My name is Steve Thorpe. I was born in 1975 and have been birding since I was 9 when my dad took me to Shiningcliff Woods one Christmas. I live in Ripley, Derbyshire, hence the clever title of this web site, but I have enjoyed seeing many birds in most parts of the country.

Thanks for coming to see what I have to offer you. I wouldn't describe myself as an avid twitcher but I don't have a lot of spare time so the time I do have 'in the field' I like to spend seeing nice birds, preferably new ones! It's been months since I updated this site, so I can only apologise to those of you that have kept coming back hoping that I've got new pictures etc to show you. However, I hope to keep things up-to-date from now on, and I've started doing a bit more birding recently too, therefore there's more to tell you. One other thing that's new since my last update is my video footage page. It is a work in progress, my most recent addition being the Great Grey Shrike at Walton and some Snipe from Carsington Water.

This is basically an electronic version of my personal diary for you to enjoy and follow my progress. In here you will find links to my 2005 year list so far, eventually I will also put other years too. Each entry in the diary may be accompanied by photos. Species in Bold with a number after them indicate new species for the year, species in red indicates a lifer.

My British List is held in here for Non-Passerines and here for Passerines and can also be accessed from the menu.

Contact me ornithom@hotmail.com