Ray Banks and I finally succumbed to the lure of the Lincolnshire bluethroat today. If I'm honest, I have to say that personally I've put off going so far because these kind of "events" leave me a bit cold. It's just about as far removed from birding as I can imagine, bar perhaps doing the shopping at Asda. You're watching a bird that's been lured to show at point blank range, by the offer of meal worms, and you're surrounded by big lenses and not many binoculars. It reminded me a bit of the red-footed falcon in Staffordshire which was tempted by crickets. Yeah, bluethroats are cracking birds, of course they are and it is great to get some half decent photos of one, but the bluethroats I remember most were those skulking individuals which you had to work for and afforded the briefest of views at Martin Mere, Leasowe and Fair Isle.
To be honest I don't suppose there's much wrong with feeding this bluethroat, though the red-footed falcon perhaps became a little too tame and ended up shot, possibly as a result, but I just find the whole thing a bit uncomfortable and it's not really why I go birding. However there's no denying that I had probably my best views ever of bluethroat, we got a few photos and we left happy. Then we moved on to Adwick Washlands in South Yorkshire where we saw our fist garganey of the year and 4 avocets.
Year: 174 (Bluethroat, garganey)
Bluethroat and mealworms.
very nice blog however i suggest its not great feeding the bird for several reasons one it becomes dependent on a high dietary food source thus stays away for periods more then before, if cold weather birds become dependent on food sources which then stop leaving bird without regular supply to fend for itself then or move on or die , it attracts predators to left overs which could take a semi tame bird ,this bird is now regularly gagging or was when last seen thought to be perhaps a blockage , it serves to only help photographers to get a picture of the bird and any great photographer surely does not need help to get a great picture its part of the joys of taking pics to get the best you can your way , i would of thought any photographer worth their salt would want to take pics on their own merit without aids but may im wrong maybe photographers are not up to it these days anyway nicework hope you saw the onsite garganey and water pipit there too regards steve
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