20 years of Blogging!

 On 15th July 2006 this blog began as Boulmer Birder. At the time we lived in Longhoughton and every dog walk was down to the Boulmer headland less than 2 miles away. Back then a Corn Bunting singing on wires was one of the last of his kind with only one other record since. When I watched Boulmer in the 90s we had around 18 singing males on the headland in areas where the main agriculture was the growing of vegetables such as cabbages and turnips. We would walk the quiet WW2 runways and the coast often not meeting a sole. Now the area is a cordoned off no go area with Private Keep out signs on every single 5 bar gate so the burgeoning population of visitors, tourists and caravanners are corralled onto a 50 mtrs wide coast strip.

When I set the blog up I was mostly inspired by Graeme Catley's Peewit blog and his amazing photographs and his prolific birding output and Alan Tilmouth's Grocer blog ( now defunct so no link). I was never going to keep up with that but small steps followed. Since my first full year in 2007 when I made over 250 entries, the blog has slowly declined down to its lowest output of 26 posts in 2025, a mere 10% of the starting figure! The main reason for that, I'd say, is the increase in Social Media usage and the now ubiquitous use of Smart Phones rather than sitting down at a PC. But, I still enjoy the blog, so a couple of posts a month will still be forced upon you, dear readers! I wonder how many readers out of the 3.5 million hits are still visiting since the start? By the way, don't take any notice of the hit counter going forward, its just a sea of 'bot' hits, another feature we didn't see at the start or even a year ago!  

Here in July 2026, those old posts seem so dated. The blog has seen a few changes over the years from Boulmer Birder to From the Notebook and on to Stewchat. We now live a couple of miles further north where I watch the patch around our village but still make visits to Boulmer mainly during migration seasons and it still turns up some good birds. Its not just birds either ( though it was never just birds really) that grace the output. You are as likely to see an insect or plant as a bird but one thing remains constant. The blog is mostly about the wildlife of Northumberland and always will be, other than a couple of weeks holiday a year to break things up for a change.

What next? For me, retirement is not far away, all being well, when I intend to put a lot more time into the things I actually enjoy doing. There will be more time for art, more time for walks for wildlife, more gardening and who knows what else, maybe a bit of fishing again? One thing is certain, you will read about some of it on here.

Thank you all for visiting and making comments on my posts, they are all very welcome. Thanks to all of the virtual friends I have made through blogging, Dean Stables, Steve Gale, Mark Skevington, Gavin Haig, the late and sadly missed Dylan Wetherall, Seth Gibson, David Bryant, Simon Thompson, Alastair Forsyth et al the list is endless! The role these individuals play should not be underestimated. Most I have never met, but I hang on to their words of inspiration as if they were old school mates.

So that's all folks here's to the future and keep blogging!

Corn Bunting, this one a bit clearer and closer from North Uist in 2014...