Watch The Birdie!

My sister Sally and I have decided to embark on a serious birdwatching challenge! We're going to attempt to complete the i-spy Birds 1000 points total and become super-spotters. You get a certificate and badge if you do it :D

The book is full of about 150 of the birds you're most likely to spot in the UK including a few rarer ones for big points. I've already got my first one.

It's déjà vu because a few years ago I started the same challenge with my Dad. For Father's Day I got my Dad an i-spy bird book and one for myself and challenged him at spotting the most birds. He was recovering from illness at the time and I hoped it would help him walk a little each day and speed up his recovery. He did much better than me for the first few months spotting all kinds of birds in his garden. But then sadly he became ill again and never recovered. 

Earlier this year Sally lent me a book by Alex Horne called Bird Watching Watching. In it the comedian joins his Dad in doing a Big Year (trying to spot as many different birds in one year as possible). He wants to get closer to his Dad and find out why he enjoys birdwatching so much. It's a nice read and quite comical too.

After reading the book I was feeling tempted to try a Big Year myself and asked Sally if she wanted to try. We talked about it but decided it was a bit ambitious. We did want to feel closer to Dad by knowing more about birds though. So when I left my job recently and one of my leaving gifts was this i-spy bird book I encouraged Sal to get one too so we could have a go at this slightly easier birdspotting challenge.

Dad was quite knowledgable about birds from going out walking with his Dad when he was younger, but I'm not sure he'd want to be called a birdwatcher. He did watch birds though, at home in his garden at the numerous birdfeeders he put up. He took these pictures among many others.

He also watched birds out on walks. Here he is at Great Armscliffe trying to get a picture of his beloved Red Kite.

He also enjoyed trips to Staveley Nature Reserve where they have hides you can watch birds from.

So now it's our turn. Sal and I are going to try learn a bit about birds. Watch this space for exciting bired related updates!