AA Birdpix, Birds, Travel and More

  Twitcher I fell off the wagon again recently. Thankfully my addiction is not life-threatening, and I did have a good excuse this time. On Wednesday 24th September an Arctic Warbler was reported behind the visitor centre at Bempton. I probably missed it because I no longer look through all the reports on the Birdguides App, but use filters. My filters don't include Arctic Warbler (I once found one in Cornwall), unless nearby. Later that day I saw the message "probable Eastern Crowned Warbler (probably not Arctic Warbler) in copse behind visitor centre mid-afternoon". This was followed by two more negative messages, plus another the next morning. I saw the first Eastern Crowned Warbler near South Shields in 2009, so this didn't cause any deviation from my normal activities, but I did think that had it stayed I might have gone to see it for something to do, especially as I had just cancelled my usual Shetland trip (due to problems at home that needed us to stay put.) T...

No absolute right   I never intended this blog to be anything controversial, but when I came across an article in the Guardian (on the internet-I no longer read newspapers) I felt I had to gently remind some people what it's all about. The article was about disturbance to breeding birds by birdwatchers and photographers, and was written with input by James Lowen, whom many will know. It did contain some innaccuracies, but that is the norm for newspaper articles. I once saw a story about the Grey-tailed Tattler at Burghead accompanied by a quarter-page photo of..... a Knot! I would also love to know the location of the trees birders were supposedly climbing to get a view of the Golden-winged Warbler, there were no trees worthy of the name on that estate. I digress, we all know most of what you read isn't accurate. But the basic problem remains, the more popular birding has become, the more of an issue is disturbance. I don't think anybody does it deliberately, but it is huma...