Seen on the Colne shore!

[DavidofMersea]

Essex Wildlife Trust to be specific. http://www.essexwt.org.uk/reserves/colne-point

Makes interesting reading. There is a fenced off 'Little Tern breeding area' so this area must be a designated clear area where nests above the HW line are not found.

Yes, Essex Wildlife Trust - I had a feeling RSPB was not quite right when I said RSPB - I will alter my previous post, must get the facts right

 

[ianc1200]

Does this apply only to the area above the HW mark?

I thought there had been a similar sign there before, perhaps 5 years ago.

 

[MikeBz]

A sign to that effect has been there for decades.

 

[Supine Being]

At the end of the week before, I went out to TG on her mooring at the end of Salcott Creek. It was near LW and that end of the Creek is magical at times. Rather than mess around in the light airs (in which TG doesn't really move very well), I sat in the cockpit with a cup of tea and just enjoyed the peace - even the Easyjet flights into Southend seemed to be routed a different way. A number of Curlews were searching over the oyster beds interspersed with Egrets; the family of Cormorants spreading their wings rather expectantly for the wind available and numerous other birds flew by or raked over the flats for worms and things. I laid down in the cockpit with the sun nicely strong but not too strong with a very thin covering of high cloud and listening to the liquid warblings of the Curlews and other calls that I did not recognise.

Suddenly silence!

The difference was dramatic. I lay there in silence for a couple of minutes and then sat up. Not a bird in sight on either side of the creek, not even a cormorant. But what had appeared on the Old Hall side were two Twitchers both armed with large cameras on tripods and those collapsible seats. I sat and watched them for about 20 minutes before they got up and went away, presumably to look elsewhere but convinced that the boats on the moorings disturbed the local birds.

Five minutes later, the Curlew's distinctive call was back!

I think one of Dylan's films talks about how birds don't recognise boats as threats so you can generally get very close to them before they take fright. Much less impact than a couple of bird geeks tramping around noisily wearing the entire sale rack at Millets.

As an aside, I've always found twitchers a bit odd. A guy I used to work with, an oddball twitcher himself, once told me that his twitcher brother refused to watch birds of prey because they killed other birds. I bet that learned 'em!

 

[sarabande]

a good friend who is a very competent birdwatcher, but a rational anarchist at heart, asked the Trust what was going on.

Reply...


"DearXXXXX,

Thanks for your email, is it these signs that you have seen? They are designed to encourage recreational boaters not to land during the nesting season.

Kind regards

David Smart
Reserves Manager
Essex Wildlife Trust
Tel: Landline 01621 862982
Mob: Mobile 07881815988"


My friend's comment is that he wonders what would happen if "boaters" ordered birdwatchers to go away.


Seems that the Trust has not learned how to communicate effectively with people who may look on birds as natural co-participants in our world, rather than being designed and placed there for the delight of twitchers.

The signs have as much intelligence as "No Smoking Allowed" - which permits you to not smoke, but declines to tell you that you must not smoke.

 

[surekandoo]

The quesion is how to get the story across?

Naturalists damage wildlife is the truth, but the RSPB will possiblt try and censor that idea...

RSPB - isn't that the Royal Society for the Prevention of Birds? ☺

 

[MikeBz]

Many years ago (maybe 20) a couple of friends of mine fetched up on Second Beach at near low tide in their dinghy (can't remember if it was a Hornet or a Cherub) after their mast had broken. Needless to say without a rig they didn't have a great deal of choice about where they made land and were outside the arrowed area. Barely had they stepped out into knee-deep briny when a posse of wannabe eco-warriors came running over the top of the birds nesting area towards them screaming and shouting "you couldn't land there, you'll disturb the birds". Priceless.

 

[Tomahawk]

.....

As an aside, I've always found twitchers a bit odd. A guy I used to work with, an oddball twitcher himself, once told me that his twitcher brother refused to watch birds of prey because they killed other birds. I bet that learned 'em!

I tend to think of twitchers and birders as up market train spotters. They have swapped their orange anoracks for camo gear and changed the list of must see from a mark 2 Deltec to a Wilson Petrel... but the mentality is still the same.

 

[Bru]

I tend to think of twitchers and birders as up market train spotters. They have swapped their orange anoracks for camo gear and changed the list of must see from a mark 2 Deltec to a Wilson Petrel... but the mentality is still the same.

It's Deltic and there never was a Mk2

Oh pants, I've just come out as an anorak!

 

[Tomahawk]

Shows how much I know about trains..
I do know the engines were fitted to some MTBs. Which is why they were so fast.

 

[Mariner69]

The last of the FPB's the Brave class had gas turbines IICR.

The Deltics, with cartridge starters, went to the ton classes and latterly Hunts. They were great at throwing out oil at certain revs and then setting fire to the aluminium funnels when enough oil had accumulated for a decent Great British Bake Off (did you see what I did there?).

Dead Slow Ahead with a large propeller, lots of torque an a quick engine provoked some entertainment dependant upon position.

 

[Bru]

Shows how much I know about trains..
I do know the engines were fitted to some MTBs. Which is why they were so fast.

The Deltic engine (the locomotive was named after the engine btw) was actually developed specifically to meet an Admiralty requirement for a high speed light weight diesel engine to replace petrol engines in fast patrol craft

It was based on pre-war German design (Junkers IIRC) for an opposed piston double acting diesel although the triangular layout and triple crankshafts were unique to the British design

In the marine application, the design was rapidly overtaken by the development of turbines and never sold fit civilian use where the complexity of the engine layout was too big a drawback

The Class 55 locomotives were also a bit of an anachronism. They were big, they were hugely powerful and they were intended as a replacement for steam on the East Coast Main Line express passenger services

The two Napier Deltic engines in the locomotives were slightly derated compared to the marine versions which went some way to overcoming sine if the reliability issues alluded to by a previous poster. Even so, they still had issues (it wasn't uncommon to see a 55 limping into Kings Cross shed on one engine)

The locomotive had diabolical route availability (all rail tracks have an RA rating based on curve radii, bridge loadings and so on, the Deltic with the highest RA number was severely limited on where it could go - a problem when it came to preserving one on an active heritage line)

Despite its flaws, the Class 55 Deltic was the next best thing to steam. To see, and hear, one depart an ECML station hauling 16 or more coaches at full bore was a sight to behold

Oops, my anorak is showing again...

 

[sarabande]

the Daddy of the current diesel/electric rail fleet are the 59/2s used by Yeoman and Amey to haul limestone and other rock [products round the UK. Based in Somerset ( ).

The diesel side produces 2,500 KW, and they are built in the USA and modified to use the BR standard gauge.



I ran an exercise in the late 90s, where one of these monsters hauling 12 wagons of stone "ran into" a local passenger train. We had over 400 actors from Casualty Union, and >200 bluelight responders. Oh, Fun ! Especially when I was allowed in the cab to help drive the loco away at the end of the day.