Whilst idly looking through some British Birds, I found this letter on page 330 of Volume 91, Number 8, August 1998 ....... The lead story in " News and comment" on the increasing average age of ornithologists involved in bird-monitoring projects in Sweden (Brit. Birds 91:203) is interesting, but may not be bad news. If the same is true in this country, perhaps we can hope that the long, shallow declines in so many bird populations are due, at least in part, to the long, shallow declines in the faculties of the ageing birdwatchers who monitor them. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Well, I expect that at the right old age of 72, I'm one of those old dodderers. And I have to admit that my 1st Jan big day was, for me, a rather duff affair, what with a long, rather fruitless walk which only gleaned 17sp, and an afternoon outing in the car which only managed to get me another 9. This was because TSO ( my companion in "life") decided to take me to another duff place, and then it got rather rapidly dark. And cold. And wet. Long gone are all those " up before dawn, out all day covering miles and miles of hopefully top spotting spots" Jan 1sts . Another marker of getting old is that lots of your birding pals have died. Or simply got just too knackered to do it any more. Here's some people birding ..... they seem to be getting on OK ....
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AuthorThat's the author up there ... I was young and sprightly then. Archives
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