Chasing the 200

Seeing 200 different bird species in a year across Britain is often considered a good total by experienced birders, but how do you find this many different birds? This book records a year in which the author set himself that goal for the first time. His journey started as an inexperienced birder who would go out for a walk, with no particular expectations, hoping that he might see something unusual. Over the year, he explored tools which improved his chance of seeing something unusual and along the way he met experienced birders who passed on invaluable advice about various field crafts which have helped him become more accomplished at spotting and identifying birds. By the end of the year he felt he could go out to a particular site with the aim of trying to see a particular bird and have a good chance of finding it. The word aim is wisely used because birds are their own masters, and they sometimes choose not to be where you want them to be! This book does not catalogue how every bird of the 200 or more birds was found (the full list is at the end of the book for anyone interested) but the author has recounted interesting anecdotes of some trips, some of his own observations and incorporated the lessons he learnt during his year200. He has also added some interesting facts about the birds he saw which were learnt over the year. Most chapters stand on their own so the book can be dipped in and out a chapter at a time, but as a whole it is a narrative of the author's year of birding and tells that story. The book is illustrated with many of the photos he took during the year. Not claiming to be a photographer, he has included the photographs he took during the year to document the year's experience. Many of the accounts related stimulated the author to put the experience down in some form of verse. These have been included hopefully to illustrate other aspects of the experience. If anyone is just starting to enjoy bird watching and feels they want more from it, the lessons learnt here will hopefully encourage them to develop their own birding.