2024

Thank you all for supporting Six Things in 2023. After posting Volume 50 tomorrow I’ll be taking a couple of weeks off, returning in the third week of January.

Here’s what will happen after that:

• free Six Things posts will continue as normal, arriving in your inbox at some point each weekend

• there will be extra posts about birds, sent at some point mid-week (everyone is set to receive these by default, but you can unsubscribe from them by going to the manage your subscription page)

• there will be audio versions of selected posts (Terms & Conditions apply. See below.)

• paid subscriptions will be cheaper

• there will be more chats

For more detail on all the above, read on.

Birds

In 2016 I wrote a book. It dealt with nostalgia, music, family and ooh a whole load of other stuff.

But mostly it was about birds. Specifically, it was about the resurgence of my interest in birds after a gap of three decades, and the challenge I set myself: find 200 species of British bird in a year.

It’s called Why Do Birds Suddenly Disappear? (yes it is a reference to the Carpenters song, and no it’s not a reference to the decline in bird numbers so much as the habit of individual birds to get the hell out of there whenever I turn up to look at them).

The writing of the book, and the year’s birding activities, proved something of a turning point. In the first 50 years of my life I wrote one book; since then I’ve written five. But more importantly for the current missive, that year and that book also sparked an enthusiasm that has only intensified with the passing of time. What started as a fun rekindling of a hobby (and a MacGuffin-ish premise for a book, let’s be honest) turned into a way of life.

BUT.

2023 was not (or at least not so much) a year of going out and seeing birds and then writing about them. And I realised that this is exactly what I would like 2024 to be. So, even though I emphatically do not do New Year’s Resolutions, it turns out that there are always exceptions. And what better way to stick to a not-a-resolution than to commit to it in public?

So for 2024, I thought I’d rekindle the Why Do Birds Suddenly Disappear spirit, with a slightly different slant. I’m less interested in chasing targets these days, but I am interested in noticing birds and observing them and thinking about what they have to tell us. And I’m also interested in hearing what other people have to say about them. Furthermore, I’m aware that for many people a desire to learn more about birds is thwarted by a feeling that, for whatever reason, it’s ‘not for them’.

So here’s the plan.

As well as the regular weekly Six Things mailings I’ll be adding a second one each week specifically about birds. The first part of this will be available to all. Gluttons for punishment can gain access to the second, more detailed, part by – and there’s no way of saying this without coming across as vulgar – giving me some money.

The template for these posts will be something like this (with variations):

For free subscribers:

• a piece of writing in the vein of my contributions to the Guardian Country Diary

Then, below the fold, for paying subscribers:

• an extra piece of writing. Perhaps it’ll be a spotlight on a bird or group of birds; perhaps an examination of an aspect of birding (birdsong or migration or feathers or binoculars or eggs or the breeding habits of guillemots or the most uncomfortable bird hide I’ve ever been in, you get the idea)

I’ll also share resources – websites, books, articles, other recommendations – which will aim to help everyone (but especially newcomers) pursue and broaden their interest in the subject.

What I’m hoping is that these posts, whatever their content and whatever your level of expertise, will spark interest and trigger enthusiasm. Because I’m based in the UK, the focus will inevitably be on British birds, but I encourage (nay, urge) people from all over the world to join in. It would be great to build a welcoming community where people of all levels of knowledge can share their own questions, wisdom and experiences. To this end, there will also be regular chats, to which you can choose to subscribe or not.

All this will inevitably be experimental in nature, and I’ll be delighted to be guided by you on what works and what doesn’t. Just drop me a line.

Audio

I did toy with audio posts when I started Six Things. But you know how it is. Sometimes the best of intentions count for nothing. It’s my hope that by writing these very sentences I’ll spur myself on to making audio versions a regular thing. No promises, mind.

Paid

I did a little survey of my paying subscribers a few weeks ago, and as a result have decided to take a quid off monthly subscriptions and a tenner off annual ones. So the new prices are: £4 for monthly payments, £40 for annual.

I do appreciate the nuances and complications of asking for paid subscriptions, and am aware that not everyone has the ability to pay. If you’re desperate to take out a paying subscription, but can’t afford it, do let me know.

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That’s it. Do let me know what you think, and if you have any questions at all I am just a click away. Here’s wishing you the happiest of New Years and a prosperous 2024.