tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-988126512952079268.post6110005679701846502..comments2023-03-02T15:48:02.363+00:00Comments on SHETLAND EXPOSURE: Rebecca Nasonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04924771461613893661noreply@blogger.comBlogger1125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-988126512952079268.post-48650835911087278832010-03-29T10:10:24.723+01:002010-03-29T10:10:24.723+01:00Hi there,
I'm a Suffolk birder but not a twit...Hi there,<br /><br />I'm a Suffolk birder but not a twitcher, and I just had to pick up on your description of the scenes around the lesser kestrel. I was watching it with my brother for about 30 minutes in the afternoon sunlight. The most amazing clear views as it fed and sat on fence posts. The reason it flew away was not another kestrel, at least not to start with, it was the Starsky and Hutch style arrival of twitchers, gravel spitting from under their tyres and car doors slamming. That initially pushed it down to the next field. My brother and I drove down and picked it up again and felt we should wait and pass it on to someone else. The arrival of another ravening mob, including a very shouty and aggressive well-known twitcher, pushed the poor bird off onto Westleston Heath wher I read it was later found again.<br />Now I can imagine the aggression and stress that must accompany these (very largely) male twitchers on their travels, and the thought of arriving to be told that a bird's left. But until the twitchers got there, the bird was almost shaking our hands and explaining in a Spanish accent how it came to be there! To me birding is a fairly quiet and relaxing contemplation of the natural wonders around us. Not much of that at Minsmere yesterday.Suffolkmarkhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08641159370009328450noreply@blogger.com