Dismayed at attitudes to favourite local site

Having visited a local site for at least seven years, I am dismayed by not only what I see and hear, but now also first-hand have experienced.

Fairburn Ings has been my favourite weekend destination, where me and my partner go to feed and observe the birds. However, this area of the site is also where there are three raised platforms rented by an angling club.

In all the time I've been going there, these platforms have been used both by swans, ducks, coots et al, and people with/without chidlren either for the purpose of feeding, filming, or just blissfully bird-watching...

Now, however these platforms have been raised and levelled over with wood-chippings, so that the bird population can't access them from the water, and having seen it being done as I was there today, I proceded to do what I normally do on the middle platform which as yet hadn't been started on. no sooner had I put the first bit of food down on this platform, I hear, and I quote: Oi, throw your bread in the water not there as that is what's making it like it is. (apart form a few small holes at the end where the boarding was for this platform, it had remained much the same as it had annually been). Not a polite request as one might have expected, but from what I've heard, the norm for this crowd.

While I respect that anglers have a right to be there too, if only to provide extra income for the site, their diligence as mob-handed workers is rather apathetic as to their diligence from overseeing anglers who use that area too!

In the past year, a major number of swans there have died from lead-poinoning (lead weights being the culprit at a guess). People have stopped using the site in that area to feed birds after being verbally abused by anglers. And most importantly, it seems that anglers using that area go there armed with crossbows and fire bolts at the birds to keep them away.

So all in all, it make me pretty angry that despite it being a RSPB site, birds & the people who bother to take an interest in their well-being have been penalised by anglers who think it belongs solely to them!

  • sound to me as though i strong letter to the R.S.P.B. was called for, i do know the rangers down there were having to feed the birds on a daily basis due to the very bad weather, did you not have a word while you were there. Alan

    i say always look on the bright side of life, as you cannot see anything on the other ?

  • I also hear that the managers of the local centre aren't interested, from someone who also has an interest in keeping them fed as most regulars there do. Whether or not this is indeed the case, the local vistor's centre is a distance away, and closed at the time we're usualy down there. Haven't seen a ranger as yet, but doesn't seem as they get a say as the platforms are already being worked on...

  • by the way forgot to say welcome, i would still write to the R.S.P.B at Sandy, i am suprised you did not see any rangers or wardens, as they are nearly always about. Alan West Yorks

    i say always look on the bright side of life, as you cannot see anything on the other ?

  • Are these platforms on the pool on the left hand side as you walk down the causeway?this is the only place I have met anglers and so far have had no bother with them.I am not certain that all this part is in the reserve and if so the RSPB wardens may not have a lot of say in the matter.There is sometimes a clash of interests in the area and from what I have seen on my many visits the staff and volunteers seen to work with the locals pretty well.

    Pete

    Birding is for everyone no matter how good or bad we are at it,enjoy it while you can

  • Hi Seaman, i agree i have always found the staff very obliging,and i do know they spent a lot of time and effort looking after the wildlife over the bad weather, it is always dificult when fisherpeople use reserves, but we all have to get on with this planet, untill we can get trips to others. Alan

    i say always look on the bright side of life, as you cannot see anything on the other ?

  • I quite agree there Seaman, and the many times we go to the shop the staff have been very helpful

    However being just one of many locals who have fed the birds there for a conciderable time, each weekend without fail right through these harsh conditions, if the attitude of the anglers now is to deter these birds from being fed by general public (and incidentally deter the birds from getting safely onto the bank side there, please go see for yourselves) especially given the extreme conditions there this winter, surely they should get off their butts and feed them elsewhere on that pond and care for them their selves instead.

    The birds up there are damned hungry, am sure the rangers have kept the reserve end fed, maybe this end too.

    But is it right when birds occupying that pond for years are left hungry if people are being detered and intimidated from their customary feeding spots?

     

    In the end there should be room for us all up there surely?

     

     

     

    I do not suffer from stress ....

     

    But I am a known carrier  ;)

  • "in the end there should be room for us all",alas many who are fanatical about their pastime do not belive in this.Yes,it is a small island and room is often a bit tight so some think only their interests are important,not sure if it will improve in the near future or am I just an old sceptic?

    Pete

    Birding is for everyone no matter how good or bad we are at it,enjoy it while you can

  • If you are an old sceptic so am I Seaman !

    It would be a crying shame tho should common usage in that spot of many years there come to a decline as am sure it has been a good ambasador for many youngsters for many years to a little kindlyness shown to wild life being returned with some fetching their own grandkids there now. 

    My main concern tho is, that those birds will not survive another set of arctic conditions if the general public are detered from or cannot feed them.  I am not cynical enough to give up all hope yet that this need not be the case.

     

    I do not suffer from stress ....

     

    But I am a known carrier  ;)

  • Anonymous
    0 Anonymous 01/02/2011 05:45 in reply to Seaman

    Hello to all the newbies on this thread and it is great to have you here

    I have to say that it is not unknown for angliers to show their differences in attitude when it comes to shared space such as parks, reserves seen as areas for fishing etc...

    I would be inclined to write to the local angliers group, and get some facts sorted out with them that there is no ownership rights where fishing and birds (birding) are allowed - it is a free country.  Also an letter to the people who manage the area if it the RSPB or otherwise.  Write a letter to each so both groups know what is going on.

    In the future, I am sure a few sign posts placed in correct places will put a stop to any non angliers being bullied away from an area which is a public area to everyone.

    I know at Snettisham, at Norfolk there is an angler club within the reserve.  It is a no go area.  After our last trip Dave and I where intrigued to see scarecrows in the areas that where fished to keep the Herons, and other birds out of the area.

    Let us know what happens

    Regards

    Kathy and Dave

    Wendy S said:

    "in the end there should be room for us all",alas many who are fanatical about their pastime do not belive in this.Yes,it is a small island and room is often a bit tight so some think only their interests are important,not sure if it will improve in the near future or am I just an old sceptic?

  • Nicki C said:

    Hello to all the newbies on this thread and it is great to have you here

    I have to say that it is not unknown for angliers to show their differences in attitude when it comes to shared space such as parks, reserves seen as areas for fishing etc...

    I would be inclined to write to the local angliers group, and get some facts sorted out with them that there is no ownership rights where fishing and birds (birding) are allowed - it is a free country.  Also an letter to the people who manage the area if it the RSPB or otherwise.  Write a letter to each so both groups know what is going on.

    In the future, I am sure a few sign posts placed in correct places will put a stop to any non angliers being bullied away from an area which is a public area to everyone.

    I know at Snettisham, at Norfolk there is an angler club within the reserve.  It is a no go area.  After our last trip Dave and I where intrigued to see scarecrows in the areas that where fished to keep the Herons, and other birds out of the area.

    Let us know what happens

    Regards

    Kathy and Dave

    "in the end there should be room for us all",alas many who are fanatical about their pastime do not belive in this.Yes,it is a small island and room is often a bit tight so some think only their interests are important,not sure if it will improve in the near future or am I just an old sceptic?

    [/quote] hi kathy i saw the scarecrows when we visited snettisham a great place. ALAN

    i say always look on the bright side of life, as you cannot see anything on the other ?