i trekked 1 mile to see the chiloe wigeon at crook marina.
I'd never seen this wee critter... but my wife and I took our dogs for a walk this morning and saw it - I'll have to go back with the camera and get a shot I reckon.
I travelled to Frodsham a good few years ago to see Ross's Goose amongst other things, and made a quick detour to Pennington last year (or was it the year before) to see the Ruddy Shelduck. The goose was one of a number of interesting things around and the shelduck was on my local patch and you cant turn that down. Personally I dont travel too far to see 'proper' vagrants so I'm unlikely to travel very far at all for a possible escape unless there's lots of other interesting stuff around or unless its really really spectacular - Stella's Sea Eagle springs to mind
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No one on their death bed ever said they wished they'd spent more time at work. http://bitsnbirds.blogspot.co.uk
Not sure i would travel to see something that i KNEW to be an escape... But i have travelled to Dunsop Bridge (as i'm sure many other's on this forum did) to see the Eagle Owls (after all i KNOW the chick's were NOT! escapes ), and i travelled to Rainford Moss (not very far i know!) to see the Ross's Goose (i didn't see it, but then it had the courtesy to fly over me at Abram a couple of weeks later ). Not sure where i'm going with this, i suppose the answer to your question Dave is "probably not very far, but it depends what it is and what mood i'm in".
As someone just starting out Dave I have had doubts about whether to try and see and or record potential feral or escaped birds... getting a true Rock Dove [South Stack, Anglesey my closest so far], spotting a non feral Greylag, the Taverners at Pennington, Ruddy Duck etc... However I did travel to Dunham especially to see the the Ring Necked Parakeet and I was really chuffed when I found it!
On the subject of escaped birds (parrot sp. on Ashton-in-Makerfield thread), how far would you go to see a bird which you knew to be an escape? If your immediate reaction is that you wouldn't - if someone told you there was a Budgie outside your window then you would have a look. If it was in next door's garden would you go round, or what if it was in the next street? I presume one factor would be the species involved, e.g. I went to Wigan Pier a few years ago to see an Eagle Owl which was at large, but wouldn't have gone there to see a Budgie. There can also be the challenge of identifying something unusual (parrots for example). Any thoughts, or am I just suffering the effects of too many dark winter evenings??
), and i travelled to Rainford Moss (not very far i know!) to see the Ross's Goose (i didn't see it, but then it had the courtesy to fly over me at Abram a couple of weeks later