Friday 24 December 2010

Wanstead Birding?

I am in seach of a title, a new blog is in the offing. You cannot have failed to notice that this blog very occasionally strays from being about birds and Wanstead. I like it that way, were I to restrict it to being solely about what I saw out of the window it would get pretty dull pretty quickly. You may argue that it is aleady pretty dull, and I would agree that yes, sometimes it is. Unbelievably, there are days when absolutely and precisely nothing occurs in my life. I wake up, nothing happens all day, and I go to bed again. And if you're very unlucky, I fail to follow my own advice (and that of Sir Humphrey) which is that if you have nothing to say, say nothing. Do not blog for the sake of it.

Anyhow, a new blog. A blog about birds in Wanstead. What has been seen, what can you expect to see, where is good. Birds, and only birds. But not only me, no. Multi-author - all the rage these days. Yes, the idea, and the hope, is that the birders in Wanstead, of which I am but one, will all contribute to this new blog. And let's face it. some of them go birding here a whole lot more than I do. I haven't mentioned it to all of them yet, but they make take it up or leave it entirely as they wish, but at least one of them thinks that it could be a good plan. The idea is also that it won't just be lists of sightings, as that would just be boring. "I went here and I saw this" becomes turgid very quickly, hence why my blog strays a bit. Hopefully it will be a place where patch-workers can express themselves, but where we can also all keep track of what is going on with the bird life of our area. Photos, good or bad, observations, important or banal, birds, common or monster. It can all go in.



This blog, the one you're reading now, won't stop, and won't change. You can continue to visit for the very latest tips in top-class parenting, for up-to-the-minute hypocrisy, and hints on how to attain domestic godliness. You can also continue to expect far more photos of birds than are necessary, boring anecdotes, my thoughts on hats, my physical well-being (or otherwise), and, heaven forbid, tales from the workplace. There is simply no way to stop me writing - unless you have a small mechanical digger and a penchant for copper.

What I need now is a name. It needs to be sufficiently distinct from Wanstead Birder so that people won't confuse the two and get upset when they can't find my latest thoughts on dusting,  and yet sufficiently inclusive of the terms Wanstead and Birds such that people who are genuinely interested in those two things in the same phrase will find it and read it. 

Anyone got any ideas? The 'postcard' is below.

5 comments:

  1. Flatbirder?

    Merry Xmas from frogandlisa who have only ever been to Wanstead to steal a look at your Wryneck. Looking forward to more blog...

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  2. Ice Cold in Alex? Merry Christmas Jono

    Nick Tanner

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  3. You now have a title. The highly prestigious 2010 Randon's Ramblings Bird Blog of the Year. Have a great 2011.

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