So Dave the Tory Twat and Alec Salmond Rushdie have agreed to a referendum for the Scottish people to decide on the future of their country i.e. either break political ties or stay with the status quo - come to think of it one of the conditions for breaking away should be that they must take Status Quo! I'm not going to go into a political rant, it's a democratic system and the people will decide.
So the country that brought us all things battered and a gazillion barrels of oil may sooner or later break away from Britain. This leaves birders in a bit of a dilemma. If Scotland was no longer a part of Britain would you still count the birds you've seen there on your British list? If I were to take the hard line view that my list is purely British (which for now it is) then I would lose twenty species. Mouth watering blockers such as Pine Grosbeak, Grey-tailed Tattler and Snowy Egret would all go, those long journeys north seemingly futile. The sedentary birds, Capercaille, Crested Tit, Scottish Crossbill (though that'll probably go anyway) and Ptarmigan all impossible to get south of the border. Independence or not this simply won't happen. For twenty five years I've chased 'rare' from Lands End to John O'Groats and occasionally further, a political decision won't change this and nor should it!
Ironically on the day that Cameron (isn't that a Scottish surname?) and Salmond make their announcement an Englishman makes history by finding Scotland's first Lesser Spotted Woodpecker .. Personally I found that story far more interesting.
