Can you be too young to start birding? How else can you get someone into the field without getting them young...
I never stood a chance, when at the age of four I was shown pullus whinchats by my ringing Uncle in the dunes at Hightown.
The chats are long gone now, but the magic of the moment remains, and sparked an obsession that is as virulent as ever nearly 40 years later.
You can try to star someone too young _ my uncle also memorably held up "little Colette" as she is known in the Dempsey tribe, at the age of a few months so she could see the Formby sardinian warbler in the early nineties while it was still in the hand.
Could she tick it? could she even see it? It didn't matter at the time, but it if getting little Colette into birding was the plan, it didn't work.
Now it's my go, and for his birthday I presented three year old godson Spud (for explanation see earlier blog) with his first pair of bins.
Once he'd covered them in cake and dropped them a few times he seemed to get the hang of it, and as he can already id tree sparrow, robin and treecreeper, the omens seem good.
Then again, calling out "fat pigeon" and "percy pheasant" suggest a rather flippant approach to identification that needs to be ironed out.
He has barn owl on his list, but as his birth coincided with the Spurn aquatic warbler in 2002, and recent "Spud socialisiing" cost me the Leighton Moss caspian tern, I think he needs to sharpen up his id act....and fast.
Back in the real world the ring billed gull is still on Otterspool Prom in Liverpool, and the spotted crake is skulking away at Martin Mere _ watch out for sprawks!
Eyes to the skies everyone, eyes to the skies.
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