Field craft at the Spit Pit, Appleford

With regard to viewing Gulls at Appleford, can I implore anyone visiting the site to please stay in their cars. The Gulls are skittish enough without birders adding to the angst of their screwed up minds. After all, they have to cope with the sad antics of the falconer and his pyrotechnics, the flight path of RAF choppers, trains and lorries honking their horns and the bangs of local game shooters. If you want to see any Gulls, particularly if you enjoy prolonged, close views, getting out is just counter productive. Having the first Slaty-backed Gull for Britain flushed, never to be seen again, by a firework would be bad enough but by a birder . . . .

One other gentle reminder about this site; the haul road to the tip and the pit are private and the site managers have been very tolerant of visiting birders over the last decade, particularly as we shouldn't really be there. Please make sure that you are parked well off the road as any slight obstruction to the visiting trucks get reported to the Waste Recycling Group manager who is then duty bound to come out and advise the obstacle to move. This increases the chances of decreased tolerance in future.

Happy New Year