Welcome to my blog. I'm a newbie at both blogging and birding, so please bear with me!
While I've always stared at bird of prey, without really knowing what I've been staring at, and had a soft spot for sparrows and blackbirds as reminders of my childhood garden, my interest really started with a strange night-time hissing sound heard while staying at a holiday cottage near Coldstream.
Curious, I sat with my better half outside the cottage and watched out over the fields down to the river, and we were enthralled as we saw a ghostly white shape floating across the fields. That first encounter with a Barn Owl awakened an interest in wildlife, and in birds in particular.
Over the last year we've been gradually getting out more and more, and seeing and learning more and more. Most of what we've seen have been your normal common everyday birds, but for us they're new - or at least seen through new eyes.
With this new beginning has come much frustration at trying to work out what they are - especially when the most common view is of a little brown 'bum' disappearing in the undergrowth, and frequently we've had to resort to sidling up to other birdwatchers, and 'listening in' !
Thankfully most birders are friendly, and we've got a braver about asking - and we've also started experiencing the thrill of recognising birds for ourself, whether thats a flock of waxwings feasting on berries, or wigeon floating on a distant pond.
So here I am starting this blog - a chance to record my journey, and perhaps to encourage others on their own discovery of what is around us, if we but open our ears and eyes.
