Selfish behaviour by photographers flushes rare duck in Cambridgeshire

Diddington Blue-winged Teal disturbed by photographers getting too close

With the rise and rise in digital photography, more and more birdwatchers are competing to try and get the best pictures possible of each and every new rarity that appears on the Bird Information Services. As a consequence of this, I am finding more and more birds are being disturbed or flushed off before others are getting the opportunity to see them. This selfish attitude is becoming almost the norm and I am becoming rather frustrated by it. If you complain, you often get a mouthful of abuse back. It also appears to be a new school of arrivals to the hobby that are responsible (many faces that I do not recognise), rather than those that have either served their apprenticeships or have been birding for a very long time.

There is a code of conduct in place in reference to rare vagrants but this seems to be getting ignored and I have some solace with those patchworkers that feel so aggrieved by the modern day attitudes of a minority, that they feel obliged to withhold news from the masses. I am sure most of us would prefer to see the birds in the flesh rather than in the virtual world of the internet so it would be appreciated if field craft was held as a top priority when viewing birds of a much wider interest

All the very best

Lee Evans