More hide etiquette

I've touched on hide etiquette previously, but I thought I'd bring out another issue. 

Let's imagine that you are comfortably ensconced in a hide. There are a few birds around and you've seen the usual mid-week offering of birds, don't forget that you don't usually get the star turns mid-week, they are kept back for weekends and Bank Holidays. Someone joins you in the hide and they greet you with

"Anything interesting?"

Take a moment to think about this. You've spent an hour here watching stuff like a Great White Egret - on the UK Conservation Amber list, only a handful of breeding pairs in the country. You've enjoyed watching a pair of ringed plovers, cute little rascals, as they scurry around the bigger birds on one of the islands. You watched a few Pochards preening - the rest were asleep, they feed at night so they usualy kip during the day. They are on the UK Birds of Conservation Concern Red list.

But how do you answer their question? You don't know what they find interesting, you don't know whether they are looking for the big stuff - the raptors - or do they expect to see herds of wildebeest. 

So, my proposal. Greet a fellow birder with a quiet "hello" and then, if you must ask something, ask what they've seen rather than a an invitation to rank the available birds.

This shot is the view from Hanson hide on the ARC pit at Dungeness - not the usual view across to the power station. After popping to the Little Railway Cafe for a green tea I saw a funne cloud - check the extras