View From the Shed by Shaun Finnie - MAKE BELIEVE IT'S YOUR FIRST TIME

I've written quite a lot in these Blogs recently about “bird spotting”; counting, listing, ticking. It's something that I love to do, as I know many of you do too. I make year lists, life lists, British lists, world lists, tick sheets for places I'm revisiting etc, etc. I collect and collate information from the birds that I've seen in the field. I know some will say it's sad but it's harmless and it keeps me out of trouble (usually). It's the same for many of us in this birding game. We're hunter/gatherers at our genetic heart and while munching on a Collared Dove is usually frowned upon these days (kids, ask your grandparents about a guy called Ozzy Osbourne), hunting them down just for sighting and ticking purposes is just deemed mildly eccentric. This collector impulse is partly what has made the RSPB's Big Garden Birdwatch such a great success over the years. I hope you've submitted your data? But is that all there is to it? We see, we tick, we move on to the next bird? Surely there's more to enjoy than that?

On Sunday 6th of February we have two family guided walk events (morning and afternoon sessions are available). More details can be found here.

Family Guided Walk 10am 6th Feb

Family Guided Walk 1pm 6th Feb

Our guides will be taking families out onto the reserve to introduce them to the birds, their habitats and their behaviour. For some people involved, young and old, this will be the first time that they'll ever put a name to even the most common species that can be seen at Old Moor. They'll no doubt gasp at the gorgeous colours of a Goldfinch or Bullfinch. They might chuckle at the aggressive antics of Coots and maybe marvel at the way a Tufted Duck rolls into the water as if attached to the edge of a wheel. These basic pleasures will be new to them. All serious birders want to see a “first”. These will be theirs. A “lifer”, each and every one of them.

It's such a shame that many of us now take for granted what were once glorious new experiences. Can we reset and reclaim this innocent feeling of delight? For example, there's been an American GREEN-WINGED TEAL at Old Moor this week, a real rarity for our reserve. It differs from our more frequently sighted Eurasian Teal in several ways but the most obvious is a bright white line running straight down its flank at the shoulder. It looks for all the world as if it's swam underneath a particularly accurate and “lucky” pigeon. It's a gorgeous bird and rightfully deserves the flocks of admirers who have been turning up to see it.

But is it actually any prettier than the Teal that we normally see on and around our pools? Both the European and American birds have that magnificent 'Ziggy Stardust' multi-coloured stripe through their eye and the neat yellow wedge around their bums. They're gloriously coloured, not particularly shy and easy to identify. What more could any birder want? Beauty is, of course, in the eye of the beholder but do we sometimes get caught up in 'Emperor's New Clothes' syndrome, being seduced by the bling of the new and becoming oblivious to the everyday beauty of the birds that we see more regularly? Maybe, just maybe.

So to all of us more experienced birders I say, maybe next time you go out with your binoculars, try leaving the notebook at home. Yes, there's always the possibility that you'll see something really rare or new to you (like that Green-Winged Teal) and of course that will deserve noting once you get home, but you'll remember it until then. How about instead of just hoping for and searching out the obscure birds, just for once you try to see the common ones as if it were your first time? After all, the Goldfinches and Bullfinches are just as colourful, the Coots just as aggressive and the Tufted Ducks just as agile as they were back when you first noticed them.