Thursday 3 January 2019

Wilthorpe Marsh 02-01-2019 - Water Pipit

7.30 - 9.00am - One, possibly two Water Pipits, also Kingfisher on river 














2 comments:

Nattereri said...

When are you going to have enough photographs?

Peter Garrity said...


Thanks for taking time to comment, the short answer is yes I am now happy with my images and video , however I presume this is a sarcastic personal attack and as such I am taking this very seriously and I will be contacting the group chairman officially - my response to you is as follows:

I am assuming your comment is driven by the fact that I have shared images twice of the same bird, the bird is relatively uncommon, the bird is extremely difficult to photograph and you probably dislike photographers.

I am assuming you have not been critical to other members who post repeatedly on their local patch including this site? Tell me what is worse - the multiple birders who have visited this site regularly and more often than not (I have witnessed this) walk randomly across the fields and have only seen this bird when they have flushed it so they see it in flight and calling overhead; or myself who has visited three times carefully arriving before dawn, waiting in one location for the bird to come to me, spending the minimum length of time as the bird fed in front of me and then waited until the bird left of its own choice before I moved away inconspicuously?

I have had two successful visits, one mainly for still photography and one mainly for video. I don't intend to go for this particular bird again but will visit the site in future.

For the record after over 50 years of birding, this was my "first ever" Water Pipit and I felt it was important to get quality images and share them with the group for their enjoyment and perhaps use in the annual report. I don't believe revisiting a location is any different to regularly visiting a hide to repeatedly look for the same species such as Bitterns or Kingfishers and the like, as long as it is done responsibly.

I am not perfect and I agree there are bad photographers without ethics but this also applies to birders (if you have ever witnessed a twitch you will understand this). I am happy to discuss my own ethics and other related matters if you wish but I don't think it is appropriate to make a personal attack on this forum.

Pete Garrity