I know Stockport RSPB members group had an active 'young wing' Used to be called YOC but nowadays its Wildlife Explorers I think
Indeed it is Tony, I used to be a member of the YOC in the late 70's and my son followed suit a few years back by becoming a member of the RSPB Wildlife Explorers.
Thanks Jake - if more people express an interest maybe we can get off the ground. In the first instance when I thought about it I wasn't thinking about a club per se, nothing formal, maybe just a bi-monthly meet and/or birding session. So we'd be more like a gathering than anything. It would be nice to get to know others in the hobby in general, but I just feel that I would like to meet fellow 'young' people who might be new to the hobby like me so that we can share each others youthful enthusiasm - no way is it that I feel I can't connect with the 'experienced' folks.
Isn't that ageist? What about the young birders below 14, whom I know a few? And is 35 really young? Well, I suppose it looks so from my point of view anyway
There are still many clubs around our county alone who provide such a service and would warmly welcome younger members, they can be found in the relevant section of the Manchester Birding website. Personally, and not intending to be purposefully negative, whilst you might get a very small number of interested parties it wouldn't be enough to sustain any form of club I'm afraid. The established bird clubs struggle enough as it is
I'm seriously thinking about establishing a new club in the North West region for young birdwatchers (aged 14 to 35), of which I noticed some exist on this forum, which is great. I think it would be a fantastic way of nurturing young peoples' interest in the hobby, as well as well as a good opportunity for them to meet one another and it would also be a great way of introducing new young birders to the hobby. It would exist in the North West, where it has great scope for development in my opinion. I had a little mooch around and as far (not far at all!) as I'm aware there isn't such a thing as a young birdwatchers club per se in GM, or the North West as a whole itself. Firstly, I wanted to gauge interest and also opinions from all members as to the idea. Also, any birders aged 14 to 35 interested would you PM me with your email addresses - I've got a short walk out to birding sites this morning and so I'll have a think of some potential ideas.
