User:JERIDGE

== I am 47 years old & glad to just still be alive : ) - I have been birding, (or at least trying) - since 1981. My first half decent find was a Black Redstart in 1984.  Other good birds followed & include Great Grey Shike, Ortolan Bunting, Pectoral Sandpiper, Red-backed Shrike & Wryneck...not too bad for an idiot : }  My local patch is Pinner Park Farm, which I have covered for twenty long years.  I love walking for my birds, as it is environmentally friendly : ) - my longest walk was for a Grey Phalarope at Tring Reserviors (which is not even in London!) in 2003 (54.12 miles there & back)... My best total on foot  from home in one year in London (& bear in mind that  I live in Pinner & not Rainham,, is 142 species). My total of chats in Pinner is 1,111 which by most standards is okay - I have also seen four species of Shrike in London on foot (Red-backed, Great Grey, Woodchat & Brown Shrike) ~ B irding, (or at least listing), has nothing much to do with being any good, it is simply about being in the right place at the right time. My best London session was in Oct 2003 when I recorded 2 Ortolan Buntings, Barred Warbler, Leach's Petrel & Red-necked Phalarope in the space of 17 hours - & that will take some beating. The photograph in the avatar (until I change it), is of a first-winter Red-backed Shrike at Pinner Park Farm. Pagers & fancy cameras do not appeal to me. (Jon Ridge 12/12/15). == == I have an extensive music collection & listen to everything from Big Black to Abba.....& you can laugh, but not as much as me : ) My fiance Gabrielle was very supportive & important to me (she very sadly died - 17/10/15) - I was a very lucky guy - That is all you need to know after 34 years in the game. ==

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