Reader poll: Are nature reserve hides too noisy?
A busy hide at the Little Bunting at Forest Farm, Glamorgan recently. (© Graham Powell)
For many nature reserve hides should be sanctuaries allowing close encounters with birds and wildlife. A place to keep dry and to sit and spend time observing the comings and goings of the residents or spot the next migrant as it touches down for the first time after a long journey.
At times however it can seem like they are a place where people gather for a [noisy] chat, to socialise and to allow their electronic devices to make far too much noise. Mobile phones and pagers ringing and pinging, cameras beeping continuously to confirm that an image is in focus, followed by a burst of shutter at it opens and closes at seven frames a second!
Birders can have a reputation for being grumpy [old men usually], who are always complaining about one thing or another and want nature reserves all to themselves. But are they right in thinking that there is too much noise in hides and nature reserves or are those complaining not being understanding enough, what is the right balance?
In some hides you might find polite requests asking people to keep noise down but this is far from common place, are those running reserves doing enough? Should people entering hides be asked to switch electronic devices to silent and to keep the noise to a minimum?
So in our poll this week we would like to hear what you think about noise in hides and if you think more should be done to advise visitors on hide etiquette.
In preparing the poll we contacted the Wildlife Trusts, RSPB and Wildfowl and Wetlands Trust to ask if they had a general policy on such matters. The Wildlife Trusts responded pointed out that each of the 47 Wildlife Trust reserves are run independently and they decide on their own policies on each reserve. As yet we are yet to hear back from the RBSP and WWT.
The poll runs until midnight on Tuesday 24th Feb and is anonymous, even if you are logged into the RBA website your user details are not associated with your vote. We will post the results on the website on Wednesday 25th and include in our newsletter later that day.
Rare Bird Alert
18 Feb 2015
