Here’s my view on cats and birds and ‘Billy Big Lenses’ in hides
With regards to the cats and birds debate, I agree fully with Arthur Rogerson in that I get fed up having to scare cats out of our garden and finding cat mess on the grass. It is about time that cat owners (and I have owned a couple of cats) took responsibility for their pets. It seems that as soon as the cat goes out of their house, they feel it is no longer their responsibility. Well it is and they can at least try to help by fitting them with collars with bells. If this is done when they are kittens, then they become used to wearing them. There are far too many cats in this country and it should be made a law to have them neutered before going out to new owners. Secondly, I write with regards to birders with the huge cameras and bad attitude. We call them Billy Big Lenses, because they take over a hide and hate anyone else coming in. A good example was at our local RSPB reserve at Lakenheath Fen. During this summer, the Bitterns bred successfully and, for a couple of weeks, the juveniles and parents were showing well on the edge of the water from the Mere Hide. The first time we visited we went in about 10am but we could not get a seat. We heard a couple of them talking and took it that at least one had been there since 4am. We decided to walk around the reserve as we never stay in a hide for too long. We went back at 1pm and the same people were in there and we again got the ‘what do you want’ stare when we walked in. I mentioned it at the visitor centre but was told they could not do anything. We went again about a week later and again the hide was packed with ‘Billy Big Lenses’. I asked one if I could sit down to get a photo of the Bittern and he grudgingly gave me the very edge of the bench seat and then slid his lunch bag along. I managed to just get my bridge camera into a very small gap that I had been allocated through the window and got a few pictures (also having to get a view past his mega lens sticking out in front of mine). That again was in the morning and we returned around 1pm. This time, not only were the same people still there, but there were about a dozen people on the bench at the back of the hide waiting to try and get a view out of the window... they looked very fed up. I think that when there is something special that people want to see, then the reserves need to police the relevant hides and stop people hogging the best seats. We ended up not going to that reserve for a few weeks until things had calmed down. I fear that some people new to the reserve and birdwatching could well have been put off for good.