What a silly thing to say?  Well maybe not.  Just because you go out looking for birds doesn't mean that you actually see very many at all.  I don't just mean the weather could be rubbish or being unlucky, that sometimes happens.  I mean sometimes we just dismiss the common species or see the rare one, ignore the rest and rush off to the next tick.  I’ve done quite a lot of bird watching in the last few weeks (database records for 27 days out of the last 33) and logged 63 year ticks out of my current year total of 179.  This resulted in a degree of reflection about how much we don’t look at the birds properly when we are chasing the “megas” around the county (or country).  I haven’t seen great rarities  but full summer plumage (fsp) waders such as Grey and Golden Plover or Spotted Redshank are big favourites of mine and now is time to see them as they pass through on the way north.  And then there is the pleasure of walking around somewhere so familiar and ticking of all the newly arrived summer visitors – Carlton Marshes on 27th April – 8 species of warbler.  And then sometimes you even find your own birds, such as the unexpected Marsh Warbler during lunch on the edge of Breydon Water (29th April)
I’ve met a few different people in the last couple of weeks too.  The group of retired blokes at Minsmere yesterday with their extremely expensive kit and boorish lack of both manners and hide etiquette were the worst kind.  In contrast the ill equipped (for bird watching anyway) young family in the cold and rain at Titchwell on Sunday were a pleasure for me to help point out new birds.  I hope the little lad keeps a log of what he saw through my telescope, my records as a child were somewhat patchy and often rather fanciful. 
So what about the actual birds then?  There was a female Montagu’s Harrier at Minsmere yesterday, interestingly she was wing-tagged in France in 2008.  Some superb (fsp) Turnstone, Spotted Redshank and Ruff were jewels amongst the hundreds of gulls and terns.  Over the weekend I stayed in Thornham and went to Titchwell three times before breakfast.  The weather was pretty poor Sunday and Monday but highlights there were two Black-necked Grebe, Red-crested Pochard, fsp Grey Plover and a pair of Garganey.  On Saturday morning the Bearded Tits were so close to the path and perfectly lit by the morning sun.  Later on at nearby Choseley, a futile search for Dotterel did produce Corn Buntings and 16 near fsp Golden Plover.  On my Breeding Bird Survey patch at Corton a cracking male Ring Ouzel, a Whinchat and many warblers were down the old railway line (I missed the Wood Warbler) on the 28th April.
 One benefit of all this time in the field has been my improved id of singing warblers, some have surprising variations and previous experience is important on tetrad surveys when there is no time to hang about waiting for every bird to show itself. 
So get out and watch the birds – all of them, all of the time