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I can't really remember a time when I wasn't interested in birds and wildlife,
and some of my earliest memories are bird-based. I can still clearly recall
being a toddler wheeled past the rookery in Stocksbridge, fascinated by the
deep, foreboding caws of the creatures above me, and the excitement when a flock
of redwings took refuge in the back garden during a blizzard when I was very
young. I soon discovered my dad's dog-eared copy of Bruun & Singer's Hamlyn Guide to Birds of Britain and Europe on the family bookshelf, and while other lads my age were busy obsessing about football and other more typical pastimes, I was poring over pictures of amazing birds that I could not believe lived in the same country as me. This interest waxed and waned during my teens and university years, but it was a trip to the Farne Islands a few years ago that rekindled the birdwatching bug in me, the experience of being surrounded by thousands of seabirds reverting me back to that excited child and reminding me there was a whole world of birds to be found. |
From then on birding became more and more important and prevalent in my life, with BTO surveys signed up for, a nature blog started, and a fantastic local patch acquired when I moved to the Loxley Valley.
Sadly the inevitable need to start lists also came with all this, but I've
managed not to become too much of a twitcher. Not yet anyway?
Pete Mella |
