Black throated thrush etc,

Erm, if its the amount of photographs you've seen of this bird. surely you should be directing your comment to one of your photography websites. and ask the photographers this question.

II've only ever twitched once and it was a couple of years ago when the White Tailed lLapwing was at Caerlaverock. and it wasn't really a twitch, since we were going down that way anyway.  It was busy weh we arrived but apparently the two day previously had been outrageous. The carry on of some was just incredulous.- climbing the outside of Hides etc.  Crazy stuff. but real birders couldnit get into hides or suitable viewing posts because they were full of people with cameras and huuuuge lenses, photographers and not real birders as such.  and I;m sorry but when u see lines and lines of people watching a rarity its alway the photographers who are closest to the birds even with their huge multi £K lenses.

So I think photographers are every bit as guilty as birders

Susan, Well thats what I mean, it's the fervor with which these birds are pursued - the hysteria a rare bird seems to produce.

I don't believe that it is in the bird's best interests.

Personally speaking I have to say though that yes - I have a camera and a HUUUUUGE lens! but I have never been in a hide in my life, and I certainly would never chase a little hungry bird up and down a county just for a picture,

After all it looks just like a Song thrush!!

Lastly the sites I mentioned are photography sites - and don't have forums like this one if they did I certainly would have started a thread.

Apologies for jumping to conclusions. and it wasn't just twitchers you meant.  some of the twitching stories are horrendous.  People trawling through peoples gardens etc just to get a tick in a book, I really cant understand it, and when they start flying all over the country and driving insane amounts of miles through the night for hours, I don't understand the need or the want

Like you I;d  rather go and out for the day and see what turns up.

No problem:)  I absolutely agree that there are people (photographers included) that go too far.

I remember a few years ago when there was a Snowy owl in an unusual place in the UK,

People were following the bird around relentlessly - waking it up during the day and making it fly so that they could get a nice flight image....

My point is, if there is a rare or unusual bird - possibly driven over the Atlantic by a hurricane or whatever,surely rather than chasing it around to - as Susan says ''tick the book'' it would be best left alone, and given a chance to survive??

Sorry to get all serious I'm not usually like this at all!!!

Hi Jimbo,

                Interesting post.

I had first hand experience of a carpark full of Twitchers yesterday at one of my local nature reserve.

I was having a trip out and about, which I do several times a week. I arrived at the carpark to find it full to the brim.

There was quite a few people gathered, humping and lugging huge camera's and scopes.

I was somewhat disappointed as I was hoping to have a quite walk.

I then thought it could be a guided walk and thought I might join in, so I wound the window down and asked is there a guided walk taking place.

"No" was the reply "aren't you here to see the Ringed Neck Duck" came another response.

"I was hoping to have a quite walk to see what resident birds were about after the severe weather we have had" I replied.

I was then asked if I had seen the Black Throated Thrush in North Yorkshire, again my reply was no.

I got quite a few bemused looks, that I wasn't dashing out of my car to go and see this bird!

I didn't get out of the car to go and see a bird that I have never seen before, I just went home.

From what I have read over the years, Bird Ticks become an obsession.

I personally don't understand what drives an individual to become so obsessive, just my view!

There are companies who produce Bird Tick software which anables you to map and grid reference your sightings, databases etc

The only other thing that I want to mention is I can recall during the 60's and 70's a number of books that were published called I Spy.

I Spy Birds

I Spy Birds of Prey

I'm sure there were more bird publications in the series!

They were aimed at young children to help with education about certain subjects, at the back of the books there was a list of birds and a point scoring system for each bird.

An example been a Blue Tit may have been 5 points and a Golden Eagle 100

So, was this the start of the Twitching fraternity!!!!

Twitchers, Birders, Bird Watchers, Ornitholigists, Professional Birders, Ringers etc

Regards Buzzard

Sparrow/ Buzzard, exactly my view - go out and see what you might find, if you don't find anything - well such is life....there will be other days.....that's the definition of a Birder for me.

A large jostling crowd armed to the teeth with scopes, camera equipment and binoculars, all desperate to ''twitch'' some poor lost bedraggled creature that's probably doomed anyway, is my definition of the Twitchers.

There is a big difference between a twitcher and a birder, It's like someone who likes trains - as opposed to a trainspotter.....

Just my opinion:)

Personally speaking I love birds, and I love to take pictures of birds.

I also enjoy taking pics of rare and exciting birds, but I would never knowingly jeopardize ANY birds safety or security with my actions, I'm lucky enough to live in an area that allows me to do what I like doing, and even though 90 percent of the time I will go home after a long day with nothing, just being in the areas I love - and having the chance of seeing some of its brilliant wildlife is enough for me.

 I feel that we must have a responsibility to the subjects of our interest - and as such, if our 'hobbies'' in any way detract from the well being of those subjects, then we should possibly reconsider our actions.

I decided , after watching such a scrum on a couple of occasions, that if I spotted any unusual bird, I would photograph it ( for ID confirmation)  but not report it untill it had gone. From what I could see, these people didn't seem to care about the bird itself, or other birds or nests in the same vicinity, as long as they got their photograph and their tick in the book.

Hi Brenda, same here!

I have to say that I have not come across a lot of big time 'twitchers' as such yet myself.

My nearest 'birders' experience was at Leighton Moss (last December) when a lot of well armed Twitchers stood with lenses set up looking over at the Little Egret colony.  The cars where parked in a passing point on the road that was quite narrow.  So it would not help the traffic to have cars parked in awkward places so the whole roadway comes to a grinding halt.

I have heard of experience with peoples OTT obsession with a full on twitch.  I have to say I do not understand the human requirement with chasing an unusual bird that has gone off course, lost its etc.. way to add to the birds stress levels.  The birds welfare is the most important thing to consider

One of the worst stories I have heard is one of a group of twitchers surrounding a bush where a 'rare'  bird had hidden itself from view.  Members of the group shook the bush hard to displace the bird so the they could get a view of the bird.  To me that was stepping over the line into causing a bird a lot of upset.

Regards

Kathy and Dave