Giving bird watchers a bad name

[David Smith]

In Warrington there is a small lake called Houghton Green Flash. There is no parking next to it (you can park a few hundred metres away and walk back), it's just off a very winding country lane-just wide enough for 2 cars. I couldn't believe 2 days ago-I was driving through and 2 bird watchers had just parked up on the lane and were standing next to their car and looking out across the lake through binoculars. They had totally blocked one side of the lane, people had to queue to get past. To make it worse this was just past a blind bend.
PLEASE-if this was you-think how it makes people think of bird watchers.

[Dave B Smith]

Not to mention how dangerous it is for yourselves and others.

[citrinella]

Not to mention how dangerous it is for yourselves and others.
Come on !

I think both David Smiths are over-reacting. This behaviour almost certainly made the road safer for all users by forcing drivers to slow down and think. The subjects were beside their vehicle, so were in a position to remove it immediately if a real need arose.

Such behaviour is normal on our roads - often without the driver being present to remove the obstruction if required. Yes, we all get a bit bothered sometimes, but do it sometimes.

Keep cool :-)

Mike.

[jeff]

Come on !

I think both David Smiths are over-reacting. This behaviour almost certainly made the road safer for all users by forcing drivers to slow down and think. The subjects were beside their vehicle, so were in a position to remove it immediately if a real need arose.

Such behaviour is normal on our roads - often without the driver being present to remove the obstruction if required. Yes, we all get a bit bothered sometimes, but do it sometimes.

Keep cool :-)

Mike.

Lol, Can't see how parking on a blind bend can be safe, even on Scottish roads, but i'm sure if you trawl through a few threads birdwatchers get a bad name for far worse things than this.

[scampo]

In Warrington there is a small lake called Houghton Green Flash. There is no parking next to it (you can park a few hundred metres away and walk back), it's just off a very winding country lane-just wide enough for 2 cars. I couldn't believe 2 days ago-I was driving through and 2 bird watchers had just parked up on the lane and were standing next to their car and looking out across the lake through binoculars. They had totally blocked one side of the lane, people had to queue to get past. To make it worse this was just past a blind bend.
PLEASE-if this was you-think how it makes people think of bird watchers.Well said. I notice that you used the word "think" twice in that last sentence. That's something that those folk obviously failed to do. It seems to be becoming a commonplace, sadly.

[David Smith]

Come on !

I think both David Smiths are over-reacting. This behaviour almost certainly made the road safer for all users by forcing drivers to slow down and think. The subjects were beside their vehicle, so were in a position to remove it immediately if a real need arose.

Such behaviour is normal on our roads - often without the driver being present to remove the obstruction if required. Yes, we all get a bit bothered sometimes, but do it sometimes.

Keep cool :-)

Mike.
Mike
Not sure if your serious of this is a wind up comment ?
Whether it's bird watchers or for other non-urgent reasons it smacks of selfishness and general lack of thought. It's not as though they couldn't park a few hundred metres away and walk back!

[scampo]

Mike
Not sure if your serious of this is a wind up comment ?
Whether it's bird watchers or for other non-urgent reasons it smacks of selfishness and general lack of thought. It's not as though they couldn't park a few hundred metres away and walk back!
Hopefully a wind up but the last line suggests not. Obviously if we all learn to "keep cool" then all life's irritations will go away. Sorted.

[turkish van]

Maybe 'keep cool' is an appropriate comment to throw in now...

[Jos Stratford]

Since the advent of twitching back in the 80s and earlier, the warning has been there, heed thy advice or, oh ye sinners, the image of birding is to be darkened forever. Given the decades of rape and pillage, trampling gardens, flushing birds, parking on village greens and sleeping in bus shelters, I fail to see how one might give a birdwatcher a bad name, don't we already have it?

And just in case one might assume this too serious, please note the following symbol ;)

[paulwfromtheden]

Since the advent of twitching back in the 80s and earlier, the warning has been there, heed thy advice or, oh ye sinners, the image of birding is to be darkened forever. Given the decades of rape and pillage, trampling gardens, flushing birds, parking on village greens and sleeping in bus shelters, I fail to see how one might give a birdwatcher a bad name, don't we already have it?

And just in case one might assume this too serious, please note the following symbol ;)

I get the feeling that people are more 'sorry for me' being a birder, as though I have some sort of mental defect!

[Jos Stratford]

I get the feeling that people are more 'sorry for me' being a birder, as though I have some sort of mental defect!

Are you sure that is not for supporting Millwall, surely a bigger cause of social disturbance than parking on a country lane? ;)

[David Smith]

Since the advent of twitching back in the 80s and earlier, the warning has been there, heed thy advice or, oh ye sinners, the image of birding is to be darkened forever. Given the decades of rape and pillage, trampling gardens, flushing birds, parking on village greens and sleeping in bus shelters, I fail to see how one might give a birdwatcher a bad name, don't we already have it?

And just in case one might assume this too serious, please note the following symbol ;)

No one told me we were supposed to rape & pillage-is this mandatory ?

[turkish van]

I get the feeling that people are more 'sorry for me' being a birder, as though I have some sort of mental defect!

Going by your photo, mental defects shouldn't matter too much, so I wouldn't worry about it ;)

[paulwfromtheden]

Are you sure that is not for supporting Millwall, surely a bigger cause of social disturbance than parking on a country lane? ;)

|:D| |:D| Now that you mention it, it does explain a lot, though I have always put it down to sheer jelousy rather than anything else...

[Jos Stratford]

No one told me we were supposed to rape & pillage-is this mandatory ?

Will just need to consult the 'Birdwatcher's Code', get back to you on this one. Think it only applied to early visiting Scandanavian twitchers, bet they didn't park too well either.

[colonelboris]

This behaviour almost certainly made the road safer for all users by forcing drivers to slow down.

True - there's no slower car than a crashed one.

[Dr Manjeet Singh]

Well i hope my two bit will help...
There was a know birder who had gone to Fraser's Hill and near one bend he thought he saw a twitch on his right,he parked his car(road is very narrow) at the bend and climbed on his car roof and was lookin for the twitch laying prone with his bins on the roof-then another car came from behind and rammed into his car -unfortunately this was also a birder who thought he saw a twitch on the left-both landed in hospital with fractured hips and the only bird they saw for two months was when the nurse removed the bed-pan from their beds :D Moral of the story dont park in bends or you will land up with ..you;ll know what.
Well did it help please.Regards B (:

[Woodchatshrike]

I park on roads all the time. Do we really live in such an age that we don't have time to wait to pass a parked car. If there are no double yellow lines surely there is no problem. Parking on double yellow lines is far worse.

[gyrfalcon]

Parking on a road with the continuous white line along the "kerb" is also an absolute no-no.

Get yourself a beat up old Corsa.. i can abandon mine in much more places than a car I cared about! Grass verges, hedges. All safe and not compromising my life, or that of others I hasten to add.

[Rob Smallwood]

Funnily enough a Forum member has been diliberating long and hard as to whether or not to publicise records from this site because of the potential problems.

Dave is right, park up sensibly regardless of your reason to be there.

[scampo]

Parking on a road with the continuous white line along the "kerb" is also an absolute no-no.

Get yourself a beat up old Corsa.. i can abandon mine in much more places than a car I cared about! Grass verges, hedges. All safe and not compromising my life, or that of others I hasten to add.
You should see the grass verges near here - a quagmire in places. I stick to the road where the car is supposed to be.

[David Smith]

I park on roads all the time. Do we really live in such an age that we don't have time to wait to pass a parked car. If there are no double yellow lines surely there is no problem. Parking on double yellow lines is far worse.

Just to stress the point in the original post-this road is so narrow that when cars are passing in the opposite direction they both slow down as it is so narrow-these people were parked just around a blind bend !

[saluki]

Just to stress the point in the original post-this road is so narrow that when cars are passing in the opposite direction they both slow down as it is so narrow-these people were parked just around a blind bend !I think it's difficult for anyone who doesn't know the road to realise just how stupid and inconsiderate it is to park there. For a country lane it can be incredibly busy, particularly in the rush hour. I've seen birders do exactly the same thing at HGF - they're simply being lazy, it's so strength-sapping to walk quarter of a mile across a flat field . . .

Jonathan

[citrinella]

Seems like an awful lot of you are trying to defend the motorists' right to drive too fast. If you drive round a bend too fast to stop for a stationary object, _you_ are going too fast. Yes we all do it ... but don't try to blame the object. It is not going too slowly !

Mike.

[gyrfalcon]

Seems like an awful lot of you are trying to defend the motorists' right to drive too fast. If you drive round a bend too fast to stop for a stationary object, _you_ are going too fast. Yes we all do it ... but don't try to blame the object. It is not going too slowly !

Mike.

Hear what you're saying e.g. Swap "parked car" for "young girl riding her horse".
Parking in stupid places increases the risk of an accident. Usually takes two mistakes for an accident. If the parked car is one, then they are in effect just waiting for a prat driving too fast round the corner for all the ingredients to be in place.

[Dr Manjeet Singh]

Hear what you're saying e.g. Swap "parked car" for "young girl riding her horse".
Parking in stupid places increases the risk of an accident. Usually takes two mistakes for an accident. If the parked car is one, then they are in effect just waiting for a prat driving too fast round the corner for all the ingredients to be in place.
YOU ARE RIGHT..gyrfalcon..seen too many victims you guys..too many in my life...believe me just park sensebly it may save your life. |=(| |=(|

[Barred Wobbler]

Hear what you're saying e.g. Swap "parked car" for "young girl riding her horse".
Parking in stupid places increases the risk of an accident. Usually takes two mistakes for an accident. If the parked car is one, then they are in effect just waiting for a prat driving too fast round the corner for all the ingredients to be in place.
There doesn't even need to be a corner for prats to make themselves a danger to others.

I was on the A697 in Northumberland, near the end of a very long straight and I was held up at the end of a queue of traffic at roadworks traffic lights. After a while I looked into my rear-view mirror to see an HGV approaching and it was clear he was still travelling at speed. As he got closer it was clear he wasn't even slowing down.

I eased the pressure on the brake, checked that I had clearance between myself and the car in front, put slight left-hand pressure on the steering wheel, so that if the collision happened I would be pushed onto the verge rather than into on-coming traffic. I waited with my eyes on the mirror knowing I'd done what was needed.

Eventually the driver must have noticed the traffic because the smoke poured from his tyres as he hit the brakes and his HGV started to wobble as he avoided a jack-knife. At the last moment he pulled to the left and stopped with a wheel on the edge of the verge about a foot - no more - behind my car. All I could see in the mirror was radiator.

Being on the road is dangerous in itself and there are enough hazards as it is without contributing to them by stopping in stupid places to look at birds FFS.

PS This also applies to those idiots who, realising that it's an offence to answer their mobiles while driving, just stop where they are when it happens to ring, whether they are on the inside of a curve or on the blind crest of a hill, often not even bothering to pull over to the side. - I've seen all of this on many occasions.

[Karl J]

sometimes i think there ought to be a Code that suggests appropriate behaviour on the Highway

there could even be rule like this one... (http://www.highwaycode.gov.uk/22.htm#217)

no doubt some people would take little notice of it though

[Barred Wobbler]

sometimes i think there ought to be a Code that suggests appropriate behaviour on the Highway

there could even be rule like this one... (http://www.highwaycode.gov.uk/22.htm#217)

no doubt some people would take little notice of it though
A bit radical that, Karl! Fancy expecting people in charge of cars to know what it says about them in the highway code! ;)

[michaelmacey]

I park on roads all the time. Do we really live in such an age that we don't have time to wait to pass a parked car. If there are no double yellow lines surely there is no problem. Parking on double yellow lines is far worse.

I dived into someones drive at grove ferry, as i saw a female hen harrier take off as i was driving home. The parking was safe, but i got a rollocking from the owner of the house, even though i wasnt in front of the main drive and causing no danger to his family. But hey, if we didnt act a little impulsive at times, we wouldnt see or do or go or be anything,,,,

Just do it with others in mind and take care..... :hippy:

[michaelmacey]

YOU ARE RIGHT..gyrfalcon..seen too many victims you guys..too many in my life...believe me just park sensebly it may save your life. |=(| |=(|

Nuff said doc :D

[Barred Wobbler]

I park on roads all the time. Do we really live in such an age that we don't have time to wait to pass a parked car. If there are no double yellow lines surely there is no problem. Parking on double yellow lines is far worse.


The absence of double (or single) yellow lines does not give carte blanche to park. The restrictions imposed by yellow lines are in addition to the other restrictions imposed in the highway code, not instead of them.

[Jos Stratford]

2 bird watchers had just parked up on the lane and were standing next to their car and looking out across the lake through binoculars. They had totally blocked one side of the lane, people had to queue to get past.

No worries on the parking front, but had they seen anything?!

[Andy in West Oz]

It's amazing how many brains are switched off the moment they're behind the wheel.

Here in Perth a few years ago, one of the local papers gave away bumper stickers with "Courtesy Pays" on them. Good idea but now you only ever see them on cars doing something utterly stupid/dangerous/braindead/inconsiderate on the road!