Twitching by numbers: A birder's account of his hectic life as he chases rare species across Britain and Ireland

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You would have been at the top of the list in 1987, aside Ron Johns, if you had seen a paltry (I jest! The book is illustrated by the author and, although infinitely better than I could do myself, the illustrations are all quite good, but not tip top. The forums are dedicated to wild birds, birding, binoculars and equipment and all that goes with it. Welcome to BirdForum, the internet's largest birding community with thousands of members from all over the world.

Twitching by Numbers’ by Garry Bagnell, a memoir of his anecdotes about birdwatching, published in this very year 2022. What further marks out his book as special is that the illustrations are all by Garry himself - not photographs but exquisite colour artwork which beautifully captures the spirit as well as the plumage of such species as varied thrush, indigo bunting, American redstart, common nighthawk and song sparrow.Some of his comments might might strike a discordant note with certain readers, but credit to him for his endeavour - putting together an illustrated book takes a fair bit of sweat and toil. The 103 third parties who use cookies on this service do so for their purposes of displaying and measuring personalized ads, generating audience insights, and developing and improving products. Permits where needed for lots of RSPB reserves of which where only open a few days a week and not all year and even those RSPB reserves that didn't need advance permits, some of thos RSPB reserves onluy open a few days a week. While you all might take the piss (fair enough) I have got quite a bit of experience of writing and publishing books, one of which was about birdwatching, as I am sure you know.

Innuendo and/or explicit images were also a mainstay of the Carry On and Confessions of movies that were popular in the 1980s and before. Garry is an accountant and that’s why the book has its title – it is not only the numbers of birds he has supplied but the numbers of many other things too. Credit also to the author for having enough self-belief to produce, finance and market the finished project purely on his own initiative and thus minus the faffing about with agents and publishers. Following Ms McRobert's influential intervention, many others have entered the fray - most to support her viewpoint but others to counter-attack on behalf of Mr Bagnell who has mounted his own spirited self-defence.

Credit it to GB also, for his determination and enterprise in publishing the title at his own risk without the comfort of an advance payment or the prospect of royalties from an established publishing house. Perhaps he ought to publish two editions - the revised sanitised version and the original, the latter to contain a warning on the cover that some of its content may cause offence to certain readers. The book details what happens during my twitch, credits finder and categorises each rarity (1-year, 2-year, 3-year, 4-year, 5-year, 10-year, 20-year and lifetime).

Somehow in that quarter-of-a-century, he has managed to catch up with more than 550 bird species in Britain and Ireland while simultaneously holding down a happy family life, a full-time job in finance with a series of bluechip employers plus a range of sporting interests including playing chess (to county standard) and darts, not to mention following the fortunes of Arsenal FC. There were some reserves of course that were open every day such as the RSPB’s headquarters The Lodge Reserve but closed around 5. That takes a lot of bottle, but he has been rewarded with the satisfaction of standing, unsupported, on his own two feet. I’ve a friend who happened to be behind a steering wheel at the wrong place and time which was when a wee boy decided to dash across the road.Also lots of reserves where no permits where needed such as the Inch marshes in Scotland was only open a few days a week and only for part of the year.

The table near the back of this book which lists the Top 10 listers in Britain and Ireland in 1987 and now (two names appear in both lists) is fascinating. And who cares that Garry Bagnell has seen 553 bird species in Britain and Ireland (which puts him way behind Steve Gantlett on an estimated 590 species)? He comes across as a laddish character with flaws (we all have flaws) and perhaps his openness was what got him criticism for some of his remarks, and perhaps that criticism was well deserved. He also tells us of the junk food he has eaten, the beverages drunk on the road, the hours sleeping in the car at motorway services to catch up on sleep and the costs of travel on each trip. Any author who deviates from what is considered decorous and appropriate enjoys no licence - he (or she) risks being singled out and pilloried with opprobrium.I offered him some advice and in fact had a long conversation with him about the pitfalls of getting a publisher and self publishing (I have done both). Henry Fox-Talbot got so peeved by twitchers peering into his garden that he invented photography so that they could have books full of birdy photographs which would obviate this antisocial behaviour but it didn’t work very well and although there are squillions of such books the uninvited peering still goes on and these days with the added nuisance of throwing empty shandy cans into the aforementioned garden so the dog can mince them into small sharp shards. How refreshing, therefore, to come across Twitching By Numbers - a birder's account of his hectic life as he chases rare species across Britain and Ireland.