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Corona virus threat to birding (1 Viewer)

my trip to Jamaica, Puerto Rico and the Dominican Republic (flight scheduled tomorrow, prepared for half a year, looking forward to for the same period) is now cancelled, as we booked flights with a stopover in the USA for next week, and due to the restrictions, I fear that leaving Jamaica will be complicated, not even mentioning the fact that entrance in Puerto Rico will probably be forbidden and eventually the DR could probably restrict entrance as well.

I must admit I am a bit depressed, personally.
 
Welsh Peregrine said:
Following on from the suggestion that the vulnerable should get it while health services can cope, how about the idea that children, who seem relatively unaffected, should get it now; it would build herd immunity in the population and hopefully protect them in case of future outbreaks when they would be older and potentially more vulnerable! (The joys of applying logic!) ��
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We are entering the "delay" phase, not the "now a few members of the Government have had it and seem ok, the rest of the country can get it" phase.
But watch the optics over the next few days, you'll be surprised what comes out of the "war games", when money is driving the decisions.
 
The thread has become concerned with international travel rather than with the threats to birding. I suspect that day-to-day birding activities such as visiting nature reserves may well be threatened soon.

I have just had an email from a reserve that I volunteer at reiterating that the health and safety of staff, volunteers and visitors are paramount - I read that as we will be closing the reserve before long. Just as well that I enjoy working on my garden list.

Steve
 
Steve Lister said:
The thread has become concerned with international travel rather than with the threats to birding. I suspect that day-to-day birding activities such as visiting nature reserves may well be threatened soon.

I have just had an email from a reserve that I volunteer at reiterating that the health and safety of staff, volunteers and visitors are paramount - I read that as we will be closing the reserve before long. Just as well that I enjoy working on my garden list.

Steve
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I think this will hit the UK especially- when I was there, I was fascinated how different the UK's idea of a nature reserve is from ours. In Czech Republic/Poland most reserves are just areas on the map, a few signs in the field and maybe an information board, there are almost not reserves with visitor centers and on-site staff in central Europe.
 
Steve Lister said:
The thread has become concerned with international travel rather than with the threats to birding. I suspect that day-to-day birding activities such as visiting nature reserves may well be threatened soon.

I have just had an email from a reserve that I volunteer at reiterating that the health and safety of staff, volunteers and visitors are paramount - I read that as we will be closing the reserve before long. Just as well that I enjoy working on my garden list.

Steve
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First singing Blackcap in mine today.
 
dantheman said:
On a more sensible note - travel advice from BBC; flights, insurance and that

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-51615412
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None if this covers Steve's situation and he's obviously not alone, this needs looking at.

If all Indian visasa are revoked, this is the same so it's a lot of people now which should help highlight it. Airlines should be helping people in this situation but their own, financial plight, probably means they won't or at least it will be a fight.

Tom Hanks and his wife have it and it's closed down their Elvis movie, people are now realising that there is almost no part of industry or finance, anywhere in the World, that is immune from the effects of this.
 
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I think different places will have birding affected in different ways.

Here in the states, outside of many popular national parks, most different sites should remain open to birding. Visitor centers might be closed, but it's not like, other than keeping feeders topped off, those are very essential. and the US constitution actually prevents some of the more draconian quarantine lockdown approaches.

At the moment, beyond the immediate health effects, I see national park closure and bird festival cancellation the biggest impacts to "local" birding. A secondary effect is obviously going to be watching what time you spend with who, which might impact bird club meetings and field trips.
 
opisska said:
I think this will hit the UK especially- when I was there, I was fascinated how different the UK's idea of a nature reserve is from ours. In Czech Republic/Poland most reserves are just areas on the map, a few signs in the field and maybe an information board, there are almost not reserves with visitor centers and on-site staff in central Europe.
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Yes and that's most of the point, all they really need to do is shut the visitor centre and lock the hide slots open. However I have no doubt that someone will whine that you can't walk round a reserve without staff interventions because of health and safety (despite the number of places people walk round without supervision, including opening hide doors and sitting on hide benches.)

On the bright side if you are on a reserve and someone comes to remove you, a quick burst of coughing should have them in full retreat. ;)

John
 
If its a reserve that has a large visitor centre, cafe and large hides that would hold a dozen or so people at a time, such as Minsmere for example, then yes it could impact on some domestic birding to those locations, especially for those that are perhaps reliant more on reserve infrastructure (hides, maintained paths, toilets, disable parking and so on). This also would potentially impact on funds those places generate for the relevant organisation that run them.


From a wider perspective perhaps birding will be less impacted, at least for the time being, as many locations are not reserves or people heavy locations, most of my local birding sites are remote seawalls, woods and farmlands where you rarely encounter anyone. Impact on birding these sites would occur if there is a restriction on travelling for anything other than to/from work or shops etc (something along the lines and what is happening in Italy).

I think the thread has taken the International Travel discussion as many people travel outside of their home countries for birding thus the relevance of how one would (or in many cases now cannot) travel to go birding.

For me the whole thread discussion is pertinent as I travel outside of the UK for birding a couple times a year thus flight cancellations, country by country restrictions and so on impact on my birding.

Domestically in the UK the annual trips birders may take to locations such as Scilly, Shetland, Orkney, Western Isles, Spurn (MigFest), Birdfair and so on may be affected down the line as many would be reliant on transport (other than their own cars) to get them there, such as Ferries, domestic and inter-island flights. Who knows the annual Scilly birding season could get wiped out if Scilly decides to go into lock down and accept no visitors.

So birding is currently being affected (numerous overseas trips) and domestic/local birding may also be affected, at least in some instances.
 
A good summary Steve.
We are due to go to Bhutan next month. Bhutan is currently closed for two weeks to tourists - a situation which I think is bound to be extended. Also we would enter via Nepal so there are potentially several points at which the trip could be prevented. Fortunately under the circumstances we would be fully refunded. Obviously we now have a "disinclination to travel" so the best case scenario is for it to be taken out of our hands.
Local birding it is then.

Rob
 
It's difficult to change our habits too.. I've just realised that I let someone look thru my binocs last weekend. Neither of us thought twice, he was an older chap, so should probably be more vigilant in the coming months.
This was Keyhaven, where you would assume one of the most safest, outdoor, open areas in the South.
 
peter.jones said:
It's difficult to change our habits too.. I've just realised that I let someone look thru my binocs last weekend. Neither of us thought twice, he was an older chap, so should probably be more vigilant in the coming months.
This was Keyhaven, where you would assume one of the most safest, outdoor, open areas in the South.
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From what I understand, unless he licked your bins or used his nasal passages to look through them, it shouldn't be a worry.
 
andyadcock said:
From what I understand, unless he licked your bins or used his nasal passages to look through them, it shouldn't be a worry.
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Unfortunately, eyes are an important gateway apparently? So making sure nothing handled by other people (nor your own hands) touch your eyes is quite often recommended ... Not that there is too much risk right now probably, but this can actually be something to look out for.
 
andyadcock said:
From what I understand, unless he licked your bins or used his nasal passages to look through them, it shouldn't be a worry.
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With all due respect, what we don't need is people giving advice based on guesswork. If it can last 30 seconds on a surface, then that chap and me effectively rubbed eyelids, or passed germs via our hands. If i was there today I'd have told him to get his own F%^&ing binoculars!

Similarly, the post earlier about not worrying about mobile phones..
you have dirty hands, put your phone in your pocket, wash your hands, then pick up your phone. It doesn't take a genius to work that one out.

Like I mentioned earlier in this thread, I go to London once a month and nearly always come back with a bug. And that's just shaking a few hands, touching a few lift buttons and door handles, and sitting on the tube.
I'm not planning on going into London for a while now, but I wonder if its different now that I'm thinking more hygienically?!
 
peter.jones said:
Like I mentioned earlier in this thread, I go to London once a month and nearly always come back with a bug. And that's just shaking a few hands, touching a few lift buttons and door handles, and sitting on the tube.
I'm not planning on going into London for a while now, but I wonder if its different now that I'm thinking more hygienically?!
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As long as everyone else is also doing so!
 
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