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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Pariah" data-source="post: 1785648" data-attributes="member: 23126">To me disturbance is a relative thing.Birds have evolved alongside us over millions of years.Walking along a hedgerow or through a marsh is something our ancestors would have done whilst hunting and gathering food. So if you flush up a jacksnipe in a marsh or a woodcock in a woodland its not a huge deal. To the snipe you are no different than a fox hunting or a horse about to trample it. You cannot be an invisible non-participating aspect of the environment. You will inevitably flush something sooner or later.The problem comes with vagrant birds which may be tired and low on energy.If its flushed when its found initially fair enough, nothing can be said against that.But if the bird is harrassed for the sake of views or photographs (in particular) then you are acting outside the norms of behaviour and possibly preventing the bird from feeding and continuing its journey/survival.Owen</blockquote>