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BBC Twitching Documentary (1 Viewer)

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It's a great shame if LGRE isn't on this programme, for the entertainment value if nothing else. Whatever your views on him (and there can't be many of us who don't have any)he is the epitome of the obsessive twitcher. Also, what you see is what you get. There is no pretence, no playing up to the cameras, no wanting to be noticed, no trying to make himself look interesting.
The behaviour, the rationale, however obsessive and extreme are genuine.
Whilst the Channel 4 documentary was riddled with set-ups the soccer match/YB Cuckoo it's all over now, Dipper rowing from Norfolkto Scilly etc at least you knew Lee's behaviour was genuine. You know that he was really and utterly genuinely bamboozled as to why an aircraft pilot wasn't prepared to drop everything else in his life and drag himself over to the airport for an unscheduled journey that may or may not be required at a minute's notice dependant on a phone call from a Cornish cliff top relating to a tiny living bundle of feathers. Lee's face said it all, he just couldn't fathom the pilot/airline's thought process and priorities.
To fully understand the obsession that is twitching and the real passion involved they should have followed the master.
Still looking forward to watching it though.
 
I tend to agree with Mike. Although you don't want the same old faces hogging the screen it seems like a dereliction of duty to screen a programme about 'twitching' without LGRE in there somewhere - even if it's only for a few minutes. For example I'd love to hear what he thinks about some of the personalities that have entered the game in recent years. Would be great value I reckon.

Out of interest LGRE turned up at Filey the other day in torrential rain to catch a glimpse of a Wryneck on the cliff side, having just seen the Rustic Bunt at Flannelborough, and was on his way up north for a Woodchat. Can't imagine Brett doing that.
 
Is it definite that LGRE isn't in this documentary?

Was he invited to participate....and if not, why not????

I agree we need to see him "in the field" as that is what he does.

I am so looking forward to viewing!!!!
 
naturistbird said:
Is it definite that LGRE isn't in this documentary?

Was he invited to participate....and if not, why not????

I agree we need to see him "in the field" as that is what he does.

I am so looking forward to viewing!!!!
Click to expand...

Well as Barry Gagnell is the master's young apprentice the force will be strong in him, so I'm sure at the very least we'll feel his presence..
 
You can hold out hope that LGRE might appear, looking at the Radio Times review:

"This wry film follows competitive bird watchers chasing new ticks on their lists. The governor is Lee Evans (not the comic) who is also birding's policeman. "It's like putting Dracula in charge of the National Blood Transfusion Service," comments a rival. It's a small world..."


DunnoKev
---------
"Mods." Discuss.
 
So the schedule for Monday 1 November on BBC4 is:

21:00 Twitchers: A Very British Obsession
22:00 Natural World: Cuckoo
22:50 Why Birds Sing

Then on Wednesday 3 November:

20:30 Johnny Kingdom's Year with Birds
21:00 Birds Britannia

The programmes above, except for Natural World, are then repeated at various times throughout the week after first transmission.
 
The Guardian Guide

The Guardian features the programme in 'pick of the day' for Mon 1 Nov 2010...
* Twitchers: A Very British Obsession The world of bird spotters. 9pm, BBC4

Twitchers are birdwatchers-cum-trainspotters who vie with each other to spot as many species of rare bird as possible across the British Isles. These are men who at the drop of a hint of a sandhill crane alighted temporarily in the Orkneys wil drive all the way up from Sussex to add it to their personal tally, sometimes with families in tow. "It's about birds and people - because they go hand in hand." says one. Hand in wing, surely? All entertainingly revealing about the anal retention and sheer lack of proportion fundamental to the British male character. DS
Click to expand...

Richard
 
Quote from Daily Telegraph... review of today's programme:..

They utter phrases such as,"It's like warfare....95 percent boredom and 5 percent mayhem" and "Birding is my fulfilment"- these are twitchers, or birdwatchers, and they are deadly serious. As this affectionate film shows, this is a world of oneupmanship, in which lists are painstakingly compiled as each sighting is noted, the rarer the better. Lists are everything to twitchers: they themselves are ranked by the number of species they've seen in the UK.
Among these fanatical birders are Gary, who thinks nothing of driving the length of Britain in the hope of adding to his tally; Lee, who says the sport is riddled with cheats; and Maya, who is just nine and gets lifts from her father to help her quest.

Simon Horsford.
 
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Having seen just a couple of minutes of said programme, I can tell it's going to be a load of shite...with our noble hobby solely portraid by a bunch of Knubends..

Off to listen to Pistols....B :)

M
 
matt green said:
Having seen just a couple of minutes of said programme, I can tell it's going to be a load of shite...with our noble hobby solely portraid by a bunch of Knubends..

Off to listen to Pistols....B :)

M
Click to expand...

Agree I gave up on it after 5 minutes.
 
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