{"id":231,"date":"2021-05-21T16:16:18","date_gmt":"2021-05-21T15:16:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/cyberphil.azurewebsites.net\/?p=231"},"modified":"2021-05-21T18:13:34","modified_gmt":"2021-05-21T17:13:34","slug":"dont-twitch-watch","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.cyberphil.co.uk\/?p=231","title":{"rendered":"Don’t Twitch! Watch!"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Those of you who may know me personally will know that I have quite a few hobbies outside of the World of Tech.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Yes kids \u2013 there is a whole world of stuff out there that doesn\u2019t involve a screen!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

One of my long standing passions is Bird Watching.  Since I was a kid I was interested in nature and growing up in deepest, darkest Somerset meant that it was all around me.  I would like to think that I was pretty good at identifying most common garden birds and spotting anything unusual at an early age.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

However, years later I was hooked into the world of \u2018twitching\u2019 by a friend of mine called Andy.  Andy is a top bloke and a true gentlemen who lives in Cumbria and now travels the world in pursuit of that next tick.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Twitching and Bird Watching are two very different things. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Twitching is about bird watching – but it is mostly about lists  – \u2018Day Lists, Year Lists, Life Lists, Patch Lists\u2019 – you name it \u2013 there is a birdwatching list for it.  Twitching is less about stopping to watch and more about driving around the country (normally at break-neck speed!) with as much kit as you can carry to spot that elusive \u2018lifer\u2019 or to get your Year List higher than last year\u2019s.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Don\u2019t get me wrong \u2013 \u2018Twitchers\u2019 love birds, nature and protecting the environment and have done – well before it was fashionable but they certainly put in some mileage in pursuit of a good list.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I loved my hikes in Cumbria with Andy looking for rare species and we normally had a great time \u2013 which often involved a bacon sarnie and a pint along the way.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

However, if we were in \u2018twitching mode\u2019 it was less of a treat \u2013 which you would understand more if it was Andy\u2019s turn to drive.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I remember once that a bunch of us (twitchers) ended up in the middle of Darlington town centre to \u2018tick\u2019 a flock of Waxwings which had been blown in and were huddled in a tree in the park in the town centre.  We looked like a cross between Dad\u2019s Army and Ghost Busters with all the kit and camo gear on (I don\u2019t think the locals even blinked an eye) but there they were \u2013 about 20 waxwings in a tree.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

If you don\u2019t know what a waxwing looks like \u2013 Google it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The most fantastic sight and a joy in the Birding World sitting in Darlington town centre.  No less than 2 minutes after ticking these off \u2013 the cry went up that there was a rare gull spotted in Hartlepool and that was it.  We were off.  Personally, I could have stopped all day to watch waxwings in Darlington with a Greggs sausage roll but ticks are ticks in the birding world.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A couple of big turning points in my birding \u2018career\u2019 was meeting my lovely wife who loves birds and nature but not at break-neck speed and the fact that when coming back from a birding expedition in Somerset, dressed up in an army surplus parka with matching hat, badges and all the scopes and straps \u2013 my younger brother shouted \u2013 “Bloody Hell! It’s Bill Oddie!”   Although I have the topmost respect for Bill \u2013 who is a legend in his own right \u2013 it was not a look I was trying to achieve and so the camo had to go (along with my badges). <\/p>\n\n\n\n

There were a few badges that I kept (RSPB and BTO for example) as these were important \u2013 but sewn on patches of reserves and sites I had visited briefly over the years all disappeared into insignificance.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Now that I am more settled \u2013 I have a more leisurely approach to birdwatching and luckily my wife also enjoys the pastime.  I am not a twitcher but a watcher.  And we are very lucky to have a large garden which attracts many birds of various shapes and sizes with the occasional rare visitor mixed in.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I don\u2019t really care if it\u2019s a House Sparrow or a Golden Eagle \u2013 they are all fantastic creatures and are fascinating in their own way.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We often now just sit for ages watching the sparrows flit in and out.  We have lots of woodpeckers that visit us and they are amazing.  Its amazing how sitting quietly to observe the behaviours, patterns and general traffic at our bird table makes you learn so much more about birds than running around at 500 miles per hour to get a rare tick.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And that got me thinking!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

If you sit and watch slowly and quietly over a period of time \u2013 you start to build up a knowledge pool of behaviours and patterns.  You can extend this knowledge by research and that adds to the insight you get on a day to day basis of watching the bird traffic in and out of the garden.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Occasionally something odd turns up or happens to break the routine of the other birds \u2013 it stands out and grabs your attention.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sometimes there is an alarm (doesn\u2019t matter which bird signals it \u2013 they all seem to understand the alarm call) and in swoops the Sparrowhawk.\u00a0 It sometimes strikes and sometimes misses but the birds are always alert.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And sometimes nothing at all happens but the birds still scatter just in case. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

We know that they can\u2019t protect themselves 100% of the time from the threat but they want peanuts and seeds so it\u2019s worth the risk.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sparrowhawks are also amazing birds and we can\u2019t stop them – but we do consider where our feeders are and have hedges and bushes growing to give the smaller birds some top cover for defence.\u00a0 You can learn a lot by watching how a hawk approaches a target and strikes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

So what does watching birds have to do with protecting a network?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Here are some top tips from \u2018Bird Watchers\u2019 for the defence of your network.<\/p>\n\n\n\n