Hind sight - not an optional extra (sadly!)

As individuals, we follow life's pathway as time passes us by, nothing we do, or say, can change that which has already happened! Having regrets is a human emotion which, in reality, is completely wasted - nothing can change what's in the past. The beauty of experience is that we can use it to shape our futures - lessons learnt ensuring that those mistakes(?)/errors of judgement won't recur - so a very positive aspect of the ageing process.
There is a mood, in blogland, akin to regret - Pan-listing! The Renaissance of the "all  round naturalist" or a mythical smoke screen to disguise the fact that participants are slaughtering our wildlife in order to climb a meaningless ladder - a Microsoft Excel spreadsheet of sad, box ticking, worthlessness!
There never has been a generation of all-rounders (within this current context) - yes, there were plenty of historical figures who could turn their hand to bird, fish, insect and plant id - they were called countrymen, equally at home with rod, or gun, as with a net - collectors to a man!

Pale-phase adult Booted Eagle - what a shame that Dick Forsman wasn't
asked to adjudicate on the "Hope Point" bird instead of that Irish twat!
(No offence aimed at the inhabitants of the Emerald Isle)

They didn't use Latin - which is why most of the common UK insects and plants have a non-scientific name - rarity was a concept of habitat, not global populous! To claim that Pan-listing is a return to those halcyon days is pure fantasy -The Rev. Gilbert White was a "patch watcher" - The Natural History of Selbourne being his legacy of such a lifetime of devotion. Can't recall the use of microscopic genitalia examination being part of his armoury?

For everything Dick Walker did (1950 - 70) to promote the hobby of "specialist angling" -
he never captured a 6lbs+ tench. A statistic which is inconceivable in 2014 yet, every angler,
who achieves this feat, is forever indebted to the visionary  foresight of this angling legend.

I have no problem with anyone who wishes to push their boundaries of knowledge to the very limits - it's your life, do with it as you choose! The only word of caution, that I'm able to offer, is that there has never been, and never will be, a master of all aspects of this crazy world. We are in awe of Forsman, Shirihia, Skinner, Goater, Dick Walker et al, guys who have dedicated their lives to the study of a specific group of living creatures - proper specialists, not playing at it, they've taken our knowledge to another level, purely because they have no desire to dilute their skills by spreading their efforts across to wide a sphere.
My views on this subject got me into trouble in Feb 2011 - let's hope that "I told you so!" won't result in another backlash - although it will be good for the blog stats!