P
peter hayes
Guest
A few days ago while sauntering down Bowling Green Lane, Topsham, near Exeter, in Devon, a man who seemed to be in rather a hurry asked brusquely: "Is it still here?"
I had to ponder for a moment what he meant by ‘it’. Did he mean the FOUR Spoonbills all in a row showing excellently from the hide. Or perhaps he meant the Swallows, Swifts or House Martins swooping in front of us. Or perhaps the massed ranks of Black-tailed Godwits.
No, he meant the Glossy Ibis (which of course we had seen often before). I told him exactly where Izzy was and he marched off. He missed Izzy because of a sudden downpour, but an hour or so later, while we were scoping Izzy (who looked in tremendous form, by the way), he reappeared.
He explained that Izzy ‘was at least a tick’, given that he had come down to Cornwall from London overnight to see some rarity or other about which he had been informed via a pager message. By the time he got there it had gone. As he reached Exeter he was informed of yet another rarity in Cornwall (via the pager again) but decided he couldn’t go back all that way, so he decided to take a detour to see the Glossy Ibis as some form of compensation.
I observed him closely. He watched Izzy for all of two minutes. Then he informed us that his pager had gone off again and he had to go. This time to Portland, where he hoped he would have better luck. There was no joy in what he did. In fact he was rather angry that he’d gone all the way to Cornwall and been cheated of his prey.
He had become a slave to his pager. I know some BF members subscribe to pager services, but quite frankly, if it makes you turn into a machine – like this man – I want nothing to do with them.
I had to ponder for a moment what he meant by ‘it’. Did he mean the FOUR Spoonbills all in a row showing excellently from the hide. Or perhaps he meant the Swallows, Swifts or House Martins swooping in front of us. Or perhaps the massed ranks of Black-tailed Godwits.
No, he meant the Glossy Ibis (which of course we had seen often before). I told him exactly where Izzy was and he marched off. He missed Izzy because of a sudden downpour, but an hour or so later, while we were scoping Izzy (who looked in tremendous form, by the way), he reappeared.
He explained that Izzy ‘was at least a tick’, given that he had come down to Cornwall from London overnight to see some rarity or other about which he had been informed via a pager message. By the time he got there it had gone. As he reached Exeter he was informed of yet another rarity in Cornwall (via the pager again) but decided he couldn’t go back all that way, so he decided to take a detour to see the Glossy Ibis as some form of compensation.
I observed him closely. He watched Izzy for all of two minutes. Then he informed us that his pager had gone off again and he had to go. This time to Portland, where he hoped he would have better luck. There was no joy in what he did. In fact he was rather angry that he’d gone all the way to Cornwall and been cheated of his prey.
He had become a slave to his pager. I know some BF members subscribe to pager services, but quite frankly, if it makes you turn into a machine – like this man – I want nothing to do with them.
