Hi all,
As a lurker from the UK ( although I have birded in Australia and enjoyed
wonderful help from this email group ) I thought I should add some thoughts
about twitching in the UK.
1) There are some who will go long distances and spend money to get a new UK
bird; recent example was a Sandhill Crane on Orkney; not that easy to get
to; damage to the environment is the fuel used to get folks there; it added
some revenue to the island though!
2) There are many who will go 200 miles for a good bird; invariably
collections are organised if it fits in with either the reserve the bird was
found in or who found it; eg. the local non-birding vicar found a
White-crowned Sparrow so an amazing £5k was collected; his church was
blessed with some new glass including an image of the said Sparrow.
3) Twitching does not really cause a problem; I am sure many of the rares
that are twitched never get to their destination anyway; now and again there
is some trespass and sometimes the bird gets too much attention but that is
about it in the UK; honest!
The Isles of Scilly has done ok because of birders over the years; boatman
make substantial money on ferrying birders around the small islands to catch
up with rares. Lots of hotels and pubs are full of birders at certain times;
again revenue generation.
The serious and continuing danger to all our birds ( including common
species ) are eggers, developers, shooters of game birds and duck, crooked
and poor environmental consultants, insipid Councils and Governments over
the years who let people with clout rule and sadly a number of landowners.
The lack of insects in the countryside is frightening; go for a drive years
ago and your car lights would get covered in insects, but not any more.
Best/ Mike Collard
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