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Have you ever been torn between a twitch or sporting events? (1 Viewer)

wolfbirder

Well-known member
I bet a lot of you (or us) have.

I love birding and football, and boxing too.

I have often been torn between a football match and a twitch on a weekend, sometimes trying to twitch in the morning and getting back for kick-off, but tonight, instead of rushing across to try to twitch the Bobolink, I have just got back from cheering on my mate who was boxing and successfully won his first fight. Well worth it, but in the back of my nagging mind was the Bobolink, which I had to miss.

Another lad I know won the vacant Midlands Cruiser Weight Title back in 2008, when I should have twitched the first Steppe Grey Shrike in Lincs.

I've missed matches at my football club despite having a season ticket, that's how important birding is to me, at times.

If you had to choose, what is more important to you, sport or birding? For me, its really too close to call, I love them both, polar opposite passions of mine.
 
My son asked me to look after the grandson while he played in vets (!) Footy match once - the day the Hudsonian Godwit was in Somerset. Did the duty, raced home, checked info, headed east. Bird gone! Fortunately a few days later I was on my way to Turkey and it reappeared BINGO!
 
Nick

I have a long list of clashing priorities. A few instances....

As the 30th anniversary was recently on Twitter..... I still remember vividly a telephone call on a Saturday about midday that there was a Red-breasted Nuthatch at Holkham Pines. I was playing a London League game against St Mary's Hospital that afternoon for Upper Clapton Rugby Club. Of course, playing is very different from watching so no decision to make but nevertheless quite distracted during that game!

(I also remember hearing of the Grey-tailed Tattler from my wife who was holding the pager on the sidelines of an exhibition game against a Ben Clarke Invitation XV to celebrate a big anniversary of our school. He was my second row at school before he moved into the back row.)

I have certainly missed a few games watching as an Arsenal season ticket holder. I remember getting the latest scores at the Unst Green Warbler in May 2016 on the last day of the season from a fellow season ticket holder who is also a very keen twitcher and arrived a few hours after me.

Most recently, I missed the home game against Spurs because of my ongoing attempts to photograph the Brown Booby in Cornwall. (I had also missed a home game against Spurs in 2009 for a Greenish Warbler on the Lizard because it was mooted as a possible Green Warbler.)

I won't get on to weddings, funerals, etc. Such things don't reflect well on me ........

All the best
 
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I gave up playing hockey for the Royal Aircraft Establishment not long after really getting into twitching. I was no longer prepared to guarantee I would be in a particular place at a particular time.

The only things that fall outside that decision these days are family weddings and maybe - just maybe - funerals. Even then a few of my family felt the need to instruct me that I had no choice over my own wedding.... which just goes to show how little they understood me, I'd decided that already!

Everything else comes under the heading of cancellable.

John
 
I do understand fully, people who don't value or like sports.

I'm afraid that for me certain sports are in my blood, in fact the feelings of pleasure or disappointment that my respective hobbies generate are all things being considered, very similar.

That moment of pleasure when you connect with a great bird is not dissimilar to your team scoring a goal.

I like having different hobbies, they may be polar opposite in many respects, but I think its no bad thing to have a variety of interests. Love them all equally.
 
I do understand fully, people who don't value or like sports.

I'm afraid that for me certain sports are in my blood, in fact the feelings of pleasure or disappointment that my respective hobbies generate are all things being considered, very similar.

That moment of pleasure when you connect with a great bird is not dissimilar to your team scoring a goal.

I like having different hobbies, they may be polar opposite in many respects, but I think its no bad thing to have a variety of interests. Love them all equally.

I also have other hobbies (aircraft photography for instance) and enjoy them very much, but I'm quite clear about the hierarchy when a lifer turns up! :t:

John
 
I also have other hobbies (aircraft photography for instance) and enjoy them very much, but I'm quite clear about the hierarchy when a lifer turns up! :t:

John

Yes must admit when a lifer comes up, that does tend to usurp a football match for instance, though not if it was for example (hypothetically speaking) a Cup final involving my team.

Also love aircraft, it was my most popular thread on Birdforum :)-.

Some poeple like cars with a souped-up exhaust to create noise, but once they've seen a Lightning or Typhoon they might appreciate why they're just like fart-box to me.

Your photographs are quite superb John, I often see them. Love the vintage stuff too. So yes, aviation, birding, and football for me, plus a lesser admiration / interest of certain cricket, rugby, and boxing events. I don't really love boxing per se, but when its people you know who you've grown up with, its tribalness becomes as interesting as football.

But seeing a male Pallid Harrier, white Gyrfalcon, Great Grey Owl, or Sibe Rubythroat is as good as it can get for me.
 
Leeds always came first for me season ticket holder for years went to most away games followed them all over Europe, didn't get seriously back into birding until the mid nineties even these days only go to a dozen home games but would go to the game if I'd already bought a ticket before a twitch.
 
Leeds always came first for me season ticket holder for years went to most away games followed them all over Europe, didn't get seriously back into birding until the mid nineties even these days only go to a dozen home games but would go to the game if I'd already bought a ticket before a twitch.
Totally irrelevant but my old man taught Carl Harris. Don’t know if you remember him?
 
I know a keen birder who, when I twitched with him in the 80s, would never miss an Ipswich home match for a bird. I'm not a huge sports fan so it has never been a major conflict but next Saturday morning it'd have to be something truly amazing for me to miss England vs The All Blacks. I certainly wouldn't miss it just to get something on my British list.

I have had a huge amount of conflict with social events however.
 
Actually, thinking about this, I am pretty sure that a member of the Top Ten in 1993 missed the Cley Pacific Swift because West Brom were in a play off final at Wembley.

All the best
 
Actually, thinking about this, I am pretty sure that a member of the Top Ten in 1993 missed the Cley Pacific Swift because West Brom were in a play off final at Wembley.

All the best

Yes Paul, my mate Steve Nuttall (I presume you mean him?) lives about 300 yards from me.

When Wolves were in the Play-Off Final, I wouldn't have missed it for the world either.

But Steve's a premier League twitcher and a fantastic birder to boot, absolutely dedicated and eyes as sharp as razors. He literally runs Belvide Reservoir, cycling the 5 miles each way daily, puts me to absolute shame when it comes to my 'no hardship, easy-birding' attitude. Its just the way I am. A hobby has to be relaxing for me, the polar-opposite to football which I find stressful and energy-sapping - and that's just watching it :)-.
 
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