I have never made any secret of the fact that my nascent career as a blogger started here, in Staffordshire Stray. It was created as a precursor to our pending U.K. trip in September 2010, part of the pre-trip planning intended to establish contact with birders in the West Midlands, particularly in Staffordshire.
That was all well and good but clearly the moment arrived, all too soon, when the trip had gone beyond the planning stage, indeed, had come to an end and Fay and I had returned to Australia. Apart from a trip summary I assumed that Staffordshire Stray would simply be eased out of the scene: the trip was over, there was no real further need for this blog.
During the U.K. trip I had decided that on our return to Australia I would certainly create a Birds of Allen Road blog and that lead to the idea of a second blog, to cover the wider immediate South Burnett region [a la Martyn Yapp’s West Midlands coverage in his Blurred Birding blog].
Both Fay and I were quite content to move on, to leave Staffordshire Stray comfortably behind in the warm afterglow of our trip memories.
That was until the rains come pouring down from out of the skies over Christmas 2010 and the early part of January 2011. As already intimated in a previous post, I spent one particular weekend up to the armpits trying to dig out not one but two bogged vehicles. It was during a respite from tackling the more difficult rescue, Fay’s 4-wheel Toyota [bogged to the axles], that I, out of simple curiosity, brought up Staffordshire Stray on the laptop.
My resulting amazement is documented in the previous post. Not only was I totally gobsmacked, blown away by the number of visitors to the humble blog but I also suddenly felt guilty. It seemed that I had simply abandoned all those lovely people who had taken the trouble to either become “followers’ or at least “visitors.”
It has niggled since that mud-filled day.
It is said that the best way to solve a problem is to cast your mind elsewhere, to think of other matters. Often that ploy will bring the required results.
I was driving home from school last Wednesday, casually listening to one of Bach’s Brandenburg Concertos [Concerto No.1 in F Major] when it suddenly occurred that perhaps I had interred Staffordshire Stray a little prematurely. Yes, I now have Birds of Allen Road to cover my “backyard” birds and Birding the South Burnett to take in the wider regional birds but what of all those occasions when Fay and I venture even further afield? Indeed, where will I blog on the planned 2012 overseas trip?
In my heart I remain a Staffordian who has simply strayed beyond the county borders. I am a Staffordshire Stray who aims to continue his bird-related wanderings.
Staffordshire Stray is therefore resurrected and will serve as the vehicle for those bird trips beyond Allen Road, beyond the wider South Burnett region.
