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- Strangely, given the 'craic' that
most birders enjoy while out birding or in the pub, little gets written
down, partly because a lot of it is about personalities, while what is
light-hearted banter to some upsets others. Here are the highlights.
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- Bill Oddie's Little Black Bird
Book (Eyre Metheun 1980, reprint Robson Books 1998)
- Gone Birding (Metheun 1983)
- Follow That Bird (Robson Books 1998)
- Gripping Yarns (A & C Black 2000)
- Bill Oddie
- A quarter of a century on and BOLBBB, as it
is affectionately abbreviated, remains the funniest and most accurate
assessment of birders and what makes them tick and it remains one of the
first recommendations I would make to anyone wanting to know what makes a
birder tick (in both senses of the word). The stuff on fooling the
rarities committee is perceptive and amusing and surprisingly little has
dated. Gone Birding and Follow That Bird are more
conventional autobiographical stuff, but still with a sense of humour,
while Gripping Yarns is a collection of Oddie's columns from
Birdwatching magazine, which includes several which will bring a wry
smile to the lips, as well as others which bring an insight into the
psyche of the birder.
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- Not BB - the magazine for the
Serious Birdspotter
www.drmartinwilliams.com/not-bb/
- Originally appearing in printed form, this classic
was produced by a group of birders from Cambridge. Not BB I was A4 and
cheaply produced, but they became more 'professional' as the series
progressed, but Not BB V was, sadly, the last. I even had some input, and
won a book token for best contribution one year, while one of my articles
(on House Sparrow) has even been cited as a reference (well, sort of ...
it was mentioned in an article on House Sparrow declines in the Lancashire
Bird Report). Having lost some of my originals it's nice to see it revived
on the internet, even if it is just edited highlights.
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- Leicester Llamas
web.archive.org/web/20031001230739/www.cpcayless.fsbusiness.co.uk/sparky.htm
- Sadly defunct, this was the funniest birding
website of all time. Now, just remnants remain in internet archiving
sites. Produced by a group of Leicester birders, it is possibly most
famous for its IQ40 Club articles. Come on boys, bring it back!
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- Punkbirder
www.freewebs.com/punkbirder/index.htm
- A website from a group of Norfolk-based birders. The
rare-ometer, some identifications tips and the usual digs at the
ever-changing world of taxonomy are among the highlights.
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- Tom McKinney's blog
www.skills-bills.co.uk/birds.htm
- At times, rather foul-mouthed, so not for the
faint-hearted, but an acerbic take on modern birding, even if you're not
always sure where the author's tongue is placed.
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- George Bristow's Secret Freezer
proregulus.blogspot.com
- The blog of taxonomist and birder Martin Collinson,
which brings a smile to my lips each time it lurches off on another
unexpected tangent.
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