Link and you’ll miss it

My links section (eyes right -> ) is in danger of becoming stagnant and out of date. First of all aPalling Birding announced that it was calling it a day, and now the excellent profanisaurus that was Skills-bills also throws in the (suspiciously crusty) towel. This is sad – these guys made for entertaining reading. How will I manage through the long dark days of winter without my regular updates on the migrant chomping skills of Ben the greyhound, or the progress reports on Tom’s kitchen? (Easily the most compelling saga of the autumn just gone). I guess I’ll have to content myself looking at Eider flocks for non-existent King Eiders. There’s always the continually sublime George Bristow’s Secret Freezer though.

This turning away from the public gaze is obviously catching at the moment, as yet more of Blurredforum’s grandees publicly announced their departures in the past few days: “I’m going now. Yes, I’m definitely going. Right now. You just try and stop me (please…). I’m way too serious a birder / too cool / too busy twitching birds in Ireland to bother with the likes of Blurredforum. Oh, and by the way… did anyone ever tell you that amongst us serious birders, Blurredforum and its members are a standing joke? So that’s it. I’m going now. Definitely.”

(Is there anything more painful than twitcherer types who call themselves “serious birders”? Shorthand of a kind for “the sort of bloke you really don’t want to sit next to on a long-haul flight”).

So, good riddance to serious birders who coyly absent themselves from online forums. Get over yourselves. And to Tim and Tom, sorry to see you go. Tom, this one’s for you – the nearest thing I could find to “McKinney’s Kitchen” on Youtube. It’s not Iron Maiden, but it has its merits…