Nice one Lee
Re notebooks he is probably right that fewer people use them. But part of the reason for this is due to the amount of Photographers around with good equipment that captures most of the ID criteria.
Which is partly responsible for the lack of field skills that Lee refers to perhaps? If someone can't/or won't bother to ID something in the field, with all the live gizz, behaviour etc etc, there's a big chunk missing in the learning curve imo - and ultimately problematic if the photos aren't conclusive enough for separating confusion species or if, as we sometimes see, the photos are relied on for identification by others as a 'rule of thumb'.
But of course, putting time and effort in to come to grips with field identification/calls/craft etc is perhaps just one aspect of the hobby and one that might not appeal to everyone since it's a rather long drawn out process of 'learning' that never comes to a finite position and can be a right headache!
As far as competitive listing is concerned, I don't personally engage with it, again, something that doesn't appeal to everyone, however, if I did, I'd be a bit wracked off if I'd put in hours/years of hard work in the field, thousands of miles in twitching, spent loads of money in doing so to reach the heady realms of top listers, only to be 'beaten' by someone who's, for whatever reason, taken a few short cuts to expand their list. And yes, I'd want to make sure that those records were reliable, not stringed, mistaken, made up etc etc - including my own.
At the end of the day, I'd rather go birding with Lee than many of the other 'expert' birders I've been birding with over the years because his is an approach to the hobby that sits very comfortably with me.
(And what the heavens does his dress sense have to do with anything! I wear secondhand combat trousers, bulky walking boots and anoraks that are usually several sizes too big for me - hardly the picture of female sartorial elegance!)
