BBC Twitching Documentary (2 Viewers)

[Chris Galvin]

Lock them in a hide at Minsmere and carry on.... see how long before they start hitting each other for being noisy, having smelly egg sandwiches, mis-identifying common birds, having their pagers on bleep, reminiscing constantly instead of watching what is out there, slagging absent friends off......

Unmissable TV.

John

I'm Thinking Dean Eades and Richard Abr....

That long running Bird Forum soap opera.

 

[username]

McKinney,

How I have missed your blog. Gonna start a Bird Forum thread to canvas opinion to put pressure on ya to start it up again. Afterall what is there to do where you live up in Royston Vasey, errm I mean Glossop

I imagine that Mr.McKinney is up-to his armpits in 'domestic bliss'...[yunno..the sort of thing that passes for normality]. He's probably too busy puttin up shelves and unblocking toilets in his spare time...and other such 'joys'! [I cud be completely wrong of course].
I too miss 'skillsbills'..[was a real hoot as we all know]...but perhaps the man deserves 'a break' tho....it must have taken a lot of his time. Maybe he's in a clinic now...a recovering bloggerholic...and if that is the case i wish him a speedy recovery...

ps...thanks for all that amusing 'tosh' Tom...brilliant!

 

[POP]

One of my bestest(est) pals is an assistant producer who used to work for the BBC, and for a long time he was mad keen on the idea of making a documentary about people in love with watching birds. He wanted to push the idea to some independent production companies. We began to cobble together ideas and a rudimentary outline for the programme, and I insisted that it shouldn't just show birdy people as a load of eccentric twitcher weirdos, but instead try to convey why so many people choose to spend so much of their lives engrossed in birdy things, the full spectrum: from UK twitchers and world birders to musicians directly inspired by birdsong and even a few crazed 2-tons-a-week-of-niger-seed garden birders. Definitely the latter. We even agreed that some of the filming should be "quite beautiful".

It was also going to try and reflect the social diversity of birdy people, from corrupt high court judges soaked in brandy to homeless vermin soaked in Mad Dog 20:20, from religious leaders to large percentages of the sex offenders register. All bound together by a love of birds.

And so (helped by a whiteboard, the use of expressions such as blue sky thinking and a paper bag of boiled sweets) we thought up a few ideas - wowzer! - and what ideas they were! But unfortunately it was all just incredibly twee and p1ss boring. Ultimately, we reluctantly admitted that the programme would have to focus primarily on eccentrics and nut-jobs in order for it to make compelling entertainment for non-birdy folk, and unfortunately zooming off to see vagrants would have to make up a large part of it. I guess the thrill of seawatching out of your car window or the subtelties of Speyside crossbill vocalizations will perhaps never make it to mainstream TV.

And so that was the end of what would probably have been the greatest ever birdy documentary. A great loss to you all.

But life goes on. My pal went to work on a little known programme called Dragons Den and then moved on to some fancy job at ITV where he gets to wear a laminated badge with his name in capital letters. Apparently he has no regrets.

And as for me? Well I'm just a simple soul: the wind in my hair and the odd episode of Columbo is all I need in life.

But one day, one distant day, you never know, we might just get that whiteboard out again...

Tommy dear boy how lovely to read your erudite wit,I just knew you would reappear again,maybe Tim might be persuaded to return as well.

POP

 

[Chris Galvin]

All off topic I know, but here goes

New thread started for the Tom Mckinney campaign http://www.birdforum.net/showthread.php?p=1555675#post1555675

 

[PhilW]

One idea might be to get some of the most opinionated twitchers/birders and ego/megalomaniacs n stick em in a 'lock-up' house...[big bruvver stylee]. Then introduce the odd transexual and a few 'robin strokers'...and get em to discuss the 'slender billed curlew/chicken' uk record. Add alcohol n music....then watch the fools trying to dance...that shud be a larf....i'd watch that...

Now I wonder who that would be then.................
Are you trying to tell us G B's the wrong person?

 

[pie]

Talkin' of giant gonads, I got caught red-handed by a local farmer at the weekend as I attempted to digiscope the 'knackers' of his prize bull! I'm not kiddin' ya, they were like Phil & Grant Mitchell's two heads in a hessian sack.

I just know I'm going to regret my next Q......

Why were you attempting to digiscope the Bulls nethers Archie? |:$|

 

[Archie Archer]

I just know I'm going to regret my next Q......

Why were you attempting to digiscope the Bulls nethers Archie? |:$|

I was gonna post a picture of them everytime I came across a posting on here that I didn't like. Saying that it might be easier to take a quick snap of my very own 'twin silo baby batter factory' & post that instead. :smoke:

 

[Archie Archer]

And as for me? Well I'm just a simple soul: the wind in my hair and the odd episode of Columbo is all I need in life.

<FUMBLES AROUND IN THE POCKET OF HIS TRENCH COAT> "Oh Sir, just one more thing.... my wife was a big fan of your blog...."

 

[username]

I just know I'm going to regret my next Q......

Why were you attempting to digiscope the Bulls nethers Archie? |:$|

Are you regretting asking the question now 'Pie'?!

 

[Tractorboy69]

See also 'Clegg's People' in the 80s (possibly only broadcast in the Yorkshire region).

Excellent series! Starred in the 'Birdwatching at Cley' episode when filmed in Nancy's.

Simon

 

[Vespa]

Excellent series! Starred in the 'Birdwatching at Cley' episode when filmed in Nancy's.

Simon

Top series, from what I remember! You must have got Yorkshire TV in N Norfolk then?!

 

[Tractorboy69]

Top series, from what I remember! You must have got Yorkshire TV in N Norfolk then?!

In those days Yorkshire TV was the far stronger signal along the coast then Anglia TV ever was.

Simon

 

[Vespa]

In those days Yorkshire TV was the far stronger signal along the coast then Anglia TV ever was.

Simon

Actually I remember the Yorkshire TV map extending to North Norfolk, never quite understood why. There was (and probably still is) a running joke that local Yorkshire TV was rather Leeds-centric; a cat up a tree in Roundhay Park would always take precident over a full scale riot in Sheffield, so you stood no chance of a report from N Norfolk. It must have been very useful knowing what was happening on the backstreets of Leeds on a daily basis! Worth putting up with though if you got Clegg's People.

 

[liverpool_bob]

Actually I remember the Yorkshire TV map extending to North Norfolk, never quite understood why. There was (and probably still is) a running joke that local Yorkshire TV was rather Leeds-centric;

In East Yorks they call the local TV news 'Lincolnshire Today'. To be fair nothing ever happens in E.Yorks apart from the odd Amur Falcon.

 

[Julian Thomas]

Got interviewed by Yorkshire TV at the Tattershall Bridge (Lincs) White-billed Diver in '96 - I never saw it, but I know it went out 'cos of the stick I got at the Cedar Waxwing not long after!

 

[pie]

Are you regretting asking the question now 'Pie'?!

Yep!! |:$|

 

[Mike Richardson]

In East Yorks they call the local TV news 'Lincolnshire Today'. To be fair nothing ever happens in E.Yorks apart from the odd Amur Falcon.

To be fair every programme starts with another murder in Hull (E. Yorks), then goes on to cover a various crappy news stories from Lincs and north Norfolk.
'Rare' birds at Tophill do seem to be getting a large amount of coverage at the moment for some strange reason - perhaps getting footage for said documentary.

 

[Xenospiza]

'Rare' birds at Tophill do seem to be getting a large amount of coverage at the moment for some strange reason - perhaps getting footage for said documentary.

You're too kind – we all know they need all the help they can get.

 

[Steve Dunn]

While we are on about tv shows - I was chatting to a pal recently and discussing birding programmes we've seen over the years and I brought up one I saw a few years ago.... It was a C4 production, I think only half hour long and when I caught it, it was broadcast at some stupid time like 4.35am. I think it had been shown a week or so earlier at a more reasonable time. It featured Rich Bonser sat in a hide (in Norfok?) discussing twitching etc.. Also Lee was featured on the programme too, sat in a darkened room looking sinister, dripping in gold jewellery and discussing (i think) Adrian Webb and his year-list record attempt.
Does anyone know what the programme was called and if there's any way of getting to see it again?

Cheers
Steve

 

[draycotebirding]

While we are on about tv shows - I was chatting to a pal recently and discussing birding programmes we've seen over the years and I brought up one I saw a few years ago.... It was a C4 production, I think only half hour long and when I caught it, it was broadcast at some stupid time like 4.35am. I think it had been shown a week or so earlier at a more reasonable time. It featured Rich Bonser sat in a hide (in Norfok?) discussing twitching etc.. Also Lee was featured on the programme too, sat in a darkened room looking sinister, dripping in gold jewellery and discussing (i think) Adrian Webb and his year-list record attempt.
Does anyone know what the programme was called and if there's any way of getting to see it again?

Cheers
Steve

Think it was called "Bird Nuts" says it all really

John