Milestones - White-throated Sparrow

It's taken a full 29 years to reach my 400th species as recognised by the british ornithologists' union.  

Birding and observations of wildlife is never driven by numbers until you start adding up species lists, whether that be on day-trips, or holidays, or year lists, or local patch lists, or county lists, or country lists, or UK lists.  That's when a hobby can turn into an obsession.

I remember the 2nd April 1992, the day I put pen to paper in recording the birds I'd seen.  Stockers Lake in Rickmansworth was where it all began.  I wish I still had those diaries - neatly demarcated with date, location and species.  It was the thrill of seeing birds I had poured over in books that my late dad kept in a small library of an eclectic assemblage of literature.  Probably more out of casual interest than any targeted passion for the world of avifauna.

The 3rd of May 1992 and an early visit to Stockers Lake in Hertfordshire was met with excitable local birders dashing around.  Of course I had no idea what was going on.  Of course I had no idea of how significant eight cattle egret in summer plumage touching down on the north side of the lake was at the time.  And these short weeks was where it all started.

Birding and wildlife in general has been in the foreground since then, through whatever trials and tribulations I've been through, the highs and the lows, each observed species has a story to tell.   

So as time goes on, the desire to see new things grow.  It's not obsession on my part, more passion and curiosity, it's thrilling seeing new things - just like anything in life really.

The lists continue to grow, and lists are associated with numbers, how many species appearing on a list takes on new relevance and importance with each increasing number.  I always maintain it's never about the numbers and in its purest sense it isn't - but the numbers do play an important role in getting out there and seeing new things.  Competition doesn't interest me - personal targets and achievements do.  A visceral metaphor for life itself.

I'm pleased I hit 400.  It resonates with a journey currently in progress, a milestone reached.  The next one will be as important as the last and the one before that.  Because there is always a story to tell.