The Lincolnshire Bird Club

I was interested in GPC's comments bemoaning the present standard of bird identification in the recent sightings section headed Rosefinch. When I first started birding in the 1970's with Chris Dobson and John East there were no such things as Forums, pagers or photo albums. As a result I had to write down detailed descriptions of the many species I could not readily identify. I also acquired a large number of Field Guides and Ringers Guides including all of Williamson's Warbler Guides which have since been upgraded but are still used on a nearly daily basis.
I believe that the huge increase in birder numbers is mainly due to all the information instantly available at the click of a mouse! As a consequence, I think that many don't go looking for their "own" birds but rely on other's information and have not learned how to take detailed field descriptions. There are still some very accomplished birders in Lincolnshire but I wonder whether information technology may have had a negative effect on field bird identification.