I remember vividly getting my first Yellow-Browed Warbler. I drove about 15 miles to "the spot." There were about 60 people there. But no bird. They reassured me that it would be along in about 20 minutes. Crumbs, I thought. How on earth do they know that? Mind you,they looked like a clever bunch . Well, this is how they knew. This bird, they informed me, was on a "circuit". It went regularly around this big loop along the hedgerows, which took it about 40 minutes. A sort of "circuit." I didn't know about that. It had been gone for about 20 minutes... so it would be where we were in another 20 minutes. And indeed, it was. I did my usual ticking ceremony, and so did all the others . But there were quite a lot of different ones going on. I suppose there are different local "tick celebrations" all over the country. And some people have their very own one. Some are carefully choreographed, especially if a group have all come in the same car. But seriously ... it's a good thing to know. For a start , there's a basic rule about twitches .... once you're at the spot, with all the others, you don't go away. Because it's odds on that the target bird is on a circuit. Many's the time I've wandered off, and when I've come back all the others have seen the stupid thing. Grrrr. This is especially true if it's a dinky thing. They tend to have circuits. Oh yes. And if you do go away, and come back and say you've seen it, nobody will believe you and your name will be mud for ever after. Best to just sneak off home and tell nobody is my advice. Or tell them you're somebody else of course. So there you go ... lots of good advice as usual. But was any of that true ? Well, I wonder ...
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AuthorThat's the author up there ... I was young and sprightly then. Archives
October 2022
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