By now I would normally have done my first visit to each of my two Breeding Bird Survey squares. But under the current circumstances I thought I ought to let the time pass and check what the instructions were on the BTO website. Here they are:
So, I was doing the right thing by not planning to get out in the field. But Johnson the PM is going to tell us something different on Sunday apparently, and then the BTO will update their advice, and I can decide whether to take it or not.
Even in a normal year, ‘Early’ visits can be made up until mid May so we all have some time to think about things.
The chances of me even seeing another person while I do my BBS surveys are about 1 in 4, and there would be no problem avoiding close contact with them (and their dogs, on the whole).
But in the meantime I can read the new, published today, BBS report that covers last year’s results. I’ll do that.
So, by this reckoning I will get advice from BTO that its okay to go off to my upland rovers square, but my First Minister says stay indoors.
That’s clear then.
Glad I’m an over 60 living in Scotland.
Bimbling – good point, very good point.
It is always frustrating, and misleading, when UK wide NGOs, forget that access rights in Scotland are very different to those in England, Wales and NI. The phrase “… the landowners who so generously allow us onto their land” does not apply in Scotland. “The Land Reform (Scotland) Act 2003 ensures everyone has statutory access rights to most of Scotland’s outdoors, if these rights are exercised responsibly, with respect for people’s privacy, safety and livelihoods, and for Scotland’s environment. Equally, land managers have to manage their land and water responsibly in relation to access rights”. – https://www.outdooraccess-scotland.scot/act-and-access-code/scottish-outdoor-access-code-rights-and-responsibilities.
Well said Andy. The ingratiating language is stomach churning. I try and read it as obsequious irony…which makes me feel better.
Bimbling – and I thought it was only I who thought that way. Obviously not.
And rest assured that there will be BTO staff who have read your and Andy’s comments here – I hope they take note of them.
I would guess that the BTO has caught obsequiousness from Natural England over recent years. Maybe some social distancing is needed, but that”s difficult when so much money comes from that source.
When it comes to access the BTO have always been obsequious, even on access land in England I was told by a regional rep that” headquarters” expected permission for surveys to be sought. My answer was quite simple, if I acquiesce to that I am assuming less rights for myself than the law allows, tell HQ to go forth——-.
It is because of attitudes like this that some raptor workers in national parks are told they need land owner permission on access land to exercise their schedule 1 licences. Yet they clearly do not. The landowners to not own the wildlife and the law allows for the access and the derogation of the WCA. It is even arguable that, although a BTO rule that you need permission to ring pulli, whether this would stand up to legal scrutiny on access land.
Hi Mark
I do 3 BBS squares, which are 30 mins, 1.5 hrs and 3 hrs walk from my front door. Of course I want to respect the law and BTO guidance and minimise the spread of the virus but I don’t like being spoon fed nonsense that is not tailored to my geographic circumstances. What happened to personal judgement and responsibility? So as a compromise my daily exercise regime took in my nearest BBS square a couple of weeks back. I can report the online data entry system is working well, and is for WeBS too… and social distancing was easily complied with, saw a dog walker in the distance.
I don’t know exactly what the law says in England, but you want to respect BTO advice, but you decide, because of circumstances that you won’t. And then, when everyone else decides that they have circumstances that mean they can ignore advice, we’re back to normal.
We’ve not had a lockdown in the way other countries have and, oh look! We’re the worst in Europe and most of the rest of the world are gawping open-mouthed at our response to the pandemic.
But its okay, my circumstances mean I can please myself.
The law says you can go out and exercise so that’s what I did. There is a lot of debate about how long you can exercise for and the advice seems to change. There is government guidance that suggests you should minimise exercise time. But when you live in a low density rural area with very little virus prevalence as shown by ONS stats, one size of rule does not fit all circumstances. The rules are designed to stop people congregating, especially indoors, where science suggests over 95% of transmission takes place, but outdoors too. I can understand and respect that.
Excessive tidiness and over compliance with rules are British diseases (though not ones that protect wildlife!). Sadly unlike Sweden the government couldn’t rely on people using their own common sense. Which most of the older generation who saw they were most at risk, applied long before the formal lockdown by staying at home to protect themselves. The government used media hype to terrify the general population into compliance instead. It may have worked for the first few weeks which is great, but now it’s wearing off as people get an appreciation of the reality of the risk they are individually exposed to. I assume Boris fully understands all this and he will do something on Sunday to relieve the pressure.
One thing that really bugs me is that I have not seen anyone in government say that people should take responsibility for their own health by doing all they can to boost their own immune systems, to the and off the virus. Simple things like getting plenty of vitamin C from fruit and veg and sunshine to boost vitamin D levels. Lots of sleep, outdoor exercise in the fresh air and cutting smoking and booze. No, the simplistic slogan “stay at home” trumps everything.
As the total daily case number is not declining and the magic R number is increasing then whatever the PM may say my guess is the right thing to do all things considered is to stay put. I shall – especially if the official advice is that going out is OK.
As reported – from Jan 1 to Mar 22 about 18 million persons entered the UK in flying or floating sardine tins. While we can be fined for going about our business of those people only 273 were quarantined. Genius!
Since then, arrivals have diminished to ~1% of normal levels, because most countries closed borders and most passengers don’t want to fly to a virus-riddled clueless world-leading country. But although fewer than 10,000 people now arrive here daily with no mandatory quarantine at all – a large proportion of them will be coming from countries also too clueless to close their borders. Is this why we are going down this rabbit-hole?
We should however celebrate the fact that the Imperial College team have blotted their copybook before we got to the contiguous cull.
Love it, Filbert, particularly your last sentence, very apt.
By my reckoning, undertaking a voluntary wildlife survey on behalf of an NGO working towards government statistics such as BBS for the BTO which supplies the government with bird trend data, counts as work. The NGOs count volunteer hours as part of their accounting systems and ‘value us’. Work that cannot be done from home, but that can be done without social contact, was one of the exemptions even on day 1 of lockdown, and as far as I can tell conducting a volunteer survey on randomly selected grid squares is well within that definition. Furthermore, the activity is generally conducted by volunteers close to home and could equally be allowed under the daily exercise outdoors exemption. So the decision by all the NGOs to go along the same route of closing down voluntary surveys is most frustrating. I contacted two of the organisations that I volunteer for, and did not get a satisfactory explanation for why an activity that fits within the guidelines was completely halted. One did refer me to the discussions held by NGOs and JNCC, so I contacted JNCC for an explanation. Despite 2 emails back from them, neither gave a justification for this decision. Advice from the Chartered Institute of Ecology and Environmental Management clearly says that ecological surveying can continue so long as all the distancing measures are in place. I have also been in touch with the National Council for Voluntary Organisations, and they confirmed that this would count as work that could and should proceed. Very frustrating that we have been treated like this by the NGOs as this spring has been like none other, and any monitoring data would be particularly valuable. This may be the start of the end of humanity’s campaign to wipe out the planet! Nature is fighting back and some people have taken notice!
I hope the slight relaxation of yesterday unlocks the NGOs from their poor decision to stop a cherished activity which not only gives the government the evidence for the poor state of our environment, but also gives its participants the chance to make a valuable contribution through their time and gives us a valid reason to go out and experience our countryside.