[AlphaZeroOne]

I was lucky enough to live in the Shetlands for 18 months some years back. Every now and again, because of the prevailing winds etc, we would often be visited briefly by exotic and rare birds ( for the British Isles at least). I never ceased to be amazed by how quickly the word got out and within a day or two, the tick box birders would arrive. They would stay around for a few days before leaving again, no doubt chasing the latest report of a rare sighting, never even pausing to take in the local resident birds.

Whilst I have no issues with this, I just feel that sitting for a few hours on a cliff top or in a wood, watching and listening to build up a sense of the local bird communities around, is far more rewarding than chasing around the country. I still get a great deal of pleasure just sitting and watching the bustle of the local sparrow colony or the Gold Finches quarreling with each other for the best place on the feeders in my garden.

My one of the most memorable moments came one day some years back when I was sitting quietly in a local wooded area. I was wearing my cam jacket and clearly I had blended into the background because a Tree Creeper actually landed on my leg and climbed all the way up to my shoulder before flying off in it's own time. Thankfully, it didn't find any bugs on me. There is so much pleasure to be had with our local residential birds!