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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Kits" data-source="post: 3540617" data-attributes="member: 28106">Two articles in The Times today relate how the use of Twitter has led to an increase in younger people being interested in birding.<a href="http://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/hipster-twitchers-8fl86qm0j" target="_blank">Hipster Twitchers</a>:A survey of our habits has shown that young men are increasingly buying binoculars, putting on waders and going twitching, with 32 per cent of men between 16 and 25 having given it a go. The most important catalyst, young birders say, has been social media.Whereas once a birder had to use a complex system of written and telephone correspondence to alert fellow enthusiasts that a Siberian chiffchaff was unexpectedly wintering in Cornwall, they can now simply send their spot to Twitter or post in specialist ornithology groups on Facebook. One such group, Next Generation Birders, is solely populated by under-25s eager to shrug off twitching’s staid reputation. ...and <a href="http://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/twitter-sends-the-young-flocking-to-birdwatching-8v0l8b3fn" target="_blank">Twitter sends the young flocking to birdwatching</a>:Far from being the preserve of middle-aged men in camouflage, it turns out that birding is increasingly trendy among 16 to 25-year-olds, something the twitchers put down to Twitter.It is one of a number of old-fashioned hobbies, including knitting, needlework, gardening and baking, enjoying a renaissance. A nationwide survey of hobbies and interests found that 32 per cent of men aged 16 to 25 have been birdwatching.Despite the hobby’s reputation for swampy hides and heavy, expensive optical equipment, the highest proportion of people who said they had spent time spotting birds were from London, where one in three people said they had tried it. Only 11 per cent of people surveyed in Wales said the same. ...</blockquote>

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