>From 3/26 English newspaper, "The Independent":

Feathers fly as the world of the twitcher fights over its pecking order

By Michael McCarthy, Specialist writer of the year

26 March 2001

Can the king of Britain's twitchers be knocked from his perch? Feathers are
flying in the birdwatching world after a challenge from a young rival.

The dispute, described by amused observers as a "duel with binocular cases
at 10 paces", concerns who has seen the most bird species in Britain and
Ireland in a year. The issue is one that serious ornithologists view as
meaningless.

But for thousands of hardcore twitchers - whose passion borders on an
obsessivecompulsive disorder, involving electronic pager messages and
frantic long-distance journeys - life revolves around trying to see as many
different types of bird as possible, everywhere. And although no prizes are
won, the man with the biggest list (it's almost exclusively a male pursuit)
is liable to be elevated to near god-like status by his peers.

In one corner of the hide stands the title holder, Lee Evans, aged 40, from
Little Chalfont, Buckinghamshire, Britain's self-styled "top twitcher"
since the mid-1980s. Mr Evans operates the UK400 Club, a sort of Premier
League of twitchers; to qualify for membership one must have seen at least
400 different species of bird in the British Isles. He claims to hold the
UK annual record for bird species, with the 383 he saw in 1996.

In the other corner crouches the challenger, Adrian Webb, aged 28, from
Grays, near Tilbury, Essex, who also claims to have seen 383 different
types of wild bird in Britain and Ireland in 12 months. Mr Webb notched up
his total in the course of last year, when he travelled about 80,000
miles - a record that he claims is much more solidly based than Mr Evans's.

A slanging match has ensued, loud enough put up a flock of geese or drive a
grasshopper warbler out of a bramble patch.

Mr Evans has accused his challenger of trying to narrow the gap between
them by adding species to his list that he either didn't see or that should
not be included because they were not genuinely wild birds.

Mr Webb has countered by claiming Mr Evans was not entirely straightforward
over some of his own sightings. Mr Evans has hit back by banning entry to
his UK400 Club to Mr Webb's supporters. He also publishing a vituperative
editorial on his website, but had to withdraw it after a flurry of writs.

Is this really what we expect of the Fellowship of the Anorak?

The war of words erupted after Mr Webb published a seven-page account of
his year-2000 exploits in the current edition of Birding World magazine. Mr
Evans immediately challenged this.

Seeming to anticipate what was to follow, Mr Webb wrote: "Unfortunately,
disputes and controversy are never very far away from year-listing, but I
wish to take this opportunity to unconditionally refute any charges of
dishonesty. Those who know me will testify to my integrity and commitment
to include only sightings which I am totally convinced are genuine."

By Mr Evans's reckoning, however, even at best Mr Webb's species total
should be no higher than 377 or 378. He specifically challenges the
sightings of ivory gull, ferruginous duck, goshawk, Lady Amherst's
pheasant, Baird's sandpiper and black kite, and adds that "doubt could be
raised over several other birds on his list ... As far as I am concerned,
his claims to have beaten my best-ever list are rubbish."

Mr Webb responds: "I stand fully behind my claim. Lee is not doing himself
any favours by his attitude - if anything, some of the species on his own
best-ever list are questionable." He admits telling Mr Evans he had not
been to see the ivory gull, but claims that this was a tactical untruth: "I
didn't want him to know too early in the year that I planned to seriously
challenge his record."

The two men are already serious personal competitors. After he got to Holme
Nature Reserve, Norfolk, to see a rare desert wheatear ahead of his rival
on 3 November, Mr Webb wrote in the sand: "Evans eat your heart out: desert
wheatear, 377."

Last year Mr Webb gave up his job in his family's greengrocery business to
spend all his time, and ?12,000, pursuing birds. This is a man who thought
little of driving with 50 litres of diesel in his boot during the fuel
crisis to ensure he kept mobile, and once made a 691-mile overnight lone
trip from Aberdeen to Penzance. What made him do that? "It was a sure way
to see a lot of wonderful birds," he said.

Mr Webb is most proud of seeing Europe's first blue-winged warbler, an
American species, on Clear Island off Co Cork in October. A month later he
suffered his worst experience, when the boat he had hired to carry him from
Skye to South Uist to see Britain's first long-tailed shrike broke down and
began drifting towards rocks; a lifeboat later came to the rescue.

Stressing that he had witnesses to virtually all his sightings and had
taken photographs of most of the rarities, Mr Webb said he planned to
submit his efforts to The Guinness Book of Records.

Mr Evans commented: "Both Adrian and I must both be regarded as wallies,
especially by people not concerned with birding. That does not bother me -
I enjoy what I do and what people think is like water off a duck's back.
But as a lot of people have long regarded my lifestyle as odd, it in some
ways seems strange that Adrian should want to emulate it and to take
questionable steps to go one better."

Ironically, the totals claimed by both men are, in the eyes of the
143-year-old British Ornithologists' Union, inflated.

It is the BOU, one of the world's oldest and most venerable organisations
dedicated to bird study, that rules what species should and should not be
on the British wild bird list. The BOU all-time total of British species is
573, but this does not include several claimed by both Mr Evans and Mr
Webb. If their claims had been based on the BOU's own yardstick, Mr Webb's
total for 2000 would be reduced to 372, and Mr Evans's 1996 record would be
whittled back to a slightly higher 376. This is partly down to some birds
having a number of racial forms, which the twitching movement has
unilaterally declared as separate species.

But don't start them off again, or you'll never hear the end of it.
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