Hi all, I found Mike's note interesting , particularly in para 2 in
which he talks of UK twitchers travelling 200 miles for a bird.
200 Miles !!
Well well, it's a bit different here in Oz where we frequently travel
many thousands of km for a tick. I hate to think how often I've done
Adelaide to Perth, Darwin, Cairns, Werribee, Cape York, The Kimberleys,
Christmas Is, Ashmore Reef, Norfolk and Lord Howe, Tasmania, trips into
the outback, etc etc in search of a single bird ( and usually getting
it) and thinking little of it - except when I've dipped out like we did
last weekend chasing the Southern Fulmar at Portland, pest of a thing !!
Tony.
-----Original Message-----
From:
On Behalf Of Mike Collard
Sent: Thursday, November 05, 2009 5:09 AM
To: birding aus
Subject: Re: [SPAM] [Birding-Aus] Australian Painted Snipe in Dubbo
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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