Mark Newsome
Born to seawatch...
Surprised that there hasn't been a post about the Isabelline Wheatear on the Durham thread.
I've been keeping an eye on sightings, but haven't been able to get down to Teeside this week. I'm able to get down the tomorrow.....so sensible bets would be that it's disappeared by then.... as sod's law dictates !
I rarely see any mention of rare bird sightings, even a few days after them being found (or even gone), here on the Durham or Northumberland threads( Hume's Yellow Browed being one example) Is there a 'closed shop' mentality between birders 'in the know' ? Things just seem less informative these days ! Maybe not as many birders bother with Birdforum nowadays.
I would love some feedback on how the Rainton Meadows site is coming along. I went there in the summer and it was in the middle of massive landscaping works.....lots of mud, no birds. I saw my first Bittern there, from the 'freezer'. Hope it's going well down there
All the best folks,
Richard
Times change...
As Renton mentioned, news of the Isabelline Wheatear was on Twitter (free bird news service) within minutes of its confirmation. There have been regular updates every day on both the Teesmouth Bird Club and Durham Bird Club sightings pages (again, open access to all), on the Rare Bird Info thread on Birdforum, plus constant updates on the subscription services such as Birdguides and RBA. I guess its fully covered in so many places that noone sees a need for general info on here? Not a 'closed shop', but more adapting your knowledge of where to look for interesting local news.
As to general info, it has always been the case that enthusiasm for BF comes and goes. A few local Durham patchers have blogs, some keep themselves to themselves and use other ways of passing info on, some don't want to pass news on, some don't have computer access, some don't like using open forums and all the 'banter' that can come it... Personally, nearly all my watching is at Whitburn Obs and full sightings go on Trektellen and highlights on Twitter; I don't have the time to do updates on all that I see on other websites. Maybe others are the same. But things may/will change in the coming year and it only takes someone with a bit of persistance to get interest in a BF thread going again.
Mark
