Its a hobby where large periods of the time you're on your own and you do warm to others as I did. We all know how cliquey and God forbid even sinister twitching is - with suppressed and made up records etc - but the day-to-day let's say bread and butter birding .... I just felt isolated from, and that I was getting nowhere with it. Like I say you get to warm to people and when I had a blood clot - and was struggling anyway to participate in the hobby - one guy who would gladly drop cat/missus/agendas to immediately go and see a rarity I never saw, and when its time to call friendships into question + the sad fact that I've struggled to expand my list AND enjoy a hobby I was barely participating in then what was the point? I cut my teeth in the likes of Irwell Valley when unemployed to gwy the hobby off the ground, and walked from Irlam to Liverpool to raise vital funds for LWT ",- I've given it my all and that's just that.
John
We've likely met somewhere & chatted: that's how it is
Birding isn't just about birds, is it ? There's everything else - fungi, dragonflies, beetles, flowers, mammals, microbes, fish, even sedges. Wherever you are, there's something to see if you just look
Does this mean you're going to change your excellent tagline ?
Sorry to hear this John, I have bumped into you a few times and your enthusiasm was obvious, you have a love for nature obviously, so as John says giving up totally is something you won't need to do. You will probably always notice the natural world and love it as you have done in the past, even without a major participation in birding in particular. I agree with John too that lots of people give up, take a break and the like, so you are not unusual in that. Many come back too. As Paul says maybe read a bit, watch the excellent Natural History programmes on TV (like Blue Planet II) and dip into this excellent forum from time to time. That sould keep you in touch
Just enjoy a break, if you need it, see it as a positive, recharging your batteries, and I know we will all welcome you back into the fold if and when you come back. Take Care
It's all about degrees of involvement really. Once you know what birds look like, and the calls they make, it's hard to just shut them out, even if you say you can 'quit wholesale'. You can put common birds on the back burner, as I tend to do during the 'insect season', but you will still be attracted to a strange call. However, I can understand it if something traumatic occurs, like the death of a someone close. For instance, I made no attempt to see the desert wheatear in 2007 after the loss of my mother combined with a period of poor health. Sometimes life becomes more focused and you realise that a bird is just a bird: you don't see it - so what.
I have seen hundreds come and go in the local birding scene over the years and some have come back 20 years or even 40 years later when life changes ,theres nothing wrong with change John ,some just go on forever like me others dip in and out and other go away do other things then come back . There seems little reason to quit totally ,unless its an illness or something as even in everyday life you will see birds. Even I have had spells were I went fishing and hiking and at some points even cycling ,but always kept my patches warm - Good luck John in whatever you do and maybe in 40 years we will see you again ,back on the scene -just look at the members on here that were on every day 10 years ago and many I have not seen in 8 years -so as I say many do the same as you and theres nowt wrong with that :)
John, Thats sad news , deep down perhaps your just taking a rest ,as you say can you get excited by engaging with birds again, yes you can, perhaps while your on your break you can read about birds, Wild America Roger Tory Peterson, Birding on Borrowed time Phoebe Snetsinger
Kingbird Highway Ken Kaufman and To see every bird on earth Dan Koeppel , these should keep you in touch with birds, failing that Lichens are a very interesting and all you need is a hand lens and a degree in latin ;-(
Hi all. I'm about to quit the hobby wholesale for a multitude of reasons and although I have the tantalizing prospect of birding in Sweden (Stockholm) + New York City (the new world!) Coming up I know its all or nothing as, frankly, I can't in the present circumstances take it any further. I'm saying this at the (so called) height of migration season but... Has anyone else taken a break? How did you keep your hand in, if at all? And can I ever get to a mental level of feeling excited by and engaged with birding again?
