I have been birdwatching for as long as I can remember, all the way back to when I was a little boy growing up in South Africa. Over the last 40 years, it has developed into a hobby that has brought me joy and excitement and great satisfaction - and, occasionally, a certain degree of frustration! It became my main source of mindfulness long before I ever heard the word. And it has helped me to forge a closer and more meaningful relationship with the natural environment that I hold so dear.
In this thread, I am going to share my memories of spotting certain species of bird for the first time. Many of these memorable experiences were at RSPB reserves, but others took place on wine estates in South Africa or while backpacking around South America!
I hope you will enjoy reading my recollections, perhaps over a cup of tea and a slice of cake! And I hope they will stir your own memories or inspire you to create new ones of your own.
Please do post any feedback you have.
Justin
Hello Justin and welcome to the Community.
Looking forward to your recollections. You must have many from growing up in South Africa and especially your travels in South America where you will have seen many exotic species which will be unfamiliar to most of us.
I too remember as a young boy being fascinated by birds and persuading my parents to buy me the two volume "The Birds of the British Isles and their Eggs" by T A Coward at the princely sum of £17/6 each. I've still got them. I think I bought "The Observers Book of British Birds" out of my own pocket money.
Sadly, during my working life my birdwatching was only on a casual basis so it wasn't until I retired that I was able to indulge on specific wildlife trips abroad - mainly Europe but some further afield. Too old to travel anymore but some good memories of "The First Time I Saw".
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Tony
My Flickr Photostream
Hi Justin, this sounds like a brilliant idea for a thread Looking forward to your recollections (and any photos you may have), particularly of the more exotic species
Hello Justin and a warm welcome to the Community from me too; you must have a lot of wonderful memories and stories to tell from your childhood in South Africa and also your travels in South America so I look forward to grabbing myself a cuppa and piece of cake and reading your recollections in due course. I also lived in overseas countries like Brunei, Tanzania and Poland but sadly did not get into birdwatching until I returned to UK but can remember seeing a Hornbill flying over our home in Brunei with a snake in its bill .......... hoping it would continue on its flight into the surrounding "jungle" without dropping its catch. !!!!
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Regards, Hazel
Welcome aboard Justin. Anything to do with slices of cake, I'm in ...
Thanks for the welcome, Tony! Yes, we were in South Africa last year for the first time in quite a while, and I did quite a bit of birdwatching while we were there. I managed to spot some really exotic species I hadn't seen before, like African paradise flycatcher and purple swamp hen. Sadly, my memories of what I saw when I was there as a child are not as clear and accurate as I'd like them to be
Thank you! Sadly, photography is not one of my skills so you will have to rely on words only!
Having read of your search for the clowns, your words are beyond adequate, and photo's are not needed. Very evocative :o)
I can remember when lots of RSPB reserves where only open a few days a week as well as the most important RSPBresefves you had to apply for a permits at the latest 5 months in advance and even members had to pay an admission charge about half of what non-members had to pay. No shops, cafe’s or toilets at any RSPB reserves. Also only l limited opening hours at most RSPB reserves.Very few RSPB reserves dusk to dawn visiting. It all changed in the early 1980’s with a few line in the old birds magazine of the RSPB that practically all RSPB reserves would be open 7 days a week all year round with RSPB members getting free admission. The first RSPB reserve that had a visitor centre with shop, cafe and toilets was Leighton Moss. And there are lots of RSPB members on this forum that can remember that as well and some members longer than myself!
Regards,
Ian.
This is a book by one of the early pioneers