John Bailey – The Kingfisher Diaries
June 14th 2010
Need It Always Be a Question of Them and Us?
The early part of June's television schedule at my new house has revolved around Spring Watch. It's a love it and hate it experience. Half the time I'm mesmerised. As a naturalist as much as a fisherman, I love the insights into birdlife particularly where Chris Packham is, I have to admit it, very good. Watching birds whilst I fish makes the experience complete and without them, I'd find my time on the waterside severely restricted.
HOWEVER, I will then, almost literally, have a screaming fit. The ignorance and the bias shown against fish just pours out. The return of otters to the Wensum is heralded as some sort of second coming, some sort of amazing miracle. Whereas we ALL know, we on the ground, we by the water, that it's been anything but.
I was delighted, obviously, that they brought in my old chum Hugh Miles to secure some marvellous footage of Wensum fish species for them. I actually saw him at work one fortunate day down at Lyng. That was a great step forward for a bird and mammal oriented programme and we should be rejoicing. The fact is we're not: fish are still portrayed by the presenters as oddities, inferiors and, in truth, food for you know what
The programme is generally switched off, often furiously, long before its official nine o'clock closure. What did it last night was a trumpeted fact, just after a piece on fish, that otters are our favourite mammal, beyond hedgehogs, foxes and badgers. It seems that those that love fish have absolutely no chance.
Or perhaps this is not quite the case. Spring Watch tends to overshadow its ITV competitor, Countrywise which is presented by the excellent Paul Heiney. A strand recently was devoted to fishing, to the River Mersey and to the vast amount of good that anglers do to waterways that come under their care. This was a marvellous piece. It reaffirmed my faith in the media and, hopefully, it showed the public that we are a force for good and not blinkered, uncaring and selfish. All good anglers are naturalists and that is how Heiney portrayed us. He even suggested that anglers should be heard and that they should be consulted. He pointed out that a balanced aquatic environment is a healthy aquatic environment and that is something Spring Watch seems totally oblivious of.
The fact we are not alone was brought home to me again during a reassuring conversation with Paul Laurie from Bird Ventures in Holt, Norfolk. Although Paul is very much a birder and active naturalist, he, like me, sees the appalling damage that otters are doing to waters around Norfolk. Paul, like us anglers, realises that fish populations are being devastated and that, obviously, impacts on bird species like grebes, herons and kingfishers. Paul also sees that waterfowl suffer - think of the decline in our coot populations. Water voles, too, have a hard time of it.
So there are people out there who see the picture bigger than the Spring Watch producers. We have to find them, ally with them and somehow forge a way of moving on together.