I really feel that the "birding fraternity" should make some sort of contribution to the pressing need for carbon reduction to stop the planet reaching boiling point or something. I suppose we'd better include the "birding sorority" as well. Consider it included. Here's my contribution .... we shouldn't all be rushing around the UK in our cars ticking rarities..... trying to get to 300 .... but then that's not enough ...400 ... no, that's not good enough .... 500 ..... to infinity and beyond. So ... some climate philanthropist with bags of dosh needs to set up a huge " open zoo" sort of place which you can stroll around and "spot" loads of rarities in a single day. You could arrange it so that they get rarer and rarer as you make your way round the premises, thus adding to the interest/excitement/sheer futility of the whole shebang. The idea being, by then you've got your massive list, and for the rest of your life you can then be a "proper" birder who doesn't whizz round the entire UK polluting everything, wasting valuable petrol and running over foxes. And there is another way ..... you could have a points system. And the rarest birds get the least points. Robin counts for 80 points. Barn Owl ....... 50 points. Wilson's Petrel ..... 2 points. So, with that system, going on a 400 mile round trip to see a Bulwer's Petrel would only get you 1 measly point !! There ... that's the cheap way of doing it, no rich philanthropists needed. It just makes the whole thing into a hell of a mountain to climb ! Here's a fine Joanna Newsom song ..... '81 I found a little plot of land in the garden of Eden It was dirt, and dirt is all the same .....
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AuthorThat's the author up there ... I was young and sprightly then. Archives
October 2022
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