For most of my early birding years we never had a car, this merely meant that if I went birding I generally had to stick to one reserve and do it well. Leighton Moss is very easy by train, Pennington Flash is easy by bus, Martin Mere isn't too bad if you don't mind a bit of a walk (though one walk from New Lane station in horizontal sleet is etched on my memory), ditto Marshside. Another alternative was to get the train to Liverpool and buy a Merseyside day ticket doing Seaforth (before they got anal about security), New Brighton and West Kirby. Frodsham and North Wales reserves are quite accessible too.
even though Ive been able to drive for over 30 years I have only had access to a car during maybe 5 years out of that time and for the past 4 years during which I have been birding seriously, I have done the vast majority on foot or on public transport - in London (where I live) and in Manchester.
It does limit where you can get too, but it does make you work harder to make the most of the place that you visit (unlike the 'twitch and run' brigade). If I do travel by train to one of the RSPB reserves I'll very likely spend the majority of the day there exploring the reserve and the surrounding area.
I have never felt discouraged about carrying a scope or camera with me, safe in the knowledge that most people travelling by public transport these days tend to have their heads in their iPhones/tablets and are oblivious to the cost of such equipment.
Well I'm one who is regressing as far as driving is concerned. I gave up my car last year when I realized that it was difficult to justify being a two car family on my works pension & my wife's income.
As far as getting around on the bus is concerned I don't find it too bad & for most of life's needs I enjoy the fact that I can switch off for the length of the journey. One thing I would never consider doing, though, is taking my full gear (bins, scope, tripod) on the bus. I will only ever take the bins, & they are hidden out of sight in my rucksack until I get to my destination. I'm sure that I sound really paranoid to some, but I feel that carrying a scope (even though it is a long way from top of the range) & tripod (neither of which can fit in the rucksack) would be too much of a temptation to some members of the bus using population.
I mean, did you learn to drive simply because you wanted to have a hand in the twitching 'game'
In all honesty, I think I learned to drive and got a car at 17 years old to attract girls more than anything else, even thought that trusty £50 mini travelled all over the country birding
Those of us who don't drive, how easy do they find to navigate around the county on buses and trains? I was delighted this week when I went to buy a seven-day First ticket and they're slashed from 19 quid to 13 quid! Paid for my chips and curry in Radcliffe twice over! But getting the bus/train can be a pain! The main challenge for me is being stuck at the back of a single decker with a pack of, shall we say, stupid people(loud, obnoxious), like yesterday but normally I'm alright - I live on the Oldham corridor and it's not far for me to get into town either. It can be challenging, since you have to carry all your gear, but mainly I'd say it has its advantages (i.e getting more species i-e Elton) Wondering what the opinions are - I mean, did you learn to drive simply because you wanted to have a hand in the twitching 'game'
but normally I'm alright - I live on the Oldham corridor and it's not far for me to get into town either. It can be challenging, since you have to carry all your gear, but mainly I'd say it has its advantages (i.e getting more species i-e Elton) Wondering what the opinions are - I mean, did you learn to drive simply because you wanted to have a hand in the twitching 'game'