the trip reports would be great sean and are eagerly awaited.
Life lists dont float my boat either, not since i have that up in the mid to late 90's but they still do for many (and good on you) and like its nice to read the out of county section of this forum, many would still peek at british life lists.
Fair enough Ian, I was tired last night when I wrote that e-mail!?
You have just reminded me that I need to finish the write up from my Spanish trip in May this year and may even write up South Africa/Mozambique/Swaziland from late summer too, if you're interested.
I'm sure people will be interested in lists, just never been a twitcher if you know what I mean!?
horses for courses indeed! I am always open to other areas for the website, hence when i was approached for the idea of life lists, if there was demand then i'd see, but the fact is that the website is all about birds, birders and birding it our county, so county birders life lists are still involved, otherwise why would we have foreign trip reports on there too, if its to do with county birders them its applicable.
Please note though that no lists go on this forum, they go on the main website,where they belong (i'd insert smiley here but cant!).
Don't really see the point in having a UK Life List in the "Manchester Birding Forum" myself. OK, it's good to shout about interesting birds here and there that you've seen, followed, chased or even found (but most twitching is not about finding, its about the chase and the trill that goes with it). But where does it stop, European Lists, American Lists, World Lists. I have a tentative UK list, but also have birds on it from Ireland and Jersey (which was only recently taken off the British List area), but I'm happy with that. I've found and seen some great birds in the British Isles, Europe, Africa and Australia from Arctic Norway to Cape Point in their own natural habitat, alive and acting like they should, not half dead in a bush trying desperately to find out where they are.
I appreciate that some people are obsessed with lists and the old cliche of "mine's bigger than yours" etc, but don't really see the point of having UK lists on this forum, I'm sure there are plenty of places that twitchers can post their lists and discuss the validity of past records nothing to do with the Districts of Greater Manchester!?
Sorry if I'm being down on the idea, but just don't see any worth for it on this forum!?
Mike, try The Whiskey.com site tad expensive but some good gear, there,s a wonderful little whiskey shop in Bakewell that has a very good stock.
And what has this got to do with birds I hear you ask well erm erm Oh I know Mr Smallwood can hear Tawny Owls after his concert well after a couple of drams and you can see any bird you want
And dont even think about the grouse connection different blend of water all together.
Now you're talking Paul! You missed off Cardhu Single Malt which I gave up trying to find in the UK some 5 or 6 years ago. They committed sacrilege about then by bringing out "Cardhu Pure Malt" (a blend of malts, would you believe)! It was the connoiseur's equivalent of introducing a "hybrid" and the purists were duly and righteously incensed. For those serious "Malt Listers" it was a bridge too far. However, I have discovered a place in Cartagena, S. Spain, an outlet where Cardhu Single Malt is to be found, and am sipping some as I smugly type this!
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Challenges are inevitable, but failure is optional.
Vat 69, Ardmore 30 year malt, Balvenie 10 year, Dalwhinnie, Bowmore, etc perhaps this should be other hobbies, always have a little hip flask for the pick me up twitch.
Mr Woosey its your fault I ended up making a GM list and see where that has got me
I began birding prior to life before pagers,bird lines in fact pre-mobile phones, and my first 160 birds were all self found, I discoverd twitching in 1986, and it took my life over in 1990, I then twitched a decade the whole of the 90,s in big style, day trips to cornwall for Little Bustard, evening trips to Oxford for 17 Bee-eaters, overnight jaunts to Scotland for Rollers, shrikes Ivory Gulls Snowy Egrets etc.
My list became so that to be honest I began to forget if I had it on my list or not, so this could be very dangerous and I do believe twitching is good but should carry a health warning. Listing can screw you up. I had thought I was done with it. so now certain we want to raise it again, and have begun a twitch if I want to approach nowadays.
In fact I do remember saying Siberian Rubythroat and Wallcreeper then I will give it up
If enough people show an interest, then Ian is willing to publish Life Lists on the main Web-site, in a similar vein to the Manchester Life Lists. Nothing too technical - it`s just a bit of fun/interest.......
Contact Mr McKerchar privately if you are interested.
