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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Steve Dudley" data-source="post: 1488386" data-attributes="member: 5172">Getting anything done on the conservation level on Lesvos is very difficult.Olive grove work is so general and spread out I think the impact this has on bird populatiosn is minimal given just how little work takes place on any fo hte 11 million (!) trees at any one time. Major tree pruning and scrub/tree removal is another matter, but again we must judge this in the context of the wider island which is relatively undisturbed. I think some birders do more harm thrashing scrub/bushes in pursuit of species such as Bush Robin or Ruppell's as the locals do on removing a clump fo bushes.The problem with this sort of work is that most is done at the end of the rains in spring and throughout spring, just as pretty much all other work (building, road maintenance, etc). Its just how things are done out there and individual land owners are going to comprehend any damage caused when there is so much 'other' habitat around.Getting things done on Lesvos is going to take time, but as long as the main incidents are reported (report them to me if you want via Lesvos Birding site) we can pass them on the HNCB and they are increasingly interested in Lesvos issues. The whole birder / photographer behaviour thing is a totally different issue. Personally I think individuals in both camps are at fault. But it does no good simply whinging about it. If someone is doing wrong then tell them and get them to stop. Of course, what a birder thinks of as wrong might be different to what a photographer sees as wrong. Parking a car under a tree is probably far less disturbing than sitting under the tree in the open (personally I dont like either!). And dont forget that far too many of the photographers (certainly many I come across) are not birders at all and lack the fields skills and ID craft most (by no means all) birders have. And birders - thrashing bushes for Bush Robin (when they are actually very showy birds if allowed to come out) and bashing the scrub at breeding Ruppell's site (would a UK Dartford Warbler heath be bashed in this way? I think not) is just plain wrong.</blockquote>

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