This month Jez Simms, Chair of the Birdwatch Ireland West Cork Branch, talks about his love of birding.
To answer the question of this article’s title, as to why you should take up this joyful and fulfilling pastime, I shall relate my life as a bird watcher and hope this will make you want to give it a go. I started birdwatching at the age of seven at my childhood home. After finding a pair of my father’s field glasses from the Second World War, and a copy of ‘The Observer’s Book of Birds’, I started trying to identify the birds in my back garden and recording them in a notebook. When I was nine, I started the St Andrew’s Bird Club at school; we had three members, including me. Beyond the confines of my garden, I didn’t really have a clue, but we built a hide in the vicar’s garden and did manage to find a Redstart. The big turning point for me was when I started Secondary School. Amazingly they had an ornithology club, which was unusual for 1967. This introduced me to birders who knew their stuff and, for the first time, I could have birds and bird song pointed out to me in the field, which is the best way to learn, and a reason why I would recommend any aspiring birder to join a local BirdWatch Ireland Branch on one of its outings. This is not only a quicker way to learn than pouring over field guides on your own, but it’s fun.
Another benefit of the school club was that it took me to places that I could have never known about at that time, where I saw birds that I had never dreamt of. The best places were Bird Observatories, such as Spurn and Dungeness in England, and mystical places such as the Isles of Scilly and Skomer Island, where you could learn about ringing and see birds in the hand. One place that was often talked about in reverential tones was Cape Clear Island, a place of Great Shearwaters and rare American (bird) visitors. I longed to go there and finally achieved that when I was 18, in 1975. It was everything I had imagined, and to cut a very long story short, it is why I now live in Ballydehob. Here in West Cork, we are lucky to have this resource on our doorstep and anybody wanting to learn more about birdwatching can attend a course there or join the West Cork Branch on one of its trips in May and September.
Throughout my life, birding has been a constant joy. Wherever I travel, I can never be bored, as there are always new birds to be looked for, be it in towns or in remote deserts; I am never left thinking “What shall I do today?”! Once you have started birdwatching you will soon find that while you are out walking, everything around you is enhanced by the fact you are taking more notice of your surroundings, a dragonfly on a leaf, a squirrel up a tree; all of nature unfolds as you search for birds in all their habitats. You will visit wonderful places that would never have been on your radar and a joy will come into your life. Grab some binoculars and give it a go. Check the Birdwatch Ireland website for great advice on what binoculars to get or, better still, come on one of our outings (details below) and we can lend you a pair and get you started on a new journey of joy!
BirdWatch Ireland
West Cork Branch News
Upcoming outings being held by the Branch are:
Sunday February 16: The Gearagh
Visit our website www.birdwatchirelandwestcork.ie for more information about these events. To receive news and reminders about our events subscribe to our mailing list by going to http://eepurl.com/dHAz79. For more information about the Branch, contact Fiona O’Neill at secretary@birdwatchirelandwestcork.ie.
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