Why Birds....?

E Mail contribution from Derek Moore:- When asked when I started birding I say without flippance "from the womb...". When my mother died my sister discovered awful sketches and notes on birds taken when I was jst 5 years old. I was nurtured first by my form master G.B.G.Benson then BTO rep for Suffolk and later by the notorious Herbert Axell. Approaching my 66th year there are decades of birding behind me. Just looking, twitching, ringing, surveying, WEBS counts, atlases, practical conservation etc.etc.etc.Why? Well I cannot explain why except that I grew up disappointed that everybody was not a birder now I wonder if there are not too many at it especially when my tired legs need a rest and every hide at Minsmere is full. I jest - the transformation in the number of people now interested in birds is most encouraging yet we still lose our birds rapidly.There are many memories over the years that make this obsession worthwhile - my first Waxwing whilst doing my paper round as a boy, the joy of witnessing the recovery of Marsh Harriers in the UK, the first visit to Skomer, Wilson's Petrel courtesy of dear Graham at Strumble, Resplendant Quetzal etc.etc. It is unfair to mention any as there has been so much.All I know that it makes you quite mad and you react with so many emotions. I cannot get to desert at a dinner party without boring people about birds. I have missed a vital catch in a cricket match because I glance at a nearby Wryneck.My wife attempts to summarise when questioned by astonished friends - "Well he could be a drunk, gambler, pervert........." Phew what a relief!
Photo shows my first Cerulean Warbler Mass USA 1990's and my first parula Warbler Isles of Scilly 1970's!