With my pursuit of Sharpe having stalled significantly, I decided to devote my weekend to hedonism rather than cold, damp birding. We therefore went to a friend's house for a barbecue on Saturday afternoon, which ended shortly after Mrs Twitchell stumbled into a prize hydrangea bush and ended up face down in the lawn.
However, I am not blogging to riff on her embarrasmment.
One of the reasons she had been driven to drink was that another barbecue attendee happened to be a very keen (and good) birder, and Mrs T therefore spent most of the afternoon listening to tales of Corn Buntings at Bempton, and BTO survey squares.
He is an absolutely top fellow, and was able to offer some words of advice for my quest. He has the same constraints as me (i.e. children) but my hope is that I can get a day out with him before the end of the year, to begin to learn how to do this thing properly.
If my score suddenly shoots from 144 to 200, it will be his work, not mine. His UK life list is in the 360's.
