Bill's Beginnings

In his practical guide to birdwatching and learning about birds, Bill Oddie revisits his childhood birding haunts to discover how they have changed over 50 years.

Bill's first encounter with birds was when he was about seven years old. He found a dunnock's nest with five eggs in - he took one, put it in a matchbox and carefully put it in his back pocket. He then forgot about it, and later, when jumping over a log, crushed it. Egg-collecting is no longer legal, but it did teach him a lesson or two - it got him hooked on birds and taught him the value of patience.