an ex mate (not RF) in the visitors book . It basically threatened the grass with death. Unfortunately for me this comment spread on to mine, which were the normal, had a great time etc. This was the final straw for N Riddiford, who issued three of us with a three year ban from the island. I can't say that we did'nt deserve it because we did. Anyhow I'm hoping to go back in 2006 so I best grow a beard and wear a false nose.

Mark


Sorry about this Mark, this is priceless, so just need to revive it for the latest generation of world BFers can get to know what a good British birder can get up to in his better moments 3:) 3:) 3:)
 
Birding is Not a Crime!!!

I wear a large Australian-style hat that my wife bought me when I'm birding locally. Its not so much because its lucky, or stylish, but because it identifies me as a birder. Ideally, this keeps paranoid old ladies from reporting me to the police as a stalker/terrorist scouting locations, thus not giving them an excuse to hassle me.
 
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Deja-vu said:
Our first revenge act was to take the P' out of him without making it look obvious to anyone else. This worked well until he grassed us up for that!
What does that mean? You have to write slowly - I'm an American...


Deja-vu said:
This was the final straw for N Riddiford, who issued three of us with a three year ban from the island. I can't say that we did'nt deserve it because we did. Anyhow I'm hoping to go back in 2006 so I best grow a beard and wear a false nose.
3 year ban or 30 year ban? If it was 3 years, you probably don't need a disguise.

Good story though! Reminds me of the stuff we used to pull in the Boy Scouts.

As for lucky - I don't really have anything with a true superstitious connection.

I always (I mean truly, literally, ALWAYS) wear the same pair of khaki shorts - but that is just because they are the only pair of shorts I have with belt loops and since my pockets are stuffed with:
Peterson guide - back right pocket
Kaufman guide - back left pocket
8x bins - front right pocket
notebook, pen, cigarettes and lighter - front left pocket,

I need belt loops so I can hold my shorts up with a belt!
 
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I need belt loops so I can hold my shorts up with a belt![/QUOTE]
Now I wonder why? something to do with weight loss or weight in pockets?

Personally I don't really have anything I use for luck, somehow I seem to get lucky pretty often as with the Palla's warbler, Dartford Warblers, Common Sandpipers, Montagues Harrier and the latest Woodcock, but I never have anything the same about me, on each occasion! I don't seem to need luck, it somehow manages to find me!
 
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