Birding - for all.

I recently read an article in BTO News regarding gender equality in birding. This is something that's often hit me in the face like an off course pigeon. Alison Johnston talks about how "subconsciously most of us think that men have greater interest and skill at birdwatching". This is something many of us are guilty of. I'm lucky that I work in an environment where everyday I can, and I'm encouraged to, challenge my subconscious preconceptions of people. However, I'm finding in the birding world I'm often overlooked as a female. From my experience, and commonly known, birding is a middle-class, older, white mans game. A young female, hard hit by the mid-twenties baptism of fire of council tax, national insurance and pensions, results in me and my crap gear being overlooked.

What do I mean by overlooked? When talking in hides if I say I've seen an interesting bird, I'm met with looks of almost sympathy. As if "bless her, she thinks she's seen a goldeneye". Or, more commonly, I'll be out with my partner and they address him. Not me. To put this in perspective, I've volunteered with RSPB for years, I have a first-class biology degree where I specialised in wildlife conservation. I spend most weekends birding. My partner, is supportive and frequently goes with me, but is proud he can identify an oystercatcher. When he says 'oh I have no idea, this is her thing', we're met with shock. One man even ignored this and commented on how I must be bored and want to go shopping. It took a lot of control for me not to push his scope (probably worth more than my car) over.

Obviously, this isn't everyone. Some lovely individuals don't talk down to me, allow me to borrow their scope to look at far away birds and say how we need more young people in the birding world. It's a worry for many that the generations interested in wildlife are ageing. However, if we really want to encourage everybody into birding, regardless of gender, race, age or any characteristic, we need to challenge our subconscious preconceptions. So next time your out birding, challenge yourself, don't make assumptions based on an individuals characteristics. This way, we really can group together to save the wildlife we love so much.

WWT Slimbridge

WWT Slimbridge - 12th March

It's been a long time coming but I finally made it to Slimbridge. A much talked about reserve in the birding world! I'd spent a few days keeping my eye on the sightings twitter to catch up with what was still around. Most of the Benwick's had gone which is a shame. Slimbridge has captive birds and otters too, I'm a big otter fan and seeing the captive ducks and geese up close was great! Most weren't native species but some were, they had some captive avocets, redshank and shelduck. Photographing them felt a little like cheating. All the photos below are of wild birds, the black swan above isn't one of Slimbridge's captive swans, it recently appeared, unringed!

We spent a lot of time around south lake where lots of avocets had already arrived. The black-tailed godwits were also gathering, likely getting ready to move to summer grounds. A few snipe were hiding around the edges and a ruff popped up every so often. We didn't find many notable species on the west of the reserve, although a very noisy rookery provided entertainment. Walking through the middle of the centre we spotted a cetti's very briefly. Pure luck but no chance of a photo! It was my first cetti's but I really wanted to find the cranes and white-fronted geese. We had success in the hides on the east, where lots of white-fronts were gathering. There was also four cranes, one of which was displaying. Looking over the estuary we also spotted a large group of barnacle goose.

Four firsts for me: cetti's, cranes, white-fronted and barnacle geese!

On the way out we spotted the handful of Benwick's still around in a field by the entrance, another first! A fab place for birding and we'll be heading back in the summer!