Request for a plug....

I received this nice email from Steve this morning, and thought I should oblige....maybe you should check out his links too, I will tomorrow evening, not had much time tonight. Cheers Steve...

Hello Stuart,

I'm an expat Tyneside birder, living in Hertfordshire, and I've followed your blog on and off since Boulmer Birder days.

I always intended to make my way back to the north-east, but now I'm settled with a southern wife and southern kids.  I can't complain - I get regular Hobbies and Little Egrets over the house, and have had a few Lesser Spotted Woodpeckers in or around the garden down the years.  Stocker's Lake is a more than useful local patch half a mile away, but I have to admit, I do pine for the migrants, and I read with some envy when you stumble across Barred and Greenish Warblers around your place.

I get back up a couple of times a year, and managed to catch up with the Stilt Sandpiper at Druridge last year.  I also had my first Northumbrian record accepted for 20-odd years with a Crane from the train at Warenford in May when I was travelling up to Edinburgh.

My old man is still an active birder up there, despite having turned 80 a couple of years ago.  You might have seen him in a hide at Cresswell or at Chevington, and for a while he had a rather distinctive Redshank's wing tucked into his hat.

The reason I'm writing now is that I have just published a book, called 'Trawling for Eagles' (http://www.amazon.co.uk/Trawling-Eagles-Odyssey-Stephen-Younger-ebook/dp/B00QMW6PKE/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1420583671&sr=8-1&keywords=trawling+for+eagles).  It's about my first two years in employment as a ship's ornithologist / naturalist on a converted trawler, running wildlife holidays in SW Scotland in the late 80s.

It's doing OK so far, and has gone down well with friends.  Now I'm trying to work out what to do with it next, but I thought that perhaps it might appeal to followers of your blog, what with its combination of north-eastern and birding themes.  

I really should sort my social media skills out and perhaps start a blog of my own, but for now I'm thinking of sending it to magazines and newspapers for reviews.  I'm planning to turn it in to a 'proper' book this year, probably in the summer.

Anyway, feel free to make what you will of this note.  The first few chapters are available to read free on Amazon and should give you a flavour of what it's about.  

Cheers for now,

Steve Younger.