Full flow

Believe it or not this is my 10th post of 2017. Ten in 13 days. Somehow I have rediscovered my enjoyment of writing, and you the internet unfortunately have to bear the brunt. Last year I was on the point of throwing the towel in. Quitting blogging altogether. I simply couldn't be bothered, the blogging community was shrinking, most posts received no acknowledgement whatsoever, I didn't really feel I had the time to devote. Then I wrote about this sad state of affairs and in the process discovered that despite all of this I still really enjoyed it. And so here we are. 


After a summer of writing almost nothing, the autumn saw Wansteadbirder.com step up a few gears. I've not regained the heights of 2011 and I doubt I ever will - that was a unique period in my life - but it is beginning to flow again. I can't really say that there is a reason for this, it just is what it is. It may continue or it may not. It may get boring, indeed some may say that it already is! Now that I think about it I'm sure I once wrote a blog post about how I was boring even myself. That said, I’m back to doing what I used to do back then, which is keeping a list of things that I see or think of that I might then choose to bash out a few sentences on. Currently on this small scrap of paper are my unique sense of balance, snowmageddon in Wanstead, how trips often have soundtracks, sunsets, and why it is that I frequently use too many commas. As usual not much birdy content.

That said and despite the title, it has never really been all about birds. That would too boring. Had it been, I think it would have died a death quite a few years ago. As it is this is the ninth year, can I make it ten? How long does the average blog endure for? And how on earth does Steve Gale manage to write so much?! He's just won the highly-coveted Rambler award for the best blog that Neil reads, and for the fourth year running. This is richly deserved, his output is second to none, no repetition, always something to whet the appetite and always something new to make the commute go that little bit quicker. Apparently I was the runner-up again, although I did pick up a gong for my overly-emotional post about the parallels between the US election and Brexit. I think I won it once, probably back when I was a house husband and wrote stupid things every day about the minutae of life and my laughable attempts at domesticity and bringing up children. Anyway cheers Neil (aka Factor), and well done to Steve and thanks for the words!

Factor has also listed a number of really good reads to make up his shortlists, it is well worth going over to his page and having a look - you may discover something that really piques your interest. Since I had my big moan/epiphany, I have been trawling around various birdy spots on the web and have managed to discover a number of enjoyable places to fritter away time. So now over there on the right you should see a fresh and expanded blog-roll. There is a new one about waders, one from a birder who travels possibly more than I do, a few local patch soldiers from around the country, and a couple more photography ones. I hope to add a few more in the coming weeks, albeit that I don’t want the list to be too lengthy. In summary, there is light.