www.ukbutterflies.co.uk

I have a very selfish attitude. I want people to donate to BC and other charitable organisations to preserve habitat etc but I don't want all these folks out and about wandering around the habitat when I'm there.
I also bird watch so am a double geek but birding has become so popular these days that many birds are being disturbed by the people who profess they are interested in them.

I would hate for butterfly watching to go the same direction.

This is purely my selfish attitude.

Susie wrote:What's wrong with obsessive train spotters?....

....The general public like butterflies but what they don't like is obsessives.

That's precisely my point, Susie. Instead of making documentaries purely about butterflies we are usually treated to footage of some perceived obsessive eccentric (like we were in that BBC show around a year ago). However, during documentaries about birds the same thing rarely, if ever, happens. Why is that? If anything, there are far more bird than butterfly obsessives out there yet the desire to caricature and ridicule them is absent.

Paul Wetton wrote:I have a very selfish attitude. I want people to donate to BC and other charitable organisations to preserve habitat etc but I don't want all these folks out and about wandering around the habitat when I'm there.

I empathise with that, Paul. I too like my trips out to be largely uninterrupted. I enjoy bumping into the occasional fellow enthusiast, but I'd thoroughly hate to encounter a dozen plus everywhere I go. The solitude is one of the things that helps me relax.

Totally agree David. That's why I prefer birding and enthusing over nature abroad as there are less folks prepared to walk to the best spots giving us naturalists the places to ourselves.

We must have places to occupy the masses and keep them out of our hair. Just don't tell the masses I said that.

It is good to meet up with the odd enthusiast as you said, odd being numeric rather than weird.

Paul Wetton wrote:It is good to meet up with the odd enthusiast as you said, odd being numeric rather than weird.

Hi Paul,

In think you are clearly forgetting this beauty of a thread that YOU started... viewtopic.php?f=29&t=4859

Enjoy! (and update)

Gibster.

Paul Wetton wrote: That's why I prefer birding and enthusing over nature abroad as there are less folks prepared to walk to the best spots giving us naturalists the places to ourselves.

Indeed. You are almost guaranteed to be undisturbed if you indulge yourself abroad. When I was in the Massif Central last year I saw a couple of guys with a butterfly net on the Causse Méjean one day. I absolutely avoided them as my peace and tranquility would have been shattered.

Maybe it's a cathartic thing.

Hi Seth

You're right I need to update the diary maybe with a bit of video. Just been too busy preparing my Naturalist's Diary DVD due out soon (Not a plug at all just mentioning what I've been up to).

Maybe some birding video, Spanish Sparrow or Dark-eyed Junco would suit you. Did you have a look at the contentious crossbill. I can't make up my mind on that one but I'm not an expert. I didn't even know that most folks think Scottish Crossbill is a Parrot Crossbill, same species as Scandinavian Crossbill? who knows these days. By the way well done P. J. Underwood for getting the only photo of this bird on Birdguides.

Paul Wetton wrote:I have a very selfish attitude. I want people to donate to BC and other charitable organisations to preserve habitat etc but I don't want all these folks out and about wandering around the habitat when I'm there.

I understand this totally.

I also bird watch so am a double geek but birding has become so popular these days that many birds are being disturbed by the people who profess they are interested in them.

I agonise over arranging walks at places like Glasdrum as whilst we need to drawl the general public's attention I actually don't want too many people turning up to avoid disturbing the habitat ...

Southwater was spoilt for me last year because there were just too many people about during the PE season, which is partly my own fault.

Susie wrote:Southwater was spoilt for me last year because there were just too many people about during the PE season, which is partly my own fault.

I mentioned Fermyn Woods to someone and suddenly I seemed to have agreed to take some people there this year. I don't mind showing people around but not in big, "organised" groups... ....I mentioned I didn't like big groups so I'm trying to keep numbers to 4 or 5 ....
I think some people do not fully understand what it is like with a large group of photographers; we don't want to be tripping over each other.....and the butterflies do need some space too!
A difficult one, Susie

It's a tricky one. I really enjoyed showing other people around Southwater last year, and also going on Sussex BC led walks around their which is how I found out about the site in the first place. It seems mean not to share.

well i'm glad you do Susie, had a great time at Denbies on your walk and sharing your tips at Southwater even though the weather wasn't playing ball.

If you're ever down in Dorset in the summer i'd be happy to reciprocate but bring better weather with you if you do.

As a recovering trainspotter.....10 years without writing down a number......I'd just like to say that the majority of trainspotters are normal people engaged in a hobby that can be as rewarding as butterfly spotting, indeed there are many similarities between the two hobbies. Having said that there is also a certain amount of obsessives and just plain weird people who like trains and these are the people that give the rest of us a bad name and make us cringe when we see them on tv.

And it is possible to combine the two hobbies. Denbies is a good site for viewing a variety of preserved steam locomotives on excursion trains. If anyone is interested the link below has details of many tours all over the UK: the Denbies ones are those where the trains run between Guildford and Redhill or vice versa.

http://www.uksteam.info/tours/trs12.htm

Added interest for my three boys!

Dave