10/09/2023 South Gare, Redcar and Cleveland

Brown Booby: Today was simply outstanding, one of those unforgettable twitching experiences. After seeing this bird last week at an extreme distance at Hunmanby, it was a real privilege and dream to see it again so close and personal.

On Wednesday the bird moved north, staying close to the shore, it was seen passing Long-Nab, Cowbar and Hartlepool before settling on the mouth of the River Tess at South Gare. 

South Gare is a two-mile long manmade finger of land that stretches arthritically out into the North Sea and forms an area of reclaimed land and breakwater on the southern side of the mouth of the River Tees.

The area is home to a variety of wildlife, including seals, birds, and rare plants. The pier and surrounding waters are also popular among anglers, and there are various hiking and cycling trails that offer stunning views of the surrounding landscape. 

So let's discuss the controversy, with some prominent twitchers and birders, many of which haven't even twitched the bird or witnessed first hand any of the issues called out on site, taking to Twitter X to call out anyone who has taken a boat out to see the bird.  

Is paying a local fisherman to charter a small boat out to see the booby at close quarters misrepresented or blown out of proportion?

Let me first lay out my own behaviour and what I witnessed while I was there today. Yes, I payed £10 to a local fisherman who took me and a dozen or so other keen birders out to see the bird. The bird never even flinched, upon arriving it sat up top buoy number 5. It never flew off, never got spooked and didn't show any signs of stress. It remained on buoy number 5 long after we docked back in the small port and I got back to my car. 

Before getting on the small boat I witnessed huge tankers motoring right past the buoy with the roofing bird on top and it stayed put. These super tankers were that big they were causing waves that significantly rocked the buoy. There are videos on Twitter X showing this to be the case. Other small boats manned by fishermen passed the bird and again it remained unphased. 

Over the past three days or so the bird has remained, it's still there now as I type this blog post. It wasn't flushed to a point where it disappeared out to sea to find a safer or quieter location. The bird is clearly feeding well, flying around on its own will and roosting where it wants to roost. Everything a healthy, unstressed bird would do.

Now, I wasn't here the day before when there were reports of small boats chasing the bird or flushing. But that's the main argument some folk have with this issue. However, if this was the case I would join the voices of discontent, and agree with the criticism, as it would be inherently wrong. Full stop. 

The bird's welfare comes first over photos or better views, that I am sure we can all agree on. And this is the majority of what the folk who have issues with the small boats have at the centre of their arguments, good, honest birders. Others who remained unnamed are simply twitcher-trolls and exist to provoke negative discussions and create division as they value their false sense of entitiment their pseudo-celebrity status over the truth. 

I don't recall any of these folk throwing out wild accusations and name calling when birders or photographers took a charter boat out to see the black-browed albatross and when they got point blank views of it on the water and flying around the boat. Furthermore, the same folk remained complety silent when it came to the daily boat trips out to see the red-footed booby on The Scilly's. And there are reports of it getting deliberately 'beeped' off its perch on the lighthouse to give the onlookers views of the bird in flight.

I would urge anyone who goes to see the bird to take a boat trip out to see the bird, this is a rare opportunity to experience something really special. Don't let the nay-sayers the Twitter twitcher-trolls and the folk that may mistakenly misreprersent the actual situation on site put you off. You aren't doing anything wrong, the bird is fine and will leave on its own accord and not because of any small boats.