I had by no means heard of a foam get together till I learn this e-book – perhaps I ought to get out extra, or perhaps not.

Washington Post In Britain, bird-watching gone wild - The Washington Post

The One-Star rating is the least possible to be able to submit a review - please count this as a Negative 1-star. The desk close to the again of this e-book which lists the High 10 listers in Britain and Eire in 1987 and now (two names seem in each lists) is fascinating. You’d have been on the prime of the record in 1987, apart Ron Johns, in the event you had seen a paltry (I jest!) 463 species whereas now Steve Gantlett’s estimated 590 species leads all of them. Twitching is a lifetime marathon and because the writer factors out you’ll must spend 4 a long time at it, and pretty obsessively at it, to face any probability of a prime 10 rating. All of the names within the two lists are males – who may have guessed?A smartphone app to help British birders is being advertised as an essential tool when "there have even been recent cases of violent clashes between bird watchers as people desperately try to get the very best spots". In 2009, Bagnell said, he and other twitchers were aghast when two elderly rivals on the circuit went for each other's throats. "One was saying he'd seen a bird, and the other said he didn't believe him," Bagnell said. Garry Bagnell looks for a shorelark at Great Yarmouth. Unsuccessful sightings are known as 'dips'. Photograph: Andrew Testa/The Washington Post Encountering rare birds is amazing, I’ll never forget coming across a grounded little auk in a public park and if I ever look out at my mum’s bird table and see a rose coloured starling I’d probably be at serious risk of cardiac arrest from excitement. But instead of seeing something that’s wandered on to your local patch you travel hundreds of miles to see it then I feel that the experience is a bit devalued. All the same twitching is a far less damaging way to be obsessive about birds than standing in a butt and try to shoot as many as possible that have been driven towards you by a bored teenager looking for beer money.

Twitching – British birdwatching goes bad as spotters ramp up

However principally, and overwhelmingly, it is a e-book about twitching – the fieldsport of speeding round attempting to see uncommon birds so as to add to your lifelong record of untamed birds seen in Britain and Eire. Like most sports activities, twitching will appear completely pointless to the overwhelming majority of individuals. Who cares that Scotland beat England at rugby just lately? Fairly a couple of, together with me. And who cares that Garry Bagnell has seen 553 hen species in Britain and Eire (which places him approach behind Steve Gantlett on an estimated 590 species)? Fairly a couple of folks and they’re principally males. Do I care? Not deeply, however I’m definitely on this e-book as a result of it’s a very clear description of the fieldsport of twitching from the perspective of a eager exponent. I read the book and it was very interesting. The author has a lot of anger in him and some people might find it offensive, but I thought it was great. He talks about things that people might not see as important and makes a point of what he thinks is important. Innuendo and/or explicit images were also a mainstay of the Carry On and Confessions of movies that were popular in the 1980s and before. I had never heard of a foam party until I read this book – maybe I should get out more, or maybe not. The story starts in 1999 just after my 32nd Birthday and I've just ended my 18-year love affair with watching private jets around the world.But sections of soon came under the notice of feminist Lucy McRobert who, like him, is both a birder and a writer - but on a different wavelength and at the primmer end of the literary spectrum. The cover? Gives a good idea of what the book contains. The book is illustrated by the author and, although infinitely better than I could do myself, the illustrations are all quite good, but not tip top. The Ovenbird gives a fair idea of the quality of illustrations. I’d give it 6/10. Perhaps he ought to publish two editions - the revised sanitised version and the original, the latter to contain a warning on the cover that some of its content may cause offence to certain readers. A shame as there are lots of bird watchers who’d be interested in his bird watching activities, certainly not in his misogynistic and homophobic views, failed marriages and bigoted comments, these views aren’t acceptable in today’s multicultural, multiethnic and equal society.

Garry Richard Bagnell books and biography | Waterstones

I’m still bemused that the author felt compelled to water down/ delete certain sections just because a single magazine columnist condemned the book having identified what she deemed to be ‘sexism’. Twitching by Numbers’ by Garry Bagnell, a memoir of his anecdotes about birdwatching, published in this very year 2022. Insert joke about tits here, but seriously this is why women still feel so unwelcome in the birding community.

Twitching by Numbers: twenty-four years of chasing rare birds around Britain and Ireland by Garry Bagnell is self published.

Twitching by numbers: Twenty-four years of chasing rare…

During the story I get selected for a BBC documentary called "Twitchers: A very British Obsession" and formed a successful WhatsApp group called “Casual Twitchers”. KEEN birder Gary Bagnell has pledged to rewrite sections of his first book after it came under fire on social media. This was my first book and I didn't expect to get complaints about my single life between 2000 to 2002 (Chapter 2 to 4). I decided to remove the offending passages and rewrite these early years and republish as "Twitching by A birder's hectic life as he chases rare species across Britain and Ireland". Insights into family, personal and professional life provide balance and Garry appears to be just a normal guy. Albeit a highly driven normal guy! During the story I get selected for a BBC documentary called " A very British Obsession" and formed a successful WhatsApp group called “Casual Twitchers”.The most unfortunate twitchers race many kilometres to spot a bird only to find that their flighty subjects have flown off – a bummer known in the twitching world as a "dip". One of the most infamous dips came as Webb pursued a long-tailed shrike in the Outer Hebrides off mainland Scotland. The boat he and 12 others had hired died in choppy waters, forcing a daring rescue by Her Majesty's Coastguard. "We were worried for our lives for a bit, but we were more worried about not seeing this bird," he said. As a newb birder I very much enjoyed the whole read from start to finish. I found it interesting and enjoyed how Garry took you along on every twitch. Garry’s book goes into that, in depth. The level of commitment to see a bird in the shetlands, Scilly’s and everywhere in between shows no limits. I loved the ‘See you in a couple of days, darling’ attitude when the Mega alert landed and he was off on another adventure. An adventure that could quite easily end up being empty handed and missing a bird by minutes. That after the gruelling drive and ferry to somewhere like the Shetland Isles!!