Put Simply: Why Birds?

Good *insert appropriate time of day* everyone. How are we all doing today? Feel free to answer the question out loud to your screen as you read this. Don't worry, practically no one will think you're weird. You'll either be in lockdown alone or with your family who know you're odd anyway.

It's a question I get asked all the time... okay some of the time... actually I can't remember anyone being curious enough to genuinely ask me. In any case, I'll tell you all anyway seeing as you're all so keen to know. The question of course being 'Why birds?' We all have our own hobbies, whether it be crochet, baking or writing useless blogs. For me, I'd rather spend my weekends freezing in a hide or wandering through woodland and to many people, this may seem weird and intensely dull. Watching ducks is arguably on a par with watching paint dry. You aren't just genetically born with a fondness for flora and fauna, with every nature lover having their own anecdotes for who and what inspired them. As such, here's my summarised story for 'Why birds?'

On the most intrinsic level, humans and nature have had a mutual bond since the dawn of time, but since this isn't a history lesson, the point is that we all like animals in some way shape or form. It's why we have pets, it's why we love The Lion King and it's why some of us get questionable tattoos of dolphins. There isn't a human on the planet that doesn't have a favourite animal or had at some point been fascinated by something an animal has done. When you boil it down, the fact that I'm obsessed with birds is merely a more specified version of that. On the flip side, we all like chocolate but if you got a Cadbury's tattoo, that might be concerning.

That explains quite simply where the initial seed of inspiration derived from, but there's plenty of other personal factors that have shaped my bird-nerd mindset. To cut a long story short, sport wasn't my thing. In a household where everyone else was athletic as hell, that made me ever so slightly the odd one out. What it then meant was that (1) I had to find something else to fill my mind and (2) I had plenty of time whilst everyone else was off being sporty in which to do it. Trust me on this one, cricket pitches and golf courses can be great wildlife. If my family would travel the country for some sporty reason, there'd usually be a zoo or a nature reserve nearby, so that helped. Even when I didn't need to leave the house, growing up in Norfolk probably had a huge say in shaping the way I am. Essentially, having The Fens, The Brecks, The Broads and The Norfolk Norfolk coast within driving distance would seem like a dream come true for most birders.

So with any strenuous exercise out of the question, why not just be obsessed with any form of wildlife? Why not trees or insects? In the UK at least, the most bountiful and easy to see animals tend to fly and have feathers. We don't have any mega-fauna any more (damn you, ice age and prehistoric man) so birds happen to be the most prominent variety of animal to enjoy. To get a fix of wildlife beyond endlessly watching David Attenborough, the other solution is to go outside and find it yourself. Kestrels hunting mice aren't the same as lions stalking wildebeest but it's intriguing in it's own right. For birds specifically, they were relatively easy to learn when I was younger, easy to find and were interesting to watch. Young me didn't have much of an attention span for fungi or orchids, I needed something that at least flapped or made a noise. Don't judge little me.

But Jack, I hear you ask, they're just beaked organisms that sometimes eat bread and occasionally defecate on my window, they can't be interesting? Well, if you take the time to learn about them, there's a whole world to explore. Birds have life cycles much like ours which makes great opportunities to anthropomorphise them. The phrase 'free as a bird' is part of what makes their study so captivating, in that there's no guarantees what you will see when. As mentioned in my earlier blog (*subtle plug alert*), birding is like gambling and it's the thrill of the unexpected that draws you in. Catching a glimpse of something rare and knowing you've experienced something unique can't be underestimated. The fact that the conservation of many species hangs in the balance, it adds but another layer of interest. In this case, there is both a willingness to try and help struggling species as well as revelling in the satisfaction of seeing one bounce back from the brink.

For many, an admiration for nature and birds specifically can be an experience shared. Whilst some are more than happy to walk on their own, a day out in the wild with family or friends can be thoroughly enjoyable. There's nothing like one-upping a friend or recalling a story of an improbable birding encounter. The birding community is a friendly one and you can always rely on someone more knowledgeable being on hand to help you identify something obscure. In addition, there's always something new to learn with birds. You can revise every bird book, back to front, but new research is always coming out, giving further insights into this captivating wild world. You can never know everything about birds.

You can bundle all these contexts and factors all together but to bring it all back again, I just enjoy being out in nature. At a time when I'd usually be in a London office or be crammed on a tube train, the opportunity to visit a woodland, a meadow, a marsh or an estuary provides a green respite from an otherwise grey backdrop. Not everyone goes out in search for wildlife but we can all appreciate an escape to a green space, even if it is for that perfect selfie. No one can say that they'd rather be stuffed in the city than out in the fresh air. Which quite perfectly brings me back round to where I started - we all like nature anyway.

In summary, what may seem like a bizarre hobby to some is merely a more focused admiration for this planet that we all call home. For anyone who doesn't share the same interest, my question to you would be 'why not birds?'

Peace out.

The most overrated rarities?

Good morning/afternoon/evening again. Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday, Sunday - it's one of those days.

I've always considered birding to be slightly similar to gambling. I'm not saying Slimbridge is Las Vegas but hear me out. The basis of human existence is the intrigue in the unobtainable. Gold and diamonds are hard to find and thus valuable, but the same goes for birds. Unlike planes, trains or automobiles, birds can fly off and away without any feasible tracking, therefore when a rarity is reported, there's a likelihood that everyone else may not see it.You take a punt and if your luck is in, happy days. Essentially, the rarer the bird, the slimmer the odds. No one is going all in to hope and see a mallard.

Twitchers are birders but not all birders are twitchers and although we aren't all glued to our twitter feeds to see when the next pectoral sandpiper or icterine warbler to drop in, we all have an idea about what would be great to see. What makes a bird rare or exciting can depend on a lot of factors, including usual distribution, habitat, conservation etc. However, the buzz you get is based on your own context and understanding of a species. Someone who has dreamed of seeing a hoopoe, has a tattoo of a hoopoe and has hoopoe bed linen would probably implode at their first sight of one. Likewise, if you lived by Gigrin Farm, red kites must feel like robins.The bigger and brighter birds tend to command greater attention, but there are some species that just don't hit the note. In this case, there are plenty of examples for birds that may get some juices flowing but may also leave much to be desired for others.

In my opinion (key point right there) and in no particular order, here are the UK's most overrated rarities. To be clear, these aren't necessarily boring birds, they're rarer species that receive more appreciation than they're arguably due.

Water pipit

Small brown job is a colloquial and often unfair grouping for similar-looking drab passerines, but many of these birds have redeeming qualities. Dunnocks have a fascinating courtship ritual, tree sparrows are an ultra-rarity and nightingales have one of the greatest songs in all of ornithology. Water pipits though... not much to write home about. Yes they are relatively difficult to find but once you've deciphered that you're looking at a slightly pink front in comparison to a meadow pipit, there's not much else to marvel at. Maybe if they did something else other than skulk around the waters edge, they may catch the eye a bit more. A lot of hype but not a lot to show for it.

Stock dove

Okay maybe this one is harsh, given the steep declines in breeding numbers over the last century, but these guys are essentially dolled down woodpigeons. They're certainly rarer but they're definitely no more exciting. For anyone bored of the generic feral pigeon, a trip to the countryside and a glimpse of a stock dove might be a welcome change but that's where the novelty wears off. I remember working with the Suffolk Wildlife Trust to help with surveying barn owls a few years ago. Out of around 10 barn owl boxes we checked, four of them were occupied by stock doves. When you hope to find an owl and one of these grey geezers stares you in the face, it's a bit of a let down.

Ring ouzel

A blackbird with a bib. That's all it is. If I told my friends I'd spend all day staring at a field to find a bird that looks like a vicar, they'd think I've gone mad. I'm sure the ring ouzel is popular with other thrushes as they can ordain weddings and carry out christenings but for me, I'm not buying it. At least wheatears have a splash of colour, they're much more credible. I'm willing to accept that their arrival does signal spring and that is something to celebrate, but until they evolve to be multicoloured or do something cool, they'll remain pretty drab.

Literally any fancy gull

They're white, they live by the coast and they send a whole bunch of birders into a stir. My disinterest in gulls is definitely not linked to the fact that they're very difficult to remember and all the varying differences. Whether it's a first winter, second summer, pale breasted, stripe billed or black wing-tipped gull, the differences are so minimal, it hurts my brain. I find it difficult to understand how birders can be overjoyed by knowing their glaucous from their iceland or their sabines from their caspian. Maybe I just need to brush up before I can join the elite Gull Appreciation Society but for the everyday birder, herring and black headed will do.

To clarify, the above list is not the say that these birds aren't valued and that people who rate these species is wrong. As mentioned, we all have our own ideas, based on our own contexts, about which birds can be more exciting than others. The species mentioned are all rare for a reason and for those actively declining in numbers, we should all be concerned for and actively trying to help with their conservation. In summary, don't hate me if you're a massive water pipit fan.

Did I miss any out? Which birds would you pop on the list? Let me know in the comments!

Peace out.

Introductions of sorts...

Good morning/afternoon/evening all. Let's be honest, who knows what day or time it is right now.

2020 hasn't got off to the best of starts but for all we know, this could be rock bottom. If so, things can surely only get better. Right? These are peculiar times but a slight crumb of comfort is that we're all stuck in this together. No one nation is outside partying whilst the remainder is grounded in their bedrooms. 'We're all in this together...' (Efron et al, 2007). For once, all those restaurants begging you to try their new menus or the tourist hot-spots luring you in with glossing sunset shots are actively telling you to stay as far away as possible.

On the bright side, at least the weather in the UK throughout lockdown has been dreadful. Oh wait, no it hasn't. When the natural world is at it's busiest, there's barely anyone to appreciate it. It's like Argos with no catalogue out there. Think of all those trees falling in the woods not making any sounds. Despite wildlife-watchers like myself being confined to scouring the skies for swallows but seeing only sparrows, I'm sure biodiversity is having a field day. Minimal disturbance and drastically reduced pollution can only be a bonus, so I'm sure plenty of species are revelling right now.

The reality is that I personally have all the free time I could ever want but only a world the size of my flat to explore. There's only so many times that you can bake banana bread or count how many planes fly over. So as a coping mechanism, I thought I'd share my thoughts/feelings/musings/experiences through this blog until inevitably the planet is fixed. As much as it'd be great to wake up and everything to go back to normal, but this isn't Alice in Wonderland.

What can I expect from this blog? Very good question. As a massive bird nerd longing to finally be let properly outside again, most of the content will be UK nature/wildlife related (yaaaaay) so if you expected me to outline my daily beauty routine or play Minecraft, sorry peeps. Basically if you love all things bright and beautiful, all creatures great and small, you might be vaguely interested with what I have to say. I'll be open to suggestions so also feel free to throw these in my general direction. This won't exactly be a scientific journal (because who has time for Harvard referencing, that's so undergrad) so don't expect any earth-shattering detail.

When can I expect this blog to start? Well... now if you want. Or however long it took you to read up until this point. Let's say 5 minutes ago?

When will this all be over? Soon and even sooner still if you stay at home and save lives. In a year where you can be arrested for having a picnic or fined for going on two jogs a day, don't be that guy.

Peace out.