“Some birdwatchers are keen rarity seekers and will travel long distances to see a new species to add to one of their “lists”, e.g., life list, national list, state list, county list, etc. These fanatical birders are commonly known by the light-hearted slang term twitchers, particularly in the United Kingdom (though non-birders often mistakenly use twitcher as a synonym for birder or birdwatcher).”
I’m not sure whether David who stayed here last week would like to be known as a Twitcher but he and Kipper who was here with him and their wives the previous week were certainly pretty keen. David kindly left a list of the birds he saw in the area between 26th April and 10th May 2008.
Here is the list for those who are interested.
Lesser Grey Shrike, Black Winged Stilt, Black Wheatear,
Wheatear (Northern), Grag Martin, Roller, Turtle Dove,
Collared Dove, Grey Headed Woodpecker, Pied Flycatcher,
House Martin, Lesser Black Backed Gull, Bee-eater, Hoopoe,
Serin, Spotless Starling, Sardinian Warbler, Woodchat Shrike,
Stone Curlew, Crested Lark, Red-rumped Swallow, Alpine Swift,
Spotted Cuckoo, Spotted Fly Catcher, Linnet, Goldfinch,
Greenfinch, House Sparrow, Whinchat, Swallow, Little Owl,
Kestrel, Kite.