This typesetting wouldn’t be everybody’s cup of tea but I enjoyed it. The tragedian has once created a bit of a Twitter storm by offending some readers with remarks that were definitely not politically correct. I have only read the expurgated version so I am mostly unsighted on what has been removed. It would still be possible to be offended by some parts of this typesetting as rare birds are, one could say, objectified as mere numbers to be widow to the author’s list, and the stat emissions from chasing virtually these isles are pretty upper and yes, there are some comments on some (unnamed) womens’ appearance.
But mostly, and overwhelmingly, this is a typesetting well-nigh twitching – the fieldsport of rushing virtually trying to see rare birds to add to your lifelong list of wild birds seen in Britain and Ireland. Like most sports, twitching will seem entirely pointless to the vast majority of people. Who cares that Scotland write-up England at rugby recently? Quite a few, including me. And who cares that Garry Bagnell has seen 553 bird species in Britain and Ireland (which puts him way overdue Steve Gantlett on an unscientific 590 species)? Quite a few people and they are mostly men. Do I care? Not deeply, but I am certainly interested in this typesetting considering it is a very well-spoken unravelment of the fieldsport of twitching from the viewpoint of a keen exponent.
The table near the when of this typesetting which lists the Top 10 listers in Britain and Ireland in 1987 and now (two names towards in both lists) is fascinating. You would have been at the top of the list in 1987, whispered Ron Johns, if you had seen a paltry (I jest!) 463 species whereas now Steve Gantlett’s unscientific 590 species leads them all. Twitching is a lifetime marathon and as the tragedian points out you’ll have to spend a good four decades at it, and fairly obsessively at it, to stand any endangerment of a top 10 ranking. All the names in the two lists are men – who could have guessed?
Garry is an purser and that’s why the typesetting has its title – it is not only the numbers of birds he has supplied but the numbers of many other things too. He has spent tens of thousands of pounds and travelled tens of thousands of miles chasing rare birds. Many he has seen, some he has missed, and he gives good finance of both in these pages. He moreover tells us of the junk supplies he has eaten, the beverages drunk on the road, the hours sleeping in the car at motorway services to reservation up on sleep and the financing of travel on each trip. If you overly wanted to understand what twitching is, then this detailed worth would be a good place to start.
However, once you got your throne virtually what twitching is, you still might wonder why people do it. Considering this tragedian is very unshut well-nigh sharing his thoughts and feelings, and a lot of details, you might get increasingly of a handle on the ‘why?’ question. He is unmistakably something of an obsessive, and his other past hobbies have included plane spotting and stamp collecting. I’ve met a few twitchers in my time but not, as far as I know, the author, but he seems a fairly typical specimen although I doubt that many could write a typesetting of this type which has humour and pace. He comes wideness as a laddish weft 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. However, the increasingly rounded worth contained in this typesetting is of a man with some acts of considerable kindness to his name, who has suffered from peepers in the past and who happily acknowledges that he might be ‘on the spectrum’.
I had never heard of a foam party until I read this typesetting – maybe I should get out more, or maybe not.
The cover? Gives a good idea of what the typesetting contains. The typesetting is illustrated by the tragedian and, although infinitely largest than I could do myself, the illustrations are all quite good, but not tip top. The Ovenbird gives a pearly idea of the quality of illustrations. I’d requite it 6/10.
Twitching by Numbers: twenty-four years of chasing rare birds virtually Britain and Ireland by Garry Bagnell is self published.
My forthcoming book, Reflections, will be published on 4 July and once can be ordered.
Details – click here.
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