On 8/1/22 George claimed that his UK self found list was 448 species. This long post will show that he has not even found 303 BOURC/IRBC species.
Sometime ago George stated “the Long-toed Stint that I found” i.e.
He also claimed he identified it:
George did not find or identify the Sussex Long-toed Stint. It was identified by Jerry Warne and Dave Willis and NOT by George. Note that George has not submitted anything to BBRC for at least 10 years.
More information on his stint claim and other claims has just come in i.e.
We are aware of a large number of occasions where George has claimed other birders finds even when the identity of the bird was already firmed up.
The BBRC 2021 report for Long-toed Stint states “2011 Sussex Weir Wood Reservoir, 2CY+, 15th–21st September, photo (P. Johnson, J. Warne, D. Willis et al. per A. Lawson)”; and the only names for the Rustic Bunting are C. D. R. Heard and A. B. Stewart.
As far as we are aware George was born in October 1960 which makes him 62 years old so getting the BB magazine for 55 years is impressive!!
The rest of this post has not changed for a number of months:
George has been claiming all sorts of outlandish things lately e.g. getting over 300 species in 1980. But even that was topped by an incredible claim on the 8/1/22 of his UK self found list of 448 species. Most birders follow the Punkbirders self-find rules which are here. A huge number of birds that George claims as self-finds do NOT adhere to these standards.
On Surfbirds George was shown as 23rd in the self found rankings with 305 for the year 2005. Graham Catley was number 2 with 324. Ken Shaw has set himself a target of self founds to 350 which is probably a reasonable target given that there must be a ceiling to how many new species can be found by one person.
On Bubo Graham Catley was shown at 322 as of 1/1/2018.
In June 2005 George was on 305 which was twenty or so birds behind the self-find leaders. Its simply not possible to get from 305 in 2005 to 448 in 2022. This is roughly over 8 brand new species per year for the last 17 years.
Often one list will mention different birds to another list. For example, a list shown on the UK400 website in June 2001 used the weasel words “I have personally found or been involved in finding at least the following …..Upland Sandpiper, Marsh Sandpiper, …., Grey Checked Thrush”. However these 3 major birds are NOT mentioned in his 2005 list or latest list.
In November 2000 UK400 Editorial George stated “Lee is appalled at accusations of not being able to find his own birds and simply just chase people’s other finds. He prides himself on his birding ability and has been instrumental in identifying or first finding at least the following”. The Editorial then showed a huge list of birds which is shown below. This includes Black Stork and Subalpine Warbler which are NOT mentioned in his 2005 list or latest list.
We are aware of a large number of occasions where George has claimed other birders finds where the identity was already fully firmed up (e.g. Radde’s, Dusky Warbler, RCS, Pect. Sand, Blackpoll Warbler) but he then claims the already found birds as his self-found and sometimes even submits a description!
This is typical of claiming birds that belong to others. We could give many more examples of where George has claimed a bird as self-find but it was NOT a self-find. However if we did publish these further examples George would know who our sources are and also we do not publish without the permission of the source and those affected. George has been known to give death threats to other birders some of which have been reported to the police and they have investigated them. Other times he has contacted the birder’s work boss saying that the birder is birding or doing other things in company time.
Here is an example where permission was obtained. A ex-BBRC member and a couple of mates found a Blackpoll on Peninnis Head, St Marys. George was not there when it was found, but got there within about 30 minutes or so as the news got out. George didn’t know the features that separated Blackpoll from similar species, however they did and were happy to point those out. That evening another well-known birder came into the pub to tell the actual finders that George was going round the Cressa telling everybody how these 2 old ladies pointed out a funny bird to him that they didn’t know and how he had quickly identified it for them as a Blackpoll. Needless to say the actual finders were far from happy and quickly finished their pints to go have words along the lines of “if you’re claiming to have found our bird, then let’s take this outside with fists”. George quickly changed his story and denied all knowledge of trying to claim the bird!
George’s name is rarely in the Isles of Scilly bird reports but its much more often in BBRC reports. Normally the Isles of Scilly committee passes names in their report over to the BBRC. This is a sneaky way to get your name into BBRC reports for birds you did not find or identify.
He has also been caught out inventing rare birds national and locally that do not exist. He often invents local birds with the latest being Iceland Gull in Bucks on the 18/12/21 which did not exist on that date in Bucks. Dave Bevan posted seeing it at Marlow on the 19th and on the 18/12/21 it was in Surrey at dusk and not Bucks. Certainly no records from Evans of importance would be accepted by Bucks without undoubted corroboration and a photo would be inspected for EXIF Data. George is well known for his Bucks Photo String.
Using the UK400 checklist featured on the RBA website as a starting point because the BUBO UK400 checklist is a little out of date we took the birds claimed by George in his 448 list above and added in possible species. That got us to a figure of (click on the following to see what species) 347 which is nowhere near his claimed 448. This list was vetted by more than one person. However this 347 includes many birds we know he has strung as finding e.g. Glaucous-winged Gull – details are below.
We have obtained a substantial amount of evidence from numerous birders and have concluded that George’s self-found list is under 311 using UK400 standards or 303 using BOURC/IRBC. Its possible that George has not even found 300 BOURC/IRBC species. A number of well known birders who have known George for over 40 years all have made comments to the effect they think he has a small found list. One example is below.
One of the recent comments to this blog says “I don’t believe his true found list is even anywhere near 300. He’s an out and out twitcher, not a bird finder. I’ve been birding over 40 years and have never heard of ANYTHING rare he’s genuinely found himself. Literally nothing. You need to find a lot of rarities to get to 300, and in most cases live somewhere good and be birding there all the time, not travelling all over the country looking at other people’s finds.”
George is not known for his rarity finding skills but rather for his listing activities. Although George has stayed a lot of time on Scillies he is hardly mentioned in the Isles of Scilly Bird reports as a finder of birds.
There was a putative Glaucous-winged Gull (GWG) in the winter of 2008/9 that visited several sites near London. The critical point is that this bird was rejected by BBRC as a GWG and George DID NOT FIND IT in March OR IDENTIFY IT in March before other birders. In early March George thought it was an Iceland Gull. Its very handy that the self-appointed ‘judge, jury and executioner’ and ‘policeman’ of birding, the one man UK400 committee i.e. George can accept this putative GWG as a real GWG.
Note the date of the following link is 23 April some of which is shown below:
http://uk400clubrarebirdalert.blogspot.com/2009/04/putative-glaucous-winged-gull-this.html
His 2005 list has Lesser Scaup, Surf Scoter and Broad-billed Sand but these are NOT mentioned in his 448 list!! There are many birds on his 448 list which are not listed on his 2005 list e.g. Yellow-breasted Bunting, Isabelline Wheatear, Black-headed Bunting, Red-breasted Goose, Two-barred Crossbill, Blackpoll Warbler, Red-flanked Bluetail, Pacific Golden Plover, Long-billed Dowitcher, Saxaul Grey Shrike. We strongly doubt that George found some of these (e.g. Black-headed Bunting).
Lets look at a few of his claims – we could have chosen other examples. Yellow-breasted Bunting was not mentioned on any of his self found lists before 2022. His name for YBB does not appear in any of the BBRC reports. This is a very rare bird away from the Northern Isles where George rarely stays for long periods so perhaps George can tell everyone which one he found.
We also like to know what Saxaul Grey Shrike he has found. We are not aware of any he has found.
George stated “the Long-toed Stint that I found”. George did not find or identify the Sussex Long-toed Stint. It was identified by Jerry Warne and Dave Willis and NOT by George.
George has not found any Yelkouan Shearwaters/Menorcan types accepted by BBRC.
It is noteworthy that when George did an interview for the book Behind The Binoculars published in 2015, he was asked what do you see as your birding achievements. He mentioned a number of porkies (e.g. 682 species in one year for his Western Pal list – click here to see his WP claims) but nothing about finding rare birds!
George’s website in November 2000 in the UK400 Editorial claimed a huge number of birds and stated “Lee is appalled at accusations of not being able to find his own birds and simply just chase people’s other finds. He prides himself on his birding ability and has been instrumental in identifying or first finding at least the following: 12 Wilson’s Storm Petrels, Little Bittern, several Night Herons, Squacco Heron, Cattle Egrets, Great White Egrets (including two this autumn on the Hayle Estuary), 3 Purple Herons, White Stork, Black Stork, Snow Goose, Falcated Duck (the eclipse drake at Grove Ferry in August), numerous American Wigeons, several Blue-winged Teals, Ring-necked Ducks, King Eider (at Wick), several Black Kites and Red-footed Falcons, Sora Rail on Scilly (from photographs), lots of Common Cranes, Black-winged Pratincole (with others at Minsmere in August 1985), American Golden Plover (at least 3, all on Scilly), White-rumped and Baird’s Sandpipers, Broad-billed Sandpipers, Buff-breasted Sandpipers, Long-billed Dowitcher, Upland Sandpiper, Marsh Sandpiper, Lesser Yellowlegs, Wilson’s Phalarope, White-winged Black Terns, 5 Yellow-billed Cuckoos, 2 Alpine Swifts, Red-rumped Swallow, Blyth’s Pipits on Scilly, several Red-throated Pipits, Isabelline Wheatear (with Ray Turley on St Mary’s GC), several Aquatic Warblers, Subalpine Warbler, Greenish and Arctic Warblers, Radde’s Warbler, Western Bonelli’s Warbler, at least 5 Red-eyed Vireos, 2 Rose-coloured Starlings, Two-barred Crossbill and several Little and Rustic Buntings.“
The above Nov 2000 list would be very impressive if it was true especially given that George had not done much long distance birding before the 1980s’ (born Oct 1960) and he lives inland in Bucks. Of course this list is rubbish. Note the claims of big totals e.g. numerous American Wigeons, several Blue-winged Teals, several Night Herons, several Black Kites and Red-footed Falcons, 5 Yellow-billed Cuckoo’s, at least 5 Red-eyed Vireos.
His claims of big totals like above are just not true. George is also well known locally for exaggerating his bird totals. For example, at Penn Woods on 4/1/2022 he claimed 213 Brambling on eBird.
This claim will not be accepted by the Bucks Bird Club. Reliable counts by competent birds at this site during the week were at least 50% lower. We wonder if eBird knows that its database is getting populated with garbage.
This Nov 2000 list references 5 birds on Scillies (i.e. Sora Rail, 3 American Golden Plover, Isabelline Wheatear) but none of these birds are in BBRC reports with George’s name. In fact George’s name does not appear much in BBRCs reports and even then sometimes they are fabrications anyway.
The Nov 2000 list also gives different figures from the June 2001 website list which was just 7 months later. The June 2001 list was also shown in the Birdwatch mag November 2001 and also below which starts with the weasel words “I have personally found or been involved in the finding”.
So George was claiming in Nov 2000 “5 Yellow-billed Cuckoo’s, …. at least 5 Red-eyed Vireos”. Then in June 2001 it changed to “Yellow-billed Cuckoo (4) ….. Red-eyed vireo (3)”. So the numbers of Yellow-billed Cuckoo had been reduced by 1 and Red-eyed Vireo by 2 just 7 months later. These later figures were shown in the Birdwatch magazine November 2001 i.e.
Note that George’s name only appears in the BBRC reports once for Red-eyed Vireo (i.e. 1983) and twice for Yellow-billed Cuckoo. However his name is NOT mentioned in the Isles of Scilly report for the Tresco 1983 Red-eyed Vireo. Its not uncommon for his name to be in a BBRC report and NOT in the corresponding Isles of Scilly report. Normally the Isles of Scilly committee passes names in their report over to the BBRC. This is a sneaky way to get your name into BBRC reports for birds you did not find or identify.
Many birders have enjoyed very much the recent Worzel Gummidge episode on Twitchers seen by 2.7 million BBC viewers. This episode received high praise from the public and birders. It is available for UK viewers only at:
https://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/m0012w4m/worzel-gummidge-series-2-2-twitcher
The following small clip can seen by everyone including our international audience of where the villain Lee Dangerman claims to be a better birder than Chris Packham and bragging of holding the bird watching record – click here.
Prof Adam Hart said of this episode:
Someone who knows George well said:
Of course we all know who its based on.
George is very well known for being in more than one place at the same time e.g.
Here is a picture of Lee Dangerman on the left hand side with his gold chains:
When George dipped the Catbird on Anglesey he also was wearing his typical gold chains:
With a few add-ons he looks like this:
For years George has also been known as Ali G. Below is the real Ali G. As you can see George does looks like Ali G the comedian. Difficult to know who is more funny.
When George was on Anglesey on the 6/10/2001 he dipped the Grey Catbird but some very capable birders did see this elusive bird on that date and it was accepted by BBRC for that date. However George gave a lot of stick to birders who did claim it.
If George does not see a rare bird which has been seen by rivals he often puts the boot in.
We did a long post on George’s blatant Bucks Photo String and he continues to use photos in his stringing activities which means we often don’t bother mentioning them on this site. Sometimes its done so that he can claim a fictitious bird in Bucks. No wonder he has been banned from submitting bird records to the Bucks Bird Club and banned from local WhatsApp bird groups.
From George’s post above you would think the photo is of the Hedgerley Green bird for the 3rd of May!! Its not – its a photo George took in November 2018. It is doubtful that George saw the Hedgerley Green bird on the 3rd. If George did see the bird on that afternoon it was dark and windy and not bright sun casting shadows as in his photo.
George still as of 9/6/21 maintains he took photos of the Hedgerley bird i.e.
Also he used the same photo in the Facebook Chesham Wildlife 2020 calendar!!
To compound the fraud George then puts on Facebook another photo on the 5th May but again its of the 2018 bird!!
His photo string continues but we don’t bother to keep on adding to this post e.g. on 10th May 2022 there was a Black Tern at Startop’s End reservoir.
No this is not a photo of the Startop’s bird. It a bird from Dernford Reservoir, Cambridge!!
Note the following comment by George:
We normally update existing posts if more information comes in. However too much new information has come in so we have created a Part 2 post instead. To understand the context of this post it might be worth reading Part 1 first.
Definition of a hypocrite is a person (or birder) who pretends to have moral virtues, principles, etc., that he or she does not actually possess, especially a person whose actions belie stated beliefs i.e. George.
You are not a hypocrite if you just ignore government advice, like many that George refers to. However you are a hypocrite if you behave like George during the full lock-down preaching to others not to drive long distances for birds but doing it himself on an almost daily basis.
In the last week or so George has been saying things about birders which are untrue and also calling many of them hypocrites. For example:
This prompted the following response:
Note North Berwick is in Lothian!! The Part 1 post showed during the full lock-down period George was birding over a number of counties driving big distances nearly every day. So who is the real hypocrite?
George also posted on twitter:
Here are a couple of the responses:
George posted this recently:
However George’s photo is distorting distant objects as it was taken about 50 metres away. All these birders were keeping their social distance and keeping much more than two metres away from each other!! Here is David Bevan’s response to George’s photo (at https://twitter.com/djbevanphoto/status/1274289085176299520)
On other times George has pretended he was doing bird surveys. Also on the following post George had a pop at others:
A website can only libellous if it contains untrue information on it. Posts are checked for accuracy before they go on. We welcome comments from anyone including George if they spot something inaccurate on this website and we will rectify it.
We are amused by George’s comment that “Webb actually runs people over”. Perhaps he would like to publish some details.
May we remind George what he said about fatalities: “Been involved in at least 11 major car crashes which have resulted in several fatalities.”… “11 people died” …. “it’s just part of the birding game, when you’ve been in as many accidents as I have, you don’t worry about it”. Note there have been no fatalities by George although that might seem surprising given his claimed driving speeds. In 1996 he claimed that the police monitored his car in 1987 on the A90 between Perth and Aberdeen doing “117 miles in 46 minutes”. We presume this drive included the 6 miles of the built-up area of Dundee. However Perth to Aberdeen is 86 miles not 117!! He also claimed that “For breaking the British record, he was banned” from driving.
In 2020 George claimed a different speed of 162.3 miles per hour and was locked up by the police for a few days!! See https://www.kuow.org/stories/the-great-british-birding-show-55af for details
Last updated 18/5/20. You are not a hypocrite if you just ignore government advice. However you are a hypocrite if you behave like George during the March 23rd to May 10th 2020 full lock-down preaching to others not to drive long distances for birds but doing it himself on an almost daily basis. He told birders numerous times that he was cycling everywhere due to the Coronavirus. However he knew what the rules were at the time, e.g.
Also George stated “You are allowed to exercise once a day – not spend all day driving from 1 birding place to another”. The government advice at the time was that you were allowed to drive a short distance for exercise.
As George was driving so often he was spotted by birders numerous times. To get an idea of where he has been driving you can download his April Bucks, Herts and Beds Bubo year-lists sightings here to see that it records 25 days for April out birding. Of course this only shows his first sightings per county and he was doing more trips and many more places than this!! No doubt due to all the stick he was getting on 9/5/20 George deleted all his year-list records off Bubo!! He has also deleted photos off Facebook.
The above example (14th) is over 105 miles round trip from his home of Little Chalfont. On the 18th he went to Stewartby again which is a return trip of over 90 miles. On the 26th he went to the Jubilee River and saw cuckoo and then to Milton Keynes for Wood Warbler but dipped it – that’s over 120 miles. Oh dear George that’s not exactly local!!
In early May he was still doing long distances. On the 4th May George decided to twitch a Ring-necked Duck at Priory Country Park which is a return trip of 95 miles.
On 8th May he was spotted flushing Cattle Egrets which were happily feeding in a field near cattle in Bucks which is around 90 miles round trip from his home. All the locals kept to the footpaths where good digiscope photos could be had!!
When George was confronted about breaking the rules sometimes he would pretend he was doing scientific bird survey work. Because of the above the following has happened:
Yet he has the nerve to complain to many others of driving to bird spots. In Graham Clark’s case he does not even have a car!! Graham’s response is quite amusing.
Updated 13/1/20. On 14/11/19 a Little Bittern was found at 11:15 at the public Amwell viewpoint and stayed there for most of that afternoon with 6 RBA updates. George did not see it on the 14th because he was elsewhere as stated on Facebook i.e.
On the 15th George put out a Little Bittern photo on Twitter with a caption that included the location and “Herts 14 – 15 November 2019” and stated that it was in “an area with no access as yesterday”
George has a habit of taking other birders’ photos and then adding his caption onto it without giving any recognition to the owner of the original photo (e.g. Tengmalm’s Owl) so one would assume the captioned photo was taken by him!!
Then on the 16th George was challenged on who had taken the original photo. He then admitted that the original photo was by Stuart Fox and stated “the location of the bird is on private property – not accessible”.
George put the following onto the Herts Bird Club website and @Hertsbirds on the 15th: “Fri 15 Nov 2019 Amwell NR – Great Hardmead Lake, 1 Little Bittern, the first-winter still present in reed vegetation on the banks of River Lea just south of the weir but then flushed and flew to westernmost of two carp fishing pits opposite (no public rights of way) (Lee Evans)”
The following was on his Bubo Herts year list:
A local birder said “I am surprised he managed to get to the weir. Also odd that he says about the 2 carp pits as you cannot actually see them and certainly can’t see that there are 2 pits as they are hidden by trees.” “The post says it was below a weir, which is a slightly different place, though only by 250 metres. Also said there were 2 leucistic Ringed Teal, which I think must be rubbish”.
Two local birders have said there was no access on the 15th to a private site. All the locals don’t think George saw this bird!!
Also John Marchant sent a message on the 15th to George stating “I think you were the only person to see it today, Lee! I stayed till dusk”. George’s response was that the bird “won’t move unless you walk past it”. To our knowledge NO one other than George claimed to see this bird on the 15th!!
Murray was not too impressed with George’s response so Murray stated “Quelle surprise!”. If the bird “won’t move unless you walk past it” how come George has no photos of his own.
George stated “Did you go down to where it was? It will still be there. Won’t move unless you walk past it” How could John walk to where it was because George had said on Twitter that he saw it “south of the weir but then flushed and flew to westernmost of the two carp pits opposite (no public rights of way)”.
If George did see this bird why did he not tell other birders at the public Amwell viewpoint where it was. Note the “no general access” RBA message was at 0946:
Last update (18/5/20) was for Colin the cuckoo. In Feb 2017 a Ferruginous Duck turned up at Marlow, George put up a post saying “looks a lot better in your pix than mine. Probably ok.” A birder responded “Lee – this isn’t a picture of the Marlow bird ?? It’s the female 2010 Burgess Park bird. Do you have pics ?”
George replied “Where’s Burgess Park? My pix are rubbish of the Spade Oak bird”. George knew perfectly well where Burgess park was because the Burgess Park bird was found by fellow twitcher Richard Bonser and the information was on the RBA pager 3 times e.g.“London FERRUGINOUS DUCK ad.fem Camberwell on lake in Burgess Park”. This is a rare bird for London – only occurring roughly once every 2 years. George’s (the “policeman of British birding”) photo had come directly or indirectly from Dominic Mitchell’s website – i.e. here but access is now restricted. The image had also been avaivable via a Google images search of “Ferruginous Duck”.
Here is George’s response about using Dominic Mitchell’s photo:
George posted pictures of a Brent Goose for 28/3/14 and pretended it was from a local Bucks site “flood [area] near Denham” and that it had flown off but then returned. News of this scarce migrant was not put out on RBA.
However it has been proved beyond any doubt that George’s Brent Goose photos are of the 19/3/14 Staines Moor bird because its the scenery/habitat of Staines Moor. Note that George did not bother to put his pretend Brent record into the Bucks bird database!! Here are photos of the Staines Moor bird and here George’s photos.
A Great Grey Shrike was found on 24/10/14 in Amersham a couple of miles from George’s home – see here. We know for certain that George did NOT see this bird. However on the 27th George posted his pictures on his Bucks only blog site of the hedge it was seen on and a number of shots of a Great Grey. The hedge without the bird was indeed near Amersham but the GGS pictures were NOT taken in Bucks – see here.
On 7/7/14 George put a post out on his Bucks only blog with the title “Nightjar still present” with a number of nightjar photos i.e. here. The post stated “Buckinghamshire Bird Club has lifted its veil of secrecy and revealed the presence of this Rare Breeding species in the county. Nightjars have declined dramatically in the last 20 years, with the last stronghold locally in Surrey.” From this you would think that the pictures were of a Bucks nightjar. You would be wrong as they are of a nightjar in Sussex at Ashdown Forest June 2014.
In Dec 2018 there was a RB Merg that stayed in Middx at Denham country park and was briefly seen in Herts Nr Maple Cross NR. George put a photo of the Colne river section in Bucks (no visible birds shown) and a heavily cropped image of the Merg clearly on a lake not a flowing river (as below). He claimed he saw this bird in Bucks on 17/12/18 with another birder. However when that birder was contacted he said he never saw the RB Merg in Bucks with George. No one other than George claimed this bird for Bucks in 2018. The only reliable sighting in Bucks was by another birder on 24/1/19, which prompted George to string it again on 28/1/19.
On his bubo Bucks 2018 year-list it says:
This is yet another case of where he claims to have photographed a bird and has not done so!! Also this record was not accepted by the records committee.
On the Bucks goingbirding website and the Yahoo “BucksBirders” email group George put the following Honey Buzzard description for the 28/8/16.
Then on his twitter account one day later on the 29/8/16 he put the following photo:
Many Bucks birders thought this was a photo of the Taplow bird as it was on his twitter account one day after the Taplow bird. As the Taplow bird was seen “gliding slowly along for most of the time, at pretty low level” you would thought George would have got a great photo. By placing this record on the sightings page of this website the Bucks rarities committee would have contacted him to provide further details e.g. photo with EXIF data. However this photo is NOT the Taplow Lakes bird as the same photo was on his twitter on the 2nd Aug!! i.e.
So we assume George did not get a photo of the Taplow bird. The Bucks 2016 bird report stated:
On the 17/05/20 George posted this on the closed Facebook Chesham Wildlife group:
The following was taken from the bubo website from George’s 2019 year list:
Note the following in April 2023:
George has strung at least 6 Bucks birds (i.e. Manx, Pink-foot, Montagu’s, Rough-leg, Golden Pheasant, Arctic Skua) and probably many more. It difficult to prove more because George does not normally gives dates for his claims. A Bucks birder supplied us with the details here.
This states “Evan’s has built a reputation in his home county, and of course elsewhere, for stringing records. We understand that it is unlikely any rarities that he reports will be accepted, unless supported by an independent witness.” He also fabricates bird photos.
The rest of this post is mainly about Herts. The “policeman of British birding” has strung on his Herts life list at least 28 species and probably more!! He has also strung many Herts scarce birds.
Whilst checking George’s 2018 year list we came across his claim of a 2018 Herts lifer, a Penduline Tit. He was on his way back from his Scottish tour and managed to get to Tyttenhanger within the last hour of light. Before he arrived the Penduline had not been seen for about 15 mins. George claimed that he saw it hop up and then down and put this bird onto his bubo Herts Life List:
However none of the locals believe he saw this bird. Also others on his Scottish tour did NOT see it!!
We looked at George’s 2005, 2011, 2018 lists and input from emails, reports, etc including talking to locals. All three lists have porkies in them and also conflict with each other. His strung rare list is lower down.
George has form on his Herts list as can be seen from a 2011 Herts post which also includes his 2005 list (which is very stringy) and the Great Skua saga post. On his 2011 list George claimed a Great Skua for 3/9/83. When confronted with the fact that he was spotted in Cornwall on 3/9/83 and other cheating he stated on 7/12/11 “I know that I have seen Great Skua, Purple Sandpiper and Twite for example but without tracing the records, have no idea when”. Great Skua then remained on his list but without a date for years but its NOT on his 2018 list!! You can download his fabricated 2018-list – note Purple Sand and Twite are also not on it!!
Clearly George had gone through bird reports and claimed various birds he did not see. Unknown to George for some of these birds it was not possible to twitch for various reasons. Often he will claim a bird species giving dates with supporting information and later give conflicting information for the same species.
In the 2005 list George stated “I have also NOT SEEN the following species recorded in the county : … Rough-legged Buzzard”. However it was on his 2011 list stating “My first ever Rough-legged Buzzards were seen during the huge influx of this species in early 1975; excellent views were obtained of a long-staying bird close to Kimpton Mill on several occasions in January 1975.” This was air-brushed out of his 2018 list and it now just states the Reed, Royston record which many birders saw so we assume he saw this bird!! This 1975 RLB claim is typical of George giving lots of detail so it looks like a real record.
A very well known Herts birder Barry Reed had a go at George about his list in 2005. It talks about Purple Sand, Goshawk, Twite, Serin string i.e. here. Just because there is a witness name against a record and/or claimed photo do not think its a definite genuine record. This applies to Herts and UK claimed birds.
On his 2005 list George stated “Barry has Fulmar, Gannet … on me” so Fulmar and Gannet are OFF his list. However on his 4/12/11 list George stated “a few species are still to be added once dates are found (eg Serin, Fulmar, Gannet)” so Fulmar and Gannet are ON his list. On 7/12/11 George sent an email to a number of Herts birders which stated “I have not seen a Fulmar or Gannet in Herts to the best of my knowledge but I know that I have seen Great Skua, Purple Sandpiper and Twite for example but without tracing the records, have no idea when” so Fulmar and Gannet are OFF. On his 2018 list it still says “a few species are still to be added once dates are found (eg Serin, Fulmar, Gannet)” so Fulmar and Gannet are ON. George saw his Herts first Fulmar on 5/04/12 and first Gannet on 26/09/14. These birds are mentioned on his 2018 list but no mention of any other Fulmar and Gannet records!! Although George claims the 1991 Stanstead Abotts Serin we know he did’nt see it.
The following 28 strung rare birds is not an exhaustive list: Velvet Scoter, Blue-winged Teal, Lady Amherst’s Pheasant, Black-throated Diver, Red-throated Diver, Fulmar, Manx Shearwater, White Stork, Gannet, Montagu’s Harrier, Rough Legged Buzzard, Goshawk, Honey Buzzard, Purple Sandpiper, Arctic Skua, Great Skua, Hoopoe, Golden Oriole, Hooded Crow, Bee-eater, Penduline Tit, Woodlark, Marsh Warbler, Savi’s Warbler, Paddyfield Warbler, Arctic Redpoll, Serin, Twite. In his 2005 list he was not sure about Green-winged Teal, but it was on his 3/12/11 list but off his 2018 list!! We also find his Night Heron record very doubtful indeed – details below.
George has NOW ONLY SEEN 12 of these 28 species. This means on bubo it should show George as No. 2 and Mike Ilett as No. 1. However the no.1 Herts lister is Barry Reed who’s list is not on bubo.
There are a number of other claims we strongly suspect but are not mentioned in this post. There are also examples where an exact date is given when he should have been in school and in the winter time there would have been very little time to get from his school in Luton to the bird in time (e.g. Merlin 10/1/75).
In his 2011 & 2018 bubo list George claims “A roosting and feeding juvenile [Night Heron] on the cress beds 8 December 1971”. The 8th Dec is in school-term and is a Wednesday when he was aged 11 (born in Oct 1960). Its about 30 mins drive from his school to Lemsford Springs. However he has often stated it was in 1970 which is totally wrong as the bird was there from 28/11/71 to 19/2/72 per BBRC, e.g. an editorial written by George says “My next rarity was a Night Heron in Lemsford Springs in 1970”, e.g.in the book Behind the binoculars: “My first rarity was a Pectoral Sandpiper at Tring Reservoirs in 1969 followed by a wintering Black-crowned Night Heron at Lemsford Springs in 1970″.
George has also strung large numbers of scarce birds as well (e.g. up to 2/8/2005 several Iceland Gull, several Grey Phal, 5 Black-throats, 3 Red-throats). For a no. of scare/rare birds George does not give an exact date which made it impossible to check.
Why does George keep on giving different dates for the same bird when he claims to have good recording skills. In the book “Behind the binoculars” he states “I began collating field notes from my earliest outings in 1968 [age 7- 8] …. I was obsessed about taking notes as much as I was about actually seeing those birds, and kept a meticulous record of them in foolscap”. Elsewhere he says: “I keep meticulous notes on all of the birds that I see.” However many times George pretends he cannot find his field notes to determine when he saw a particular bird.
On the subject of dates, George claims different dates of when he started birding so take your pick. For example, George claims to have been birding from at least the age of 4 (i.e. 44 – 40). (from Herts email group: 25 Feb 2005, Subject: Re: Re: Goshawk ……”I have been in active birding in Britain for over 40 years”). Can you hold a pair of bins at the age of 4? “For the record, I started birdwatching in July 1968” i.e. age 7. He “become interested in birds at the age of eight”. E.g:.
The above string from George is typical of many county lists (e.g. Hampshire). No wonder he can claim “I am in the Top 10 of virtually every individual county list in Britain.” Some counties have banned him from putting his list on their county birding website (e.g. London, Kent). Of course his year lists are just as stringy.
George is claiming to be the number 1 BOU record holder for 2018 along with Geoff Keen. George often claims to be the no. 1 record holder e.g. 2018, 2017, 2016, 2014, 2012, …, 1984,.. going back decades when the true record holder is not George.
We know for certain George did not see at least 3 birds for 2018. We have witnesses to this fact. However if we name the birds George would then know who gave us the information. Plus there is another 1 bird that almost certainly he did not see. Also have a look at the Storm Petrel saga mentioned below. Just because there is a witness name against a record and/or claimed photo do not think its a definite genuine record.
He is also counting a duff White Stork. Although George claims it had a metal ring the same bird ended up in Cambridgeshire where the ring was shown to be a red plastic ring (as some had claimed from the start – it was first seen in Cambridgeshire in March). As of January 2019 the same bird is still present at Welney, Norfolk.
Although George is claiming 322 on Bubo we note that on Birdtrack he is claiming 321. We know that he has seen less than 321 species so that means he is fiddling his Birdtrack records as well.
Given that Geoff Keen is on 322 and George is on less than 322 we declare that the real BOU 1 record holder for 2018 to be Geoff Keen. Well done Geoff.
Normally we do not bother with publishing a possible spoof because we do not even publish almost certain and highly probables ones but the following had unusual circumstances. Its a claim of a Storm Petrel. We let the reader decide if George saw this bird or not.
On 25th Dec 2018 George updated his bubo list from 250 to 304 species. By midday of the 31st Dec it then jumped to 316 which included for the first time records of Sooty, Great, and Balearic Shearwater at Porthgwarra for the 18th Sept. but it did not include Storm Petrel. George had to find another 6 birds to get to the magic figure of 322 to become the joint no. 1 record holder which he did by the end of that same day the 31st Dec. which then included Storm Petrel. His fabricated list can be downloaded here.
When adding Shearwaters to his bubo list George should have noticed that the Northern Storm Petrels section because it is right next to the Petrel and Shearwaters section i.e.
George’s final 31/12/18 bubo list is as follows:
The very comprehensive Cornwall Birding (CBWPS) website shown below for the 18th shows no Storm Petrels for Porthgwarra. This website does mention Storm Petrels for Porthgwarra on other days. None of the 4 RBA Porthgwarra messages for the 18th mention Storm Petrel either.
George on the 18th saw a Grey Phalorope in Huntspill, Somerset. On Facebook he says:
On bubo for his claimed 6+ Great Shears he says “all very distant (an adult Roseate Tern being the highlight of a spectacularly poor seawatch!)”.
Of course its possible that George forgot to add in Storm Petrel the first time around but on the other hand he would have been very keen to get to 322 or more to become the no. 1 record holder. Perhaps he pretended very late on the 31st Dec to see a Storm Petrel and this is the one missing species from his Birdtrack list of 321.
Do not be fooled into thinking just because there is a witness name against a record then its a genuine record. To show George has been fabricating for years lets look at his claimed 1979 Lundy Ruppell’s Warbler. He never did see this bird but he gave a list of witness names. Every witness was contacted and no one said they were with George on a chartered boat. Some did not go and one was abroad at the time. Charters to Lundy were not done in those days. When George was challenged about the lack of collaboration he then gave a new list of names. Surprise, surprise none of these saw the bird with George either. Although George might claim there is a photo that does not mean it exists because not all of his photos are on Facebook or Twitter.
George in the past normally does not give enough date information for us to check his records fully. Then his 2016 list, for the first time ever, George gave a date for every bird. Due to the good date information it was far easier for us to prove he was cheating. Unfortunately George has reverted to his old ways so there are 182 species without a date (e.g. Richards, Ring billed Gull, GW Teal, Temm. Stint).
George also loves updating his Bubo list very late in the day as you can see from above. Leaving it so late means some birders memories fade, etc. It would help if George updated his list on Bubo every month and included for each scarce bird the location and date, but we will not hold our breath.
At the end of Jan. 2018 George stated on Facebook “185 species. Way shy of my record total of 221.” Early in 2002 George claimed his Jan. 2002 total was 222. Then on 24/5/02 he stated “recorded a total of 224 species in January 2002 which far exceeds the claim made by Les Holliwell. All but one of these birds was witnessed by respected birders …. and include over 400 of the keenest British birders. The full list complete with witnesses will be published”. When he did eventually publish this jan2002 he gave a claim of 221!! There were quite a number of birds without witnesses and quite a number were string. On Wikipedia he still claims “222 species in Britain in January”. It is very clear that Les Holliwell and NOT George is still the number one all-time January record holder with 217.
11/7/20 added a bit in on extreme right wing views. This post covers quite a number of topics. This blog has achieved its aims so we have decided to significantly reduce the number of new posts.
We have shown that George (i.e. Lee G R Evans twitter @LeeEvansBirding i.e. https://twitter.com/LeeEvansBirding) is a compulsive fabricator, liar and cheat on an extraordinary scale so birders do need to question anything he claims. He has stopped updating his fictitious UK400 and top 10 listers totals. The real top 10 is shown here. The following gives the reader some idea what George is like but its not exhaustive!!
George has given death threats which is a criminal offence to a number of people. Some of these conversations have been recorded and handed over to the police. On at least one occasion he was given a police caution.
He has many times rang a birder’s boss to get the rival into trouble, e.g. saying they are talking sickies when they are year-listing, e.g. developing anti-LGRE websites in company time, e.g. suppressing bird news from bird news providers. This has resulted in at least 1 birder having a nervous breakdown and another losing his job and others giving up their year-listing.
He has been found out a vast number of times claiming birds that he did not see. E.g, Danes Dyke Blackpoll Warbler, Scratby Hall Hume’s Warbler, Murcar Beach American White-winged Scoter. Sometimes he invents an extensive cover story to make it sound more convincing e.g. Lundy Ruppell’s Warbler. See this post for details & associated Hilter video.
George has taken other birders photos and pretended that they are his photos. Some committees will not accept any of George’s rarities unless they are supported by a real independent witness instead of a pretend witness or pretend photo.
He has gone through many county bird reports claiming birds he did not see. George has outrageously claimed “I am in the Top 10 of virtually every individual county list in Britain.” Britain i.e. England, Scotland and Wales has just over 90 counties. Scotland counties were replaced by 32 Council Areas which are roughly equivalent to counties. Really George you must stop telling porkies. In the book, Behind the binoculars George contradicts himself and says “I have maintained a top-ten position in over 30 individual counties in the UK”.
Most years George claims to be the UK number 1 year list record holder when in practice the record very often it belongs to someone else. The self-appointed ‘judge, jury & executioner’ & ‘policeman’ of birding sets himself as an adjudicator of rival year-listers lists (e.g. Adrian Webb). George has knocked valid birds off their lists but added lots of string and duff birds on to his list. In the past he has given witness names which has been proven to be false e.g. here
Have a look at this from someone who travelled extensively with George it includes “If people start from the premise that LGRE is ‘normal’ and recognises ordinary concepts such as morality, integrity, honesty and the interests of others, they are making a serious mistake.“
George has claimed to be the number 1 Western Palearctic life and year lister, both of which have never been true. Have a look at this.
Some think George is a psychopath or demonstrates in pure form every single symptom of the narcissistic personality disorder. We believe he is very Trump like.
Many believe that George is a racist although he claims he is not. However he puts out racist like tweets (e.g. at least 10 species of humans , welcome to Lutonstan which is a First Britain video). George stated on twitter that he is very far right wing and claimed that he launched the British fascist political organisation ‘Britain First’. However Wikipedia does not mention that George was a founder member!!
George has a habit of writing obituary’s on well known birders and exaggerating his dealings with them and/or saying things that are not true. Its all to do with self promotion and making himself look big. As we find this aspect of George very distasteful we are not going to go into detail here.
“Been involved in at least 11 major car crashes which have resulted in several fatalities.”… “11 people died” …. “it’s just part of the birding game, when you’ve been in as many accidents as I have, you don’t worry about it”. There have been no fatalities. George claimed in 1996 that the police monitored his car in 1987 on the A90 between Perth and Aberdeen doing “117 miles in 46 minutes”. “For breaking the British record, he was banned” from driving. That means an average of 152 mph! We presume this drive included the 6 miles of the built-up area of Dundee of the Perth to Aberdeen 86 miles!!
He makes false health claims to get the sympathy vote. For example, e.g. “I have been suffering again from malaria problems and have been too ill to answer the Emails. I am also suffering badly from a brain tumour which is seriously affecting my sight and speech and causing me ongoing migraine (I am too frightened to have it removed as the sight in my only remaining eye may well be affected by the operation).” His pancreatic cancer, which is normally terminal, “I might not last beyond XMAS (2013). “I wonder seriously if the overuse of mobile phones speeds up the demise of your brain cells or whether I just have the early signs of dementure.”
He also plays the sympathy card at other times “I’m toying with the idea of leaving social media in 2019 – it is just too damn depressing. Life’s too short to be reading all of this nonsense. I have spent 50 years in birding yet seemingly yield nil respect. I’ve had enough. I can see why so many people resort to committing suicide these days, the vitriol and hatred being espoused simply unbelievable. Hay-ho”. In 2011 he publicly stated that he`d be moving to Spain and that 2010 would be his last year of year listing. In 2012 he said : “Just heard of a TENGMALM’S OWL in the UK but won’t be telling any arseholes about it – suppression is the new way forward”. “Losing my faith with birding – it is a thankless hobby with little or no respect given. They think they have a RIGHT to see birds – no way”.
He has pretended to be bankrupt to get out of paying many hundreds of pounds to birders. “declared my bankruptcy petition with losses of £109,172.00.” We have checked with the authorities, he has not been made bankrupt or has an IVA. Here is one version of his fictitious claims on his stolen car and contents: “I lost £26,000 through that theft…… “I put my magazines in a sack and was carrying it to the Post Office counter when 2 yobboes jumped in the car and sped off the boot still up. … it had absolutely everything of mine in it, including a laptop computer with new big book on it – nine years’ work! There were telescopes – an unopened Nikon and an Optolyth made specially for me – 2 pairs of Leica binoculars, cameras…but the biggest problem was that I lost the whole stock of a new book (Rare Birds of Norfolk) – £60,000 (sic) worth which I had to pay for in 90 days. It was all burnt.” “They drove my car into a sign called The Lee, which has got a picture of a little Firecrest on a wooden plinth next to it, and they stoked underneath the vehicle with my books and set fire to it. The police identified the car from the engine number and from the remains of my books flying around in the wind”. He also claimed “Unfortunately, because the keys were inside the vehicle when it was stolen, the insurance company refused to pay out and in total I lost in the region of £36,000.”
George is a one man band who makes decisions on what goes on the list based on what advantage it will give him over his close rivals (e.g. Scillies Amur Wagtail, Bicknell’s Thrush, etc). There have been occasions where George has claimed that he had spoken to one of his “UK400 listed advisors” but the “advisor” knew nothing about it. Some were not aware they were a UK400 advisor! Also “the ultimate decision is mine” and that he has “gone against” the advisor’s decision. “Being a one-man band, it is clear that I am going to upset people with my decisions”. Yes a one man band with no committee. Regarding George’s taxonomic decisions Alex Lees had a go with George here.
Although George pretends to be a top twitcher, on important megas especially on islands, he does not always go or takes a slow travel option, unlike his rivals. So he has missed many key island birds. Quite a number he has caught up with at a later date but some he still needs (e.g. Eastern Kingbird, Thick-billed Warbler, Brown-headed Cowbird, Yellow-bellied Sapsucker, Magnolia Warbler, Caspian Plover, Purple Martin). In an attempt not to get left behind the big listers, he pads his list out with birds that are not what he claims them to be (e.g. Scilly Isles Amur Wagtail, Bicknell’s Thrush, etc). When he does year lists, other than his guided tours, he does not twitch Scotland that much.
George has cheated in so many ways that to mention them all would make this post far too long so below are just a few examples.
Mobile conversation: “Where are you?”. George replies: “Watching the Arctic Redpoll at Titchwell. “Any luck?” “Yes, good views”. However, frustration and a lapse, lead to a second call, just 1 hour later, to the same birder: “Where the hell is this frug duck. I can’t find it”. “Hang on, I thought you were at Titchwell”. “Forget that, I’m at Minsmere”. Note it typically takes over 2 hours to get from Titchwell to Minsmere. “What happened to the Arctic Redpoll?” Silence. Then: “Which pool was the frug duck on?”.
If George misses a bird on site sometimes he would wander off on his own and claim it e.g. Rustic Bunting. Sometimes he would shout out I got it (e.g. Hume’s, Dusky Warbler). However, before anyone arrives, the bird conveniently disappears into a back garden or flies off into the distant.
Sometimes George would ring another birder saying he was watching the bird (e.g. Sardinian Warbler, Broad-billed Sandpiper). However George was not there unlike the recipient of the call.
George would also ring someone on site watching the bird saying he was on his way e.g. “I’m near Exeter on the A30 I should be there in an hour and a half “. Word would get out that George was on his way. However sometimes George would not arrive. Days later George would claim he saw the bird on the day of the call. If challenged he would make some cock and bull story up to cover himself.
Often birders would ring George and he would claim he was watching a rare bird. Then suddenly on the phone there would be a noise that gave the game away e.g. a market trader shouting “two for the price of one”. George has been and maybe still is a market trader.
George use to put an advertisement on the pager “lift offered to … phone me now on… “ Quite often over many months especially on week days, birders would ring the number immediately and there would be no reply even if they rang more than once. Then the birder(s) would go to see the bird and stay until dusk but George never appeared. A great way to get a bird on your list without going for it.
Another trick especially used on day birds is to get a good cover story by getting a huge amount of detail on the bird and location. Then days later George would claim it (e.g. 1991 Grey-headed Gull) giving out the collected bird information.
George claimed the 1984 Shetland Needle-tailed Swift on a specific day but he was spotted elsewhere. He also told another person that he was on a direct flight to Shetland from London which was not possible. In 1988 a Pallas’s Rosefinch turned up. It was thought to be a first for Britain so many listers went straight away to see it. However George decided instead to go for a Needle-tailed, supposedly a year tick on the Isle of Hoy, and then to North Ronaldsay for the rosefinch lifer.
Sometimes George will claim a bird that had been suppressed at the time (e.g. 1997 Isle of May Lesser Grey Shrike). George has also gone through county list records (e.g. Herts) and then claimed birds that he did not see. However unknown to George: it was only seen by the original finder or a few people; believed to have been strung; the bird did not stay, etc.
Another trick is to claim birds on a private or secret site. It does not really matter if the bird existed or not. For example, pre-2005 Goshawk sighting in Herts, where no other birder saw them. This has been documented here along with other cheating on his Herts list
Sometimes George will give a fictitious list of witness names to a claimed bird. George claims the 1979 Ruppell’s Warbler on the Devon Bird Club’s annual trip to Lundy on the Oldenburg. However, George has given a different story of travelling on a chartered small boat and giving a list of witnesses. However they say this event did not occur. When tackled on this, George has given a new list of witnesses who also said this event never occurred. Another old Hitler video, this time on the Lundy Ruppell’s Warbler can be found here which is mixture of facts and fiction.
Old information not on this site can be found on the extensive ex-website “The Truth on LGRE”. To get to this information one must go via an archive site. Go to http://archive.org/web and type the following into the box http://www.webbsteve.freeserve.co.uk then press BROWSE HISTORY, & select the 2008, 2006, 2003 versions. This freeserve site cannot be accessed directly!!
Here are 4 Hitler videos on George which are based on facts and fiction: The biggest list of all time, I got the biggest of all time, At all costs I will stay in the top 10, I need the Lundy Ruppell’s Warbler.
Here are 2 general videos on George: TWITCHERS for BBC, Twitchers A Very British Obsession. However this last video is rather long and some of the best quotes can be found on Of Pies and Birds post.
“He [George Michael] is the top of the game in his penchant as I am but just does'nt get the credit he deserves" 