Weekend update

The Cuckoo in Thurday's rain.

I always keep a low profile at the weekends and I deliberately kept away from the Cuckoo site yesterday, and I will today, for fear of giving away the location. It seems that this hasn't been successful though as I had an email last night from another Devon photographers telling me that he had found the site and he had seen my Cuckoo which was a blow I have to confess. I know that he will behave ethically thouh and not cause a disturbance so I have no concerns there. Apparently, with a friend, they stumbled on the site while they were searching for Whinchat. Dartmoor is 954 square kilometres so it seems very fortunate for them that they just happened to find this miniscule area of 100mtres by 100mtres!!

I must have given it away somehow but I dont know when or how. Anyway, I don't own the site or the Cuckoos and it's good that there are other like-minded people who care as much as I do. I hope that they manage to get some nice photographs after they have put so much effort in to track the site down. I cant help feeling masively disappointed that my secret has been given up. I dont know how much longer the Cuckoo will be here before migration but I doubt if much longer. Last year he had departed by June 16 so I am sure he will move south very soon. I wont be there today…… the other guy will though……and on Tuesday he has already told me that he will be there again…… so the glorious solitude has been shattered. I am gutted to be honest, so much so, I could cry openly. It was such a wonderful experience to have this bird (and others) to myself and now it's been taken from me and like I said, Dartmoor is almost 1000 square kilometers, they must have known somehow. I usually post my pictures on the Birdguides website and I may think long and hard about doing that again because I am certain that by posting my pictures I stimulated the obsession to find the site. This has left a very nasty taste in my mouth.

9 responses to “Weekend update”

Paul Riddle

June 26, 2012 at 9:29 am

Charlie I feel for you, I know just what you are going through. I spend many many hours searching for Little Owls. Once found it is then a case of “working” the site to make the best of it. Firstly introductions are made to land owners, then I make visit after visit where I sit and observe the owls from a distance so as to understand their activities and movments. Once I understand a site I start positioning posts and perches, making hides etc etc. It can take weeks and in some cases months beforethe the rewards are reaped, sometimes never at all! And then one day when you arrive someone else is there, it is a sickerning feeling!
So don’t give up on it all Charlie, like you say we don’t own the birds, just thank your lucky stars that you did have plenty of time with the Cuckoo’s all on your own. Things could have been worse, they could have been discovered weeks ago!
Keep images coming mate.
All the best Paul

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Charles Fleming

June 26, 2012 at 9:56 am

Hello Paul,
Your kind and supportive comment has actually brought tears to my eyes. (I’m no puff by the way I served 35 years in the Royal Marines )You have got to the nub of this and it’s obvious you understand exactly what happened and how upset I would be. The really upsetting thing about my incident is that it was two people who post regularly on BG’s. They basically trolled through my Blog posts before eventually tracking the site down. They sent me an email to say that they would be visiting to photograph on Sunday and they thought they ought to warn me that they would be there and there wouldn’t be room for me! I had placed perches close to a where I quickly erected a scrim cover on my visits. then to see a photo on BG’s yesterday of one of “my” Whinchats sat on one of the perches that I had placed was too much to take to be honest. I had done 36 hours of patient study at this site and gradually got the Whinchats accustomed to me and the scrim, then they come and take over. They don’t think they have done anything wrong and in the end were extremely insulting to me, ………..(name withheld for legal reasons….. telling me that because I wasn’t born in Devon and he was, he had more right to be there than me!
I am sat here at home now by the way because they are at my site as we speak.
Really love your Owls by the way and I am full of admiration for what you have done and still are doing, I know that we share a lot of the same attitudes and approaches. You need to get a publisher, if you haven’t already because you are contributing to science in a real way, lucky for you …………… (name withheld again)live in Devon…… but who knows, I bet they have thought about it.
Kind regards and sincere heartfelt thanks for your support,
Charlie

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Ben Andrew

June 26, 2012 at 1:31 pm

Hi Charlie,
Felt compelled to write as I can just sense the pain and frustration in your words. I regularly look at this blog, every time it gets updated and always see your images on Birdguides. I very rarely comment on other people’s images, to be honest this is just plain lazyness on my part, i love when people comment on mine but do not comment myself, bit bad really so sorry for that.
Anyways, I completely understand where you are coming from and If I am honest I would be completely heartbroken. From my point of view I have local sites that no-one else seems to know about but equally I also visit other people’s sites but usually have the decency to ask them first and generally see if they would show me around the site, this way it is on their terms and they can make the decision. Paul will recognise this, he showed me a site on Saturday, I had a cracking time, got my best ever Little Owls images and came away happy, I will not return on my own as this is Paul’s site and will not show or tell anyone else about it but if Paul invited me back again I would obviously not say no.
Unfortunately your site is on public land, there really is no reason why anyone should be stopped from finding it and taking photos there but as you have gone to a lot of effort to work this site I would think the least the other photographers could do would be to e-mail you before and see whether you would fancy showing them the site one-on-one, this way at least you would be in control and it could be on your terms, that to me is the correct way to go about it and in a way, gentlemanly.
Dont let this get you down Charlie, I can understand how sad it must be as this site must feel very much like your own and the birds have become habituated to you, you almost get to know them and more people could just ruin it for everyone. Unfortunately that desire to find the best places and photograph the best things in the world of photography is there and it wont go away, its quite a competetive world now and with so many people doing it it doesnt take that much in the way of skill, manners, ethics etc…something you obviously have in abundance. Keep working hard, doing your own thing and taking the images that please you.
On another note Charlie, and please do not take offence to this…you seem to get yourself into some amazing positions with wildlife and your images have the makings of something really amazing. However, i do feel something is letting you down in terms of quality on some of the images, not all of them, not sure if that is your camera, lens, settings, editing (do you shoot in RAW or JPEG). I am simply only saying this as there is so much potential and the image quality could be raised to make these look even better than they already do. I am not a pro, not an expert, but I have learned quickly over the last 6 years of taking photos, i have only just realised the importance of good quality kit, taking in RAW and good editing software. If I can help in any way I will and sorry if this is not appropriate to say but to me I feel that it is a valid point.
Keep up the good work mate
Regards,
Ben

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Charles Fleming

June 26, 2012 at 2:14 pm

Hello Ben,
Thanks for your undoubted support. I agree about the site being on public land and there was/is the problem, and you know what , if they had asked me to accompany them of course I would have. Its just the way I was simply bullied in to standing aside and letting them in so to speak. Your observations about me “working” the site and habituating the birds to me and the perches I placed are really pertinent. Then to see a picture on BG’s of one of the birds I have been working with, perched on one of the very perches that I placed was the straw that broke the camels back really.
I fully concur with your comments about my pictures, always think that there is something missing in terms of quality. I use a Pentax K5. In the USA and Australia thought by many to rival the best of Canon and Nikon but not in the UK. I own Sigma a 4.5 500, £3999’s worth of lens, which is an OK lens I believe but having not used Canon or Nikon I can’t compare except to say when you look at the likes of the very best of the best on BG’s for example the quality isn’t there I agree 100%. I have now recently gone back to shooting in raw again and I think that has made a big difference. I use Photoshop and Neat Image. I am not in a position to trade in my kit I would lose a massive amount of money and then I would never be certain that changing to Canon would for certain be an improvement. I know that my K5 is a good camera and I particularly like the robust build with its alloy body and 127 weatherproof seals.
I think that my quality is impaired somewhat when and if I crop excessively so that is something I am trying to avoid. I also think that my pictures on my Blog always look superior to identical images on BGs that I post, I don’t know why that is so recently I have been making sure that I change the profile of the images to Adobe RGB, that seems to make them more vibrant
I always use a tripod or bean bag, any more suggestions about software would be gratefully received.
best wishes and thanks for your support,
Charlie

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Marcus

June 26, 2012 at 11:38 pm

Sign of the times Charlie. It the same up in the Highlands. Weeks sorting out sites and then others find them and take them over.
Hope he has flown.
Marcus

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Marcus

June 26, 2012 at 11:47 pm

Should add
The guy is bang out if order.

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Charles Fleming

June 27, 2012 at 10:07 am

Gentlemen, thanks for your support, I knew that people would see it from my perspective. They were so keen to photograph a Cuckoo, they had their bird blinkers on and all common decency went out of the window. Even if the two guys did stumble on the site, and lets be honest thats possible but unlikely, they should have still had the decency to ask me if I minded if they took a few photos especially as I had habituated the birds there in the pervious 3 weeks, to a human presence. Instead no, they just announced that they were going to be there the next day. I offered to accompany them on the Tuesday but they declined saying that it wasn’t necessary for me to be there as its on public land and they didn’t need my permission. This is when one said that as he was Devon born and bred he had more rights to be there than me anyway. Still smarting, but like you said Marcus, lets hope its flown south by now, end of story then (and yes……bang out of order).
I think half the problem is the availability of good digital camera gear to anyone who wanders in to Jessops, suddenly everyone’s a photographer. Like I always say owning a fiddle doesn’t make you a violinist!

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Sue Rutherford

July 8, 2012 at 2:08 pm

Charlie, as always yours photos and BLOG site are great, people like those you mentioned are mostly miserable in my opinion and NOT worth worrying about, Keep up the wonderful work you do. your photos make me feel as though I am visiting England, something I would love to do but probably wont ever do !!
Regards
Sue Rutherford
Townsville
Australia

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Rich Steel

July 8, 2012 at 10:06 pm

Hi Charlie
I had a similar thing happen last year with some whinchat so I know your annoyance. After spending a lot of effort locating a nest in a remote area, gradually setting up perches etc. I found a certain photographer using my set up. The annoying thing was he knew it was mine, and dashed in there while I went up the road for an hour to look for a Dartford warbler and he must have passed my car to get to the whinchats. When I came back he told me he had taken 3000 photos which is some going for an hour. I think he knew he was in the wrong and was trying to fill as much memory card before I returned. He never apologised but just stood there with a smug grin. My response was to just dismantle the set up in front of him and I never returned. By the time I got home my anger had increased to a level where an email was in order. It made me feel better but probably didn’t achieve much.
I have been asked by several people why I so often put undisclosed site on BG images or not reveal locations on my blog. Well it is because I have seen places ruined by large numbers of photographers descending on a site. However, my greater concern is what effect this has on the wildlife for there will inevitably be a few ‘idiots’ amongst the crowds.
I am not anti-people but find myself increasing drawn to more and more remote places to escape the maddening crowds . Some ‘photographers’ certainly seem more concerned with a trophy photograph than having any interest in the natural history or more importantly the welfare of the bird. It is often these day same people that have a total disrespect for wildlife photography etiquette. It happened again this year when I was photographing grasshopper warbler and two ‘photographers’ just walked over and set their tripods up next to me and started taking photos. Now to me, common sense would say that you ask the person if they mind but obviously not to the mindless.
Anyway great work with the cuckoo and wish you all the success and solitude with you next project.

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