Penny Clarke
Well-known member
Little Owl at Snettisham this evening - see blog.
Ok ok...ill bite...
In regards the Norfolk/Suffolk boundary debate heres the facts. Make your own mind up...
The "new" Norfolk part was purely put in place as an "administerial boundary", hence residents of the likes of Gorleston and Hopton (where I live myself) have Norfolk postcodes and are dealt with by Norfolk county council to make the area easier to manage. This should have ABSOLOUTELY NOTHING to do with bird recording. For the sake of continuity OBVIOUSLY for nature recording it has to stay the same, intelligent insect recorders and intelligent bird recorders (namely the Suffolk Ornithologists group) rightly chose to ignore the new administerial boundary and stick to the long staying Watsonian county boundary. The current farce with recording isnt just restricted to this area, there are VERY MANY ludicrous changes elsewhere in the country upsetting many birders. In example there is now gonna be the likes of the administerial COUNTY of Southend-seperate from ESSEX and..if BBRC follow what they have been doing....surely eg the Ring-billed Gull there is not gonna be countable on Essex lists. So new administerial county borders are arising all the time..BUT USE SENSE AND ALL UK MUST stick to the old Watsonian system for bird recording.../comprende?
So in our case the boundary is...A CLEAR GEOGRAPHICAL BOUNDARY-A RIVER...(so yes Gorleston has in fact always been Suffolk)...NOT a Stupid ADMINISTERIAL boundary in the middle of nowhere along the MoD track at Corton (yes boys your damn lucky that Pine Bunting showed up at Choseley-and the Kildeer at Blakeney for that matter).
And YES we have strived continuously to make the BBRC change things to the correct recording method with reams of EVIDENCE to do so..but they still stubornly hide their heads in the sand.
BTW I do realise this is an antagonistic Forum area to post these facts...but /shrug....bring it on../wink
What difference would it actually make to anybodies list?
Would there be birders whose position in the list rankings change because of this? Have 'old' records been reassigned or is the distortion continued? I wonder what other parts of the county boarder has changed? Or is it just that this is a rich birding area and therefore creates a more heated debate than other changes that have been made (I have not researched this much, so these last questions might be irrelevant. However, I have learnt that the Watsonian boundaries were created on botanical reasons and therefore directly affects the fauna, although not necessarily the accidentals that are probably being referred to in this discussion).
:-C
:-O:-O:-O
Hi.
Lets give Suffolk back the land they want, it would be a great place to watch birds, it already is, but unfortunately for them, not as great as Norfolk. I know it and they know it. It is not going to change overnight, it's just the way it is.
Instead of all the debate, why not just enjoy birding in your own area that you allocate to yourself. If you count Gorleston as being in suffolk or norfolk, so be it. I feel people are getting obsessed with county lists, and the obsession becomes more important than the love of birds itself. Lists seems to become the be all and end all of everything to some birders. I keep my own county list, I love seeing lots of birds, but it's not important if I see more or less than you. What does it prove? I am top of the county list this year. It means nowt. Just enjoy birding.
Regards.
Billy.
P.s. I'm gutted man utd got knocked out tonight, or was it Newton Heath?