Annoying birding conversations in hides (1 Viewer)

[Bowland Birders]

Thanks Mike. According to my dictionary blonde (with an e) means a woman with pale yellow hair. Although if it weren't the case would anyone be scandalized?

Steve

Not scandalised but surprised though I daren't look up the word mate, the mere mention of it and my missus is on my case immediately.

Anything to stop the photographers vs birders nonsense! Nastiness always gets more hits than positive uplifting stuff. Br, Mike

 

[SAARLAND BIRDER]

What about the local bore? I particularly remember one from a south coast reserve some years ago, who would not give over about what he'd seen. On and on he went, whilst all you wanted was to pin down such and such from the scrape hide. Unfortunately, you couldn't avoid him since he was a volunteer official ticket checker and did his daily round of all the hides. Odd thing was though, I never saw him with either bins or 'scope.

Latest sighting of interest here - 4 x Velvet Scoter on Bostalstausee last week.

Enjoy your day

 

[RoyH]

My main issues in hides are children running up and down with clumping feet, people with no volume control on their voices and people who, having got their front row seat, spend their time eating sandwiches and talking instead of birding.

Oh, and intolerance.

John

I agree, great comment...Especially Ness Hide Far Ings, banging door as they come and out. You should be there in school holidays when a gang of kids arrive accompanied with a teacher who should have given the children some tips, how to keep quite, not to run up and down.
Its obvieous some of the shutter comments are from none photographers.
Roy.

 

[wolfbirder]

I dont photograph at all, but love looking at the photos on sites like these, so we cannot have it both ways. I do however, feel that the very nature of photography means that photographers tend to hog prime spots for longer periods than non-photographers. Most of the time both co-exist in harmony and try to help each other, but it just takes one to push the limits a bit too far.

 

[Farnboro John]

What about the local bore? I particularly remember one from a south coast reserve some years ago, who would not give over about what he'd seen. On and on he went, whilst all you wanted was to pin down such and such from the scrape hide. Unfortunately, you couldn't avoid him since he was a volunteer official ticket checker and did his daily round of all the hides. Odd thing was though, I never saw him with either bins or 'scope.

Latest sighting of interest here - 4 x Velvet Scoter on Bostalstausee last week.

Enjoy your day

I've met this notional bloke in hides at both Titchfield Haven and Slimbridge. The trouble is that he doesn't actually know what is out there so if a scarcity or rarity has been reported he will point it out whether or not it is still there.

John

 

[SAARLAND BIRDER]

I've met this notional bloke in hides at both Titchfield Haven and Slimbridge. The trouble is that he doesn't actually know what is out there so if a scarcity or rarity has been reported he will point it out whether or not it is still there.

John

You've got him. I recall one case at the Titchfield scrape hide on an otherwise quiet day when he announced "green sandpiper". When asked to pinpoint the location, "overhead" he replied, "you can't mistake that call anywhere". Some rather uncomfortable glances were exchanged between the other hide occupants, all of whom had presumably had suffered temporary deafness ......

 

[Fozzybear]

I've managed to avoid annoying birding conversations in hides for the most part as I don't really go to hides that often (this year have only been: once to Two Tree Island, a few visits to Minsmere during a week's holiday there and a trip to Hanningfield Reservoir). I tend to try to go on quiet days and find empty hides if I can as well as I just want to get settled and spend some time watching the comings and goings and zone out a bit. I'll chat with people and do enjoy that at times, I'm not a recluse, but I do prefer the time I spend birdwatching to be away from people which is why I don't go to hides that often.

Only annoying conversation I've had that I can remember wasn't that annoying at all, it was when I very first started (on the trip to Norfolk that kicked it off) and someone was trying to be friendly in a hide and pass on info about a 'monty' along the coast (didn't know what that was at the time) and how to find it. I didn't really feel inclined to say I didn't really want to go hunting for rarities, I didn't have a car to get there if I did and didn't have a clue where he meant or what the bird was he was telling me about anyway. Still don't know what one looks like actually!

Not in a hide but had a twitcher who lives near me insist that since I had an interest in birds I MUST learn to drive, get a car and become a twitcher too. As though what I was doing had no validity because it wasn't what 'he' enjoyed doing. I really didn't like that at all, I've always hated it when people tell me that I must conform to their way of doing things 'just because' and I really don't like pursuit of twitching anyway - I'd rather be on a gentle walk getting a nice look at regular birds and unwinding than dashing about in a panic and crushed up on a sea wall with lots of others trying to find the bird they've all seen before it disappears.

I'll leave all that to the thrill-seekers!

 

[pshute]

What a miserable bunch you lot are!

i) - children in hides. Most children most of the time are pretty well behaved in my experience.

Not mine. I've stopped taking them since the time they went around the front and threw rocks at me through the slits.

I'd have to say the most annoying behaviour I've experienced around bird hides is kids (not mine) drinking in there at night and leaving the floor covered in broken glass. Burning them down is even more annoying.

 

[Andy Hurley]

Not mine. I've stopped taking them since the time they went around the front and threw rocks at me through the slits.

I'd have to say the most annoying behaviour I've experienced around bird hides is kids (not mine) drinking in there at night and leaving the floor covered in broken glass. Burning them down is even more annoying.

What did you expect from an ex penal colony?8-P, but seriously though in my very limited experience, I've found Aussy and NZ kids generally well behaved, polite and respectful to nature. Probably an education thing and that you live a lot of your lives outdoors.

Andy

 

[alex berryman]

I hate it when people in hides talk about completely random and irrelevant topics at the very top of their voices. Had one recently shouting about their poorly cat, with all due respect I just wanted to shout "NO-ONE CARES!!!!".

Oh kids (admittedly I'm only 14), but I mean young kids, when they're crashing about and knocking everything over!!

 

[Mmiad]

To the credit of more experienced photographers, they understand the need for quiet in such situations, and while little more can be done to muffle the mechanics of shutter release, motor-driven lenses are constantly being redeveloped to cut down on their noise (the cheaper ones can be surprisingly loud during focus-motion!), and these are the lenses most keen wildlife photographers aspire to own. Pity the photographer who cringes inwardly as his/her equipment noisily makes its presence known to the chagrin of all present! It's embarrassing, but unavoidable.

 

[Sy V]

... Don't be so damn selfish and just think...

"Hello Kettle, this is Pot... you're black, over." :smoke:

 

[MWigley]

It happened to me, and I couldn't either. It was summer and she had this loose vest type top and no foundation garments.... I'm going for a lie down in a dark room with a cold wet cloth on my forehead.

John

John where was this? Young ladies like this never appear in the same hides I frequent, unfortunately

 

[Farnboro John]

John where was this? Young ladies like this never appear in the same hides I frequent, unfortunately

A hot sunny day at Lakenheath (pre-RSPB).... Golden Orioles fluting from the poplars, a light breeze rustling the long grass, and shifting views with every raise of her bins or turn of her head and when she stretched - oh no, time for another lie down with the damp cloth.

John

 

[steve west]

A hot sunny day at Lakenheath (pre-RSPB).... Golden Orioles fluting from the poplars, a light breeze rustling the long grass, and shifting views with every raise of her bins or turn of her head and when she stretched - oh no, time for another lie down with the damp cloth.

John

The most memorable event that happened to me at Lakenheath was getting caught in the poplar wood by a raging storm, lightning all around me and getting drenched. It's obviously a world of contrasts!

Steve

 

[MWigley]

The most memorable event that happened to me at Lakenheath was getting caught in the poplar wood by a raging storm, lightning all around me and getting drenched. It's obviously a world of contrasts!

Steve

Sorry Steve John's version of Lakenheath sounds much more pleasant

 

[crabplover]

To the credit of more experienced photographers, they understand the need for quiet in such situations, and while little more can be done to muffle the mechanics of shutter release, motor-driven lenses are constantly being redeveloped to cut down on their noise (the cheaper ones can be surprisingly loud during focus-motion!), and these are the lenses most keen wildlife photographers aspire to own. Pity the photographer who cringes inwardly as his/her equipment noisily makes its presence known to the chagrin of all present! It's embarrassing, but unavoidable.

Lens focus noise can be avoidable, you just switch to Manual Focus, a function few modern photographers know how to use !


Andy.

 

[Fozzybear]

Lens focus noise can be avoidable, you just switch to Manual Focus, a function few modern photographers know how to use !


Andy.

...and one which in the days of manual focus cameras was made much easier by the focusing screens that were designed to make manually focusing cameras easier, especially with Fresnel and split-image aids.

I used manual-focus cameras a lot in the '90s (and still have a manual focus SLR I use very occasionally) and still find manually focusing modern SLRs a laborious task with their clear viewfinder screens, especially when you are using a very long focus lens with narrow depth-of-field. In any case it's a very small minority that have lenses that are 'that' noisy... and certainly less noisy than the people at main reserves you find bursting into the hide, then shuffle about banging their tripods as they set them up, have a quick scan, chat to their friend loudly as they check their blasted pagers and then clatter about as they head off to the next hide in search for some rarity or other... leaving the door open as they go.

 

[tracker]

In any case it's a very small minority that have lenses that are 'that' noisy.... and certainly less noisy than the people at main reserves you find bursting into the hide, then shuffle about banging their tripods as they set them up, have a quick scan, chat to their friend loudly as they check their blasted pagers and then clatter about as they head off to the next hide in search for some rarity or other... leaving the door open as they go.

:clap:

For over 30 years I did my birding with a very cheap pair of binoculars and a good packed lunch and flask. Throughout many of those years I would sit and watch, longingly, other birders using beautiful big telescopes attached to big tripods. Some would be in the hide for many hours, yes and 'hogging' prime positions. At times I was unable to get in to some of these hides due to the number of birders cramped in with their scopes and tripods; so I'd just walk on until I found somewhere that was conducive to some peaceful watching. On some reserves I visit, for many years I'd have any given hide to myself, for most of the day. Things are very different now; the way info is shared on the internet makes it much harder to find a quiet little corner to treasure as your own. The change has taken place; and both birders and photographers contribute to making the small space of a hide a rather challenging place to be, at times. I suppose, looking at recent events outside of hides and onto my local patch, this change of events is affecting many quarters!

I have a large tripod and a large camera lens now, mainly used out in the open, down a ditch or side of a river bank. A lot less frequently now, do I visit a public hide. The fact is, its not only photographers that take up space; plenty of birders and their kit do too. I don't see it being only photographers who carry noisey mobiles or pagers; slam doors, poke arms and heads out of hides or walk around in large 'groups' entering lovely quiet hides completely disturbing the peace! Ive seen and heard some very disturbing experiences regarding such lack of respect from both birders and photographers. So it really shouldnt be about 'us' and 'them'; but rather, respect and consideration, for other users of a hide and the wildlife.

 

[Dog]

Lets look at a site I have worked on & birded for 30 years,( Brandon Marsh) at present the hides are full of people who do nothing for conservation, they sit in the hides with there cameras moaning about the volunteers who go out & do maintainance work on site, ringing & other conservation work. I have helped build these hides, create the habitat as a volunteer & a paid worker but you get no thanks for it.
A trip with my parents to Belvide Reservoir & 2 year old son a few years ago for a Spotted Crake which had obviously gone, we had some comments from a group of old gits in the hide moaning about my son been a bit noisy in the hide, I missed the comments about 'haven't you got anywhere else better to be' , which really annoyed my dad (My son has since been diagnosed with Aspergers ) but that dose not detract from the intolerance of people in hides, now if I take my kids down Brandon I want them to be noisy because these new age wasters are just parasites that think these hides are built just for them.

Dog. On a Mission.