“I don’t need brown shearwater” said the first man smugly. “Nor me” said the second man,”I saw one on a pelagic off Australia 2 years ago”…..and so the conversation went on………….and on……….and on.
I thought of my limited experience of bird-watching……….I have never seen a brown shearwater…..but oddly, I still don’t feel I “need” one.
I remember my first meeting with a “twitcher”. He walked into a hide a couple of years ago, whilst I was the only occupant. I was watching a water rail, and was delighting in watching this shy, secretive bird at such close quarters. He asked me if there was anything about, so I pointed out the rail, and mentioned the few curlew sandpipers and spotted redshank which were nearby. He grunted, quickly scanned the waders and left.
He obviously didn’t “need” a water rail, or any of the other species around at that time, so after about 2 minutes…he was gone. In that time, he had received a pager message and was probably off in search of a “tick”.
I poured myself a coffee from my flask, and continued watching the rail as it worked its way along the water’s edge, about 10 metres away from me. I had been in the hide for 2 hours, and would probably be there for another hour or so.
On that day, I did not “need” a water rail…….more than I “need” the blue tits on the feeders in my garden….yet their antics intrigue me, fascinate me, and I can watch them for hours.
Some of my friends call me a “twitcher”. I dress in green and brown clothes, have walking boots, a rucksack, a ‘scope, binoculars and even a woolly hat in winter!I get up at ridiculous hours to catch the dawn, and I travel once a year for a few days in Norfolk or Suffolk, but I am not a twitcher. I receive daily e-mails, giving details of rarities – surely heading towards twitcherdom? I must admit here officially, that I have responded twice to these messages by jumping into my car and heading off…..one was a spoonbill 2 miles from my home, the other a woodchat shrike, a full 3 miles away!..must remember to keep the car topped up with petrol! One e-mail told me of a lesser yellowlegs about 20 miles away…..i went shopping instead. (I “needed” bread, eggs, milk, baked beans etc. more than I needed a yellowlegs). The obliging bird waited around all winter for me to visit…… I did a lot of shopping that winter. 20 miles?….no way!
I heard of two Scandinavian twitchers who chartered a helicopter to fly to Scotland to see some egret or other, then flew to Wales to see an American redhead duck…..they wont be “needing” them again. I find this type of behaviour odd, and wonder what the attraction is.
So when people say that I am “sad” that I delight in bird-watching, I in turn am eternally grateful that I am not a “twitcher”. Twitching is the extreme version of train-spotting. There is no heart and no soul. No appreciation of beauty, colour, grace, elegance or speed. No marveling at quirky behaviour or the joy of emergence of a new life from a nest. If it isn’t a “tick”, it’s not worth seeing.
I have less than 200 species on my “life list”….I know of someone with over 2,000…..If I could afford it, would I go on 3 birding holidays a year all over the world, with birds being put on a plate for me just so I can add them to my list, then back in the bus and off to the next spot? No, because there is no heart and no soul.
I have often told my friends “If I become a twitcher, you have permission to shoot me”. One day I may regret that. What if I become bored with the stunning beauty of a kingfisher, the power and speed of a peregrine, the clown-like antics of a coal tit or the fortune of having a nuthatch at my nut-feeder every day. These are the things I “need”. I may have never seen a brown shearwater…..but I don’t think I need to.
