Wednesday 2nd June
Beijing, Chaoyang, Wenyu River
"Hand me the net... now!!"
Not quite as dangerous as telling someone to put down the gun, but the spade he was holding did look a bit menacing.
The bird-catcher lifted up his spade and walked towards me.
"If you don't give me the net immediately, I'm going to call the police," I said in my gruffest, no-nonsense voice.
This was an option that I wasn't looking forward. I could imagine the (short) phone call: "Hello, I'm at the Wenyu River, and I've caught someone trying to catch birds in a mist net... and I need you to be here... hello... er... hello..."
"Now!!" I repeated.
The spade-wielding man continued walking towards me.
Time either for a sharp exit or a threat posture. I decided on the latter option.
I took off my cap, revealing my freshly shaven head (Most Chinese believe that the only people who shave their heads are either triad mobsters or nutters).
The man got closer and then, to my great surprise, put up his hands. "Please don't call the police," he pleaded. With that he ran back to the poles in the middle of the reedbed, tore down the net, and ran to hand it to me.
Time for more Lock, stock and two smoking barrels dialogue I thought: "I have your photograph," I told him darkly. "If I ever see you in the area, then it's all over. Tell your mates that the same goes for them. I come here every day. And no one catches birds in my manor."
With more apologies, and something about he'll be a reformed character from now on and do charity work every morning (instead of netting birds), he jumped on his bike and rode off.
I looked at the net... standard design... long human hair... painstakingly knotted together... days of work.
Back to the birding at last.
100 yards down the track, I found another mist net. But no one attending it. Were they lurking in the reeds (having watched the showdown I've just described being played out)?
I didn't wait around to find out. I stripped the net - this one was made of brown thread - off the poles and took it back to the car.
By this time, I only had 30 minutes of birding time left (so much for getting up at 5.30am). It had rained all night, and I was convinced that something interesting would have been forced down.
Sure enough, the reeds were alive with Pallas's Grasshopper Warblers (well, to be more accurate, there were at least four of them). As well as 2 Yellow Bitterns (worry not, the only things that I manged to capture today were shots of reeds... as well as two mist nets).
