Hello Bird World!

Well, every other birder that I know seems to have their own blog so I thought it was about time I got around to having one too.  I don’t like being left out!

Presumably anyone reading this (optimistic I know) has navigated here accidentally.  However, if you do continue to read this then be warned – you will not read anything interesting, or exciting on here.  No full frame pics of migrants, no exciting tales of finding rares on far flung islands, no warts and all accounts of travelling across the country for a mega…just the occasional brief summary of the small amount of time that I’ve managed to squeeze a bit of birding in between work and kids, occasionally illustrated with the odd fuzzy record shot.

So who am I?  I’m a birder living and working in Northumberland but, as I often work all over the country, often find myself birding away from home.  I’m obsessed with finding my own rares, although I’m not very good at it.  I’m also prone to the odd twitch if about a thousand variables align themselves correctly all at the same time.  My local patch for the last 12 years has been Grindon Lough, a small, shallow natural lake on Hadrian’s Wall, which I try and get to several times a week.  It’s nothing special but does reward me with the occasional good bird.  At least it’s a lot better than the concrete basin that I previously patched for over ten years in inland Lancashire!