Andy

Only in the sea if you buy a licence (latest government plans). I wonder if this is in part  prompted by the RSPBs push for marine reserves?

Otherwise it will the urban jungle and  the 'lesser rusted trolley fish'  aka 'tesco rivulatus' or the  Rubber ring fish 'Latexus radialis'

"All I can say again is that a huge proportion of RSPB funds are created by Mr or Mrs. Joe (Jocelyn? ) Average that think birds are cute, cuddly creatures and like seeing them in their gardens. Fish are not cuddly!"

yeah but some anglers are cute and cuddly, I certainly am

Whenever I feel like a bit of nostalgia, I have only to look at a thread about the 'conflict' between angling and birding. Same old prejudices, same old half-truths.

Let's get something straight; if you bought a fishery you'd be pretty hacked off if the RSPB was allowed to tell you how to run it. So let's not get too excited if the RSPB - with its old old prejudices - tells us to s*d off. You'd do itto them and, indeed, I know of one local fishery which did exactly that to me when I went to see some nesting Hobbies on it. 

The thing is, the arguments get nowhere if the first response of anglers is to gob off about 'PC birders.' If there were some art, it would be in actually talking to and negotiating with the RSPB - anglers are great watchdogs for pollution, we could tell them. We care about wildlife. We'll do bird counts while we're fishing to help you out. We'll happily avoid breeding areas. We'll come down and help with bank clearance and other remedial work.

Whether we like it or not, the birder's experience of fishermen is line left strewn around, old hook packets, fires lit at night and air rifles in the rod bag. I'd love to bury my head in the sand and say it ain't so, but it is, on almost every day ticket fishery I've been to.

Syndicates - now that's a different story. And we have to tell the RSPB that. There are good and bad birders and good and bad anglers. They know that. Their worry will be how to filter only the good ones to the bank, and then have suitable sanctions when they turn out to be the to$$ers we know some anglers are. And we should want to root out those to$$ers as much as they do. 

The key wording in the newspaper article by Dave Houghton - close pal of Terry Knight-is that the fishery closes to 'day ticket anglers' on January 16th.

I suspect a chosen few - those who have bought a season's ticket and are effectively a controllable syndicate may be allowed to continue fishing though I doubt they will coexist alongside the Bird watchers in the long term.

Even allowing for the fact there is a car park, shop and toilets on site I still cannot understand why the RSPB want the place as birds have a far more appealing and natural ( for waterfowl) habitat on the vast marshes alongside.

One thing I will say is that until angling cleans up its act with regard to bankside litter and spent line we are never going to sit at the same table as the bird watchers. Yes we do have a lot in common but I'm afaid we have a lot more morans on board than they do.

Back to the original topic then...............

I do think it's important to realise how many of these purchases are made. For example, the lake I mentioned a few pages ago was bought "With generous grants from the Heritage Lottery Fund and English Nature Aggregates Sustainability Fund".

Name a venue that has been bought for anglers to maintain? That's right, none. We are not seen as ideal tenants.

when it stop pi55ing down I will walk over to my local pit and take some piccys ,the anglers swims are superb and clean ,the bird hides are a mess

even if its not the twitchers/birders (just for posh) they should clean up like I do if theres a mess in my swim !

I saw how the goal post were moved this morning .........3 dead swan but leave the rest alone

if they were my chickens they would be dead by now

when it stop pi55ing down I will walk over to my local pit and take some piccys ,the anglers swims are superb and clean ,the bird hides are a mess

Come on Cakey play with a straight bat and be objective, if its the water I think it is you've already told me in a previous correspondence that the mess is caused by young hooligans and NOT anglers OR birdwatchers.

Who owns the lakes?

Who is responsible for the lakes?

Who controls the lakes?

How many anglers use the lakes, based on hours not visits?

How many birdwatchers use the lakes?

How many youngsters use the hides as a place to hang out after dark?

Who keeps the youngsters in check?

Reading over this thread again one of the best postings in my view is from Chris Bishop. For those who didn't read it here it is again:-

The RSPB's strategic thinking is looking 50 years or more ahead to a point where rising sea levels are going to threaten several of its coastal and wetland reserves. Along with organisations like the National Trust, it is looking to buy up areas to replace them and so help insure against the affects of climate change.

In a way this is laudable. I don't know if anyone read the report from the Campaogn for the Preservation of Rural England in the papers a few weeks back, but it basically painted a dire picture of how rapidly much of our remaining countryside is going to disappear. 

With every generation, it is going to become more and more vital to safeguard what remains.

The big question is where angling fits into the picture. As long as we consist of disparate interest groups and warring factions, we're never going to hasve the credibility and political muscle to stand up for ourselves.

Perhaps things will change - who knows.