Yorkshire Birding (83 Viewers)

[Mannix]

Nice blog pic Andy. Apparently the lack of fieldcraft/ignorance on display by the trio in the pic was quite exceptional by all accounts!!

The guy in the front was reported to be stood in the middle of the meadow a couple of hundred yards out from Tower Hide. He was scoping Grey Herons believing they might have been the cranes – not only was he disturbing everything else on the ings (and the meadow), but if they were the cranes (they weren’t) then the trio would have flushed them. Such selfish behaviour would ensure that people arriving later would be frustrated to say the least.

It is easy to work out where the path is on Wheldrake Ings, you don’t need to be a rocket scientist, but these folk clearly couldn’t work it out between them……..if ‘birdwatchers’ can’t follow the rules how do you go about explaining that there is no access to these areas for a good reason to the dog-walkers, walkers, chavs, trials bikers etc?

The solution to this sort of behaviour is to not release news of decent birds on the reserve…..and that would be a shame!

Right, I have something to say here. I was one of the "Idiots" at wheldrake yesterday. That's me in the middle of the picture. So to all you high and mighty people who think you can tell everyone what is right and what is wrong then listen up. When I got to Wheldrake centre I was told by the bloke there that the cranes were back along the road towards Crockey Hill. I drove back down the road and scoured all the fields. I then met the other "Idiot" in the photo who told me they were back where I had started. We went all the way back and climbed the elevated watchtower, scouring for 20 minutes and seeing nothing. Someone then told us that they were another mile down the road. When we got to the bridge we knew nothing about the area as it was the first time we had visited it. We scanned with our scopes from the gate and saw some very faint birds almost on the horizon. Not knowing even if the birds were there I spotted what I took to be a stile and a path running through the field. The other bloke charged on ahead much further than my wife and I. At all times on our way accross the field we were very concious of being out in the open but we were so far away from any of the water and birds that we would not at any time have spooked anything. If I can't even make out through a scope whether a bird is a crane or a heron then I am hardly close enough to spook it am I? My wife and I walked as close to the hedge as we could without having the birds disappear behind the bush which was in front of them. We only walked about 200 yards into the field and were still miles away from any of the birds. The other bloke who I do not know at all was right in the middle of the field and a damn sight further ahead of us. We had no clue that the path through the field was not used all the time, there were no signs saying keep out of the field and as I said earlier there is what appears to be an old kind of stile at the fence. So to the sanctimonious idiot who tried to throw the book at me when I got back I say this. If you are really a volunteer warden as you said you were then why not make it clear to other "idiots" that the field is off limits. I AM a volunteer warden at a nature reserve and if we don't want people going in certain places we let them know with signs. What we don't do is to secretly take pictures of them and then call them idiots on our blogs to make ourselves look like perfect birders when we know we are almost all guilty of some kind of misdemeanour.
I love and respect wildlife and would never do anything to spook or disturb birds or any other animal intentionally. I went in the field yes, but at no time did I upset or intimidate any creature, as at all times I am aware of what I am doing. You may like to try to make everyone think I was sat next to the birds with my scope wanting a ride on their backs but in reality I was careful, considerate and bloody MILES AWAY! If you put as much time into the management of the area as you do on your self promoting blog then visitors would know what is and isn't allowed.

 

[Hotspur]

Right, I have something to say here. I was one of the "Idiots" at wheldrake yesterday. That's me in the middle of the picture. So to all you high and mighty people who think you can tell everyone what is right and what is wrong then listen up. When I got to Wheldrake centre I was told by the bloke there that the cranes were back along the road towards Crockey Hill. I drove back down the road and scoured all the fields. I then met the other "Idiot" in the photo who told me they were back where I had started. We went all the way back and climbed the elevated watchtower, scouring for 20 minutes and seeing nothing. Someone then told us that they were another mile down the road. When we got to the bridge we knew nothing about the area as it was the first time we had visited it. We scanned with our scopes from the gate and saw some very faint birds almost on the horizon. Not knowing even if the birds were there I spotted what I took to be a stile and a path running through the field. The other bloke charged on ahead much further than my wife and I. At all times on our way accross the field we were very concious of being out in the open but we were so far away from any of the water and birds that we would not at any time have spooked anything. If I can't even make out through a scope whether a bird is a crane or a heron then I am hardly close enough to spook it am I? My wife and I walked as close to the hedge as we could without having the birds disappear behind the bush which was in front of them. We only walked about 200 yards into the field and were still miles away from any of the birds. The other bloke who I do not know at all was right in the middle of the field and a damn sight further ahead of us. We had no clue that the path through the field was not used all the time, there were no signs saying keep out of the field and as I said earlier there is what appears to be an old kind of stile at the fence. So to the sanctimonious idiot who tried to throw the book at me when I got back I say this. If you are really a volunteer warden as you said you were then why not make it clear to other "idiots" that the field is off limits. I AM a volunteer warden at a nature reserve and if we don't want people going in certain places we let them know with signs. What we don't do is to secretly take pictures of them and then call them idiots on our blogs to make ourselves look like perfect birders when we know we are almost all guilty of some kind of misdemeanour.
I love and respect wildlife and would never do anything to spook or disturb birds or any other animal intentionally. I went in the field yes, but at no time did I upset or intimidate any creature, as at all times I am aware of what I am doing. You may like to try to make everyone think I was sat next to the birds with my scope wanting a ride on their backs but in reality I was careful, considerate and bloody MILES AWAY! If you put as much time into the management of the area as you do on your self promoting blog then visitors would know what is and isn't allowed.

Im sure you wont be burnt at the stake for what you say is a genuine mistake. I am sure on reflection you will concede it was pretty dim wandering across a meadow with breeding birds upon it. Don't get personal when you have cocked up. Apologise move on. Chucking shit at Andy is harsh - he hasnt done wrong - you have, even if accidently. Im not crucifying you - but your reaction will encourage others to do so.

 

[Jono L]

Last time I was at Wheldrake Ings YWT (last weekend), there was a big information board just over the bridge, with maps, which may have been worth checking if you didn't know the site, an obvious kissing gate leading to the (correct) well trodden riverside track. This always seemed obvious to me, but I have seen others walking across the field, so maybe it isn't.
Anyway, I will have a word with the site manager and see if something even clearer can be put in place.

On another note, I had a '&&&& the bed' moment on my way home from work yesterday. I noticed 14 large long-necked silhouettes heading towards Bishopthorpe in the late afternoon sky. Shot home, grabbed the bins, shot back out again. Sadly not the hoped-for Cranes, but 14 Whooper Swans. Still, not bad for the house list!

Cheers
Jono

 

[Mannix]

Im sure you wont be burnt at the stake for what you say is a genuine mistake. I am sure on reflection you will concede it was pretty dim wandering across a meadow with breeding birds upon it. Don't get personal when you have cocked up. Apologise move on. Chucking shit at Andy is harsh - he hasnt done wrong - you have, even if accidently. Im not crucifying you - but your reaction will encourage others to do so.

I'm not apologising to anyone who puts my picture on a blog and calls me an idiot when he has only met me once and knows nothing about me. I have in the past been the one complaining about the actions of birders. I could give you numerous examples of things I have whitnessed which will make my error look like someone dropping litter against someone doing a bank job. And do you think you calling me dim is going to help matters? You lot may have a little clique going on here but I bet that each and every one of you have at some point done things to see birds which others might look upon as being selfish and "dim" I will apologise to him if and when he removes my picture from his blog and apologises to me for the bad name he is attemptting to give me for one minor slip up.

 

[Hotspur]

I'm not apologising to anyone who puts my picture on a blog and calls me an idiot when he has only met me once and knows nothing about me. I have in the past been the one complaining about the actions of birders. I could give you numerous examples of things I have whitnessed which will make my error look like someone dropping litter against someone doing a bank job. And do you think you calling me dim is going to help matters? You lot may have a little clique going on here but I bet that each and every one of you have at some point done things to see birds which others might look upon as being selfish and "dim" I will apologise to him if and when he removes my picture from his blog and apologises to me for the bad name he is attemptting to give me for one minor slip up.

Mannix I didnt call you dim - I called your actions dim. As a conservationist yourself, walking across the middle of a reserve IS dim. Andy doesnt know you and therefore was highlighting that the behaviour you exhibited was reckless and uncalled for. I am sure a PM or 2 will sort this out and having met andy a few times I would suggest that he would be amicable to resolving this without kicking off all over the forum although I am loathe to put words in peoples mouths. Perhaps grasping the nettle in this case when both of you could be construed to be in the wrong would be the magnanimous thing to do.

I have been dim previously - only last week I inadvertantly flushed the Black Redstart at Water's Edge in Lincolnshire but I apologised to all present, getting a deserved verbal kicking for being a klutz from one snapper but I deserved it. Im eminently fallible...

 

[Mannix]

I have been dim previously - only last week I inadvertantly flushed the Black Redstart at Water's Edge in Lincolnshire but I apologised to all present, getting a deserved verbal kicking for being a klutz from one snapper but I deserved it. Im eminently fallible...

But did this snapper put your pic on his blog and try to make you out to be someone really bad? Already numerous people have shown their anger toward me and my wife on this very forum thanks to him. This shows that when mud is thrown it sticks, even if it's a watered down mud with no substance. If he wants to put and end to this he knows what to do. To any other people who regularly use whaldrake ings then I am sorry I went in your field but stick by the fact that I did so using sense and concern for wildlife. I go to Spurn regularly, and at all times of the year there are people trudging through all of the fields within a 2 mile radius of the place. Are they all idiots? Or are some people over reacting? If you go anywhere near the nest of a ground nesting bird there will be a parent letting you know you are too close. During nesting season if I find myself in any field I am always aware and on the look out for such behaviour. In this field there was none. I couldn't even hear a skylark.
I don't want to rant about this forever so let's hope this bloke sees sense and does the right thing regarding the pics.

 

[Hotspur]

Sod it - not my battle. You are quite obviously so entrenched in your position you aren't backing down. Andy was right to post the pictures. You don't deny what you did and are now trying to defend it. I showed you the easy get out clause and you passed on it twice. Draw your conclusion.

 

[Keith Dickinson]

Not taking anybody's side in the matter but can I just say that it would be better if the 'discussion' about field walking is conducted by pm rather than in this thread. We've had over 14 thousand posts in the thread without animosity etc, lets not spoil that record.

 

[Mannix]

Sod it - not my battle. You are quite obviously so entrenched in your position you aren't backing down. Andy was right to post the pictures. You don't deny what you did and are now trying to defend it. I showed you the easy get out clause and you passed on it twice. Draw your conclusion.

My conclusion is that you want so badly for me to have done something so terribly bad that you will read his blog just as you would the daily Star and believe everything in it even though you know it is out of context. He was not right to post the pictures and if I ever see him again I will show him just how not right it was. You are as big an idiot as he is!

 

[KC Foggin]

Settle down guys.

 

[Mannix]

Not taking anybody's side in the matter but can I just say that it would be better if the 'discussion' about field walking is conducted by pm rather than in this thread. We've had over 14 thousand posts in the thread without animosity etc, lets not spoil that record.

I'm sorry Keith but I did not start this. The link to the pictures and the crap written about me was put on this forum for all to see. I think it's only fair that I defend myself here too. When the pictures and the crap are gone then there may be an end to this.

 

[Mannix]

On the upside, I did see two common cranes at N Duffield....... from the hide.
(I wanted to climb out of the window and sneak up on them accross the grass but there were some blokes watching)

 

[zing]

Not taking anybody's side in the matter but can I just say that it would be better if the 'discussion' about field walking is conducted by pm rather than in this thread. We've had over 14 thousand posts in the thread without animosity etc, lets not spoil that record.

well done Keith a wise head indeed:t:

 

[schiffornis]

Forgot to mention earlier, I didn't see the House Martin today so not sure if it pegged it overnight? Though I was out birding most of the day.

 

[schiffornis]

Great grey shrike still present in holly bush in ploughed field at skipwith common 09.30 and still there at 10.30 and 15:30

Cheers andy

 

[John Bullfinch]

Last time I was at Wheldrake Ings YWT (last weekend), there was a big information board just over the bridge, with maps, which may have been worth checking if you didn't know the site, an obvious kissing gate leading to the (correct) well trodden riverside track. This always seemed obvious to me, but I have seen others walking across the field, so maybe it isn't.
Anyway, I will have a word with the site manager and see if something even clearer can be put in place.

Cheers
Jono

Hi Jono

Not getting involved with the argument about the field etc, but if you have the influence I would suggest getting a sign placed by the gate/bridge. Virtually everytime I have been I have seen people wandering across the field, on what to be honest also looks like (on my last visit) a well trodden path, as well as the obvious correct riverside track. Because of this I can see why new people to the site could/would wander across the field. If people then ignore the sign, well, that would be a whole 'new kettle of fish,' or some other 'worthy' saying!!!

Cheers

John

 

[Mannix]

Hi Jono

Not getting involved with the argument about the field etc, but if you have the influence I would suggest getting a sign placed by the gate/bridge. Virtually everytime I have been I have seen people wandering across the field, on what to be honest also looks like (on my last visit) a well trodden path, as well as the obvious correct riverside track. Because of this I can see why new people to the site could/would wander across the field. If people then ignore the sign, well, that would be a whole 'new kettle of fish,' or some other 'worthy' saying!!!

Cheers

John

I totally agree John. Yes there is a noticeboard and yes people should read it but anyone who goes there regularly will know that the path (seemingly) through the field does lead straight toward the hide, and that the wooden structure at the fence does indeed look like some form of stile.
I apologise for entering the field and can assure everyone it will not happen again. The stuff on the blog has now gone and as far as I am concerned this matter is finished with.

 

[David Adamson]

Went back to Ten Acre Lake today to try and get better pics of the Red Necked Grebe. Went down the right hand side of the lake this time where there is more cover and got much better views. Sadly could not locate any Black Necks at either Boston Park or Huggin Carr. But got a lovely Yellowhammer park itself right in front of the camera at Boston Park. Highlight of the day though was meeting up with Joespy, always nice to put a face to a name.

Joespy. Hopefully, here are the attachments I promised you.

 

[northernloon]

Nice pics Dave, you obviously got a lot closer views than we did!

 

[John Bullfinch]

Just had a wander in the Parkland at Nostell Priory this afternoon. Lovely to be able to sit in the spring sunshine and not freeze like we did yesterday!! If anybody wants a reliable site for Green Woodpeckers then this is it as far as I am concerned. Cannot remember the last time we went and did not find any. Two on the ground feeding this time - we have always seen them in the fields heading up towards the obelix/folly type building.

Few chiffchaffs in song were the only other birds of note today.