Getting into Birding

I am gradually becoming a birder. It only occurred to me in the last year of so that birds are interesting – interesting because they are everywhere, yet at the same time so elusive.

I did some Comms volunteering last year with the RSPB and that was really the impetus I needed, though I have always been aware of birds and birding because my mother has always been into birdwatching. And so I spent many long and confusing hours perched in hides, failing to spot creatures that others had identified but had only appeared to me to be a blur of feathers in the corner of my vision.

The RSPB bird book my boyfriend got me has been indispensable, as has the time we put in to visiting our local reserves and having a go. Now the good weather is here (hottest day of the year today has been unbearable) I can get out more into the countryside and have some nature days.

So far I can count the number of interesting birds that I have seen on my hands: bittern, marsh harrier, cetti’s warbler, lapwing. There are more but without a detailed list I have forgotten them. I need to buy some kind of log book!

I also need to learn not only to ID birds but to recognize their calls because this is frankly half the battle. Maybe I should turn this briefly into a birding journal? In the meantime, here’s a photo of an egret I took in the south of France recently.