Should I be trying harder?

[Kenn]

Have just watched The BBC2 programme on Twitchers and am now wondering whether I have not been trying hard enough!
I am quite content to see what turns up in the garden,to wander the countryside and lurk along the shore.
Now should I be getting the OH up at the crack of dawn, dead of night to chase the latest rumours,sightings and getting him to drive the length and breadth of the country or do I wish to stay married?
What is it with those people that all they want is to add another bird to their list?
I think I will just carry on as usual and am quite happy that in the last year I have seen aproximately 120 different species.
I do twitch from time to time but that is usually as a result of having sat on my feet for too long.

I wil now take my tongue out of my cheek and go check out the rumours that a group of penguins were spotted along The Pentland Firth.

[gleeber]

When I first got an interest in birdwatching I heard about a Ross's gull in Inverness and took off down. When I got there there was a line of twitchers, at least a hundred, underneath the bridge scopes at the ready. Ross didnt appear for anyone but I noticed a black swan down by the waters edge and said to the people around me. Look there's a black swan. I knew they were resident in Australia. No one was interested because it wasnt a wild bird. Probably an escapee from some park. Twitchers are an odd bunch.

[Skirza]

I'm with you Lizz, I would rather be classed as a 'birdwatcher' than a twitcher. I love birdwatching and to me that is appreciating our native birds from a bluetit to an eagle. Of course it's always a thrill to see something new but to me only if it's native. I have never seen the point of driving hundreds of miles to see something that has simply blown off course and landed by mistake in this country. I might, however, deliberately coerse the family into visiting an area where I would have a chance to see something I'd never seen before ( a trip to Norfolk comes to mind :D).