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GemmaJF
Admin Group Joined: 25 Jan 2003 Location: Essex Status: Offline Points: 4359 |
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Fortunately James was sensible enough to accept he should follow the licence route and was able to understand the information posted by Duncan regarding photography licences.
Not sure why Richard but I pick up a little hint in your post of 'I'm right, your wrong'. The whole thread is here for anyone to read if they want to. I'm quite sure that you did post up something regarding a book on sand lizards and the licence implications, not sure if it was hypothetical but assumed at the time it was for a follow on from Cold Blood. Perhaps I'm wrong, it would have been a while ago but I don't usually get confused about such things. |
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GemmaJF
Admin Group Joined: 25 Jan 2003 Location: Essex Status: Offline Points: 4359 |
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Thanks, Chris and Gemma. This is helpful. What I want is to be able to observe animals closely in the wild for the purpose of writing about them. I don't want to catch and handle anything, but I would like to get as close as I can without harming the animals. This is what puzzled the people at NE. They couldn't say whether I needed a licence at all, and seemed inclined to think I didn't, but you and others here feel strongly that I do, and it would be nice to be able to look under tin traps, for example.
The post you made I was thinking of Richard, it doesn't in my mind conjure up someone who would be happy taking a few snaps from a path. Regarding advice given by NE 'and some other experts' we have done it to death on here. The only people who can give you any sensible advice is the licence holders themselves. They have the field experience and knowledge to know when something is likely to be a licensable activity. The staff at NE are on the whole office workers who do not even so much as make site visits. (NE policy). Some of the things I've heard them come out with in the past would be laughable if it wasn't for the fact I actually care about wildlife. Edited by GemmaJF - 15 Apr 2015 at 7:50pm |
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Richard2
Senior Member Joined: 01 Dec 2010 Status: Offline Points: 285 |
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I also said this:
The important thing as far as I am concerned is that people should not feel deterred from going to nature reserves to look. Studland is covered with footpaths, and I have many times seen Sand Lizards basking inches from those paths, and occasionally basking on them. The banks in places rise steeply immediately from the paths, forming a natural showcase. You have to go at the right time and get your eye in, that's all. It's not that easy everywhere, but I can think of several places where paths afford a very good view and there is no need to trample habitat. In the passage you quoted (from a different thread?) I was saying what I would like to be able to do, and that the advice from NE about whether I was allowed to do it was unclear. I really don't think that little hint you heard was there. I was sincere when I said I hoped people of both persuasions had learned from the argument. In my view neither of us was right or wrong in any clear cut way. You were expressing valid concerns and so was I. How they weigh against each other is a delicate judgment, dependent on the precise details of each case.
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GemmaJF
Admin Group Joined: 25 Jan 2003 Location: Essex Status: Offline Points: 4359 |
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If I had not had the experiences I have I would find it hard to believe that NE staff could be 'unclear' over the activities you described - when such activities would clearly need a licence and any current licence holder would advise somebody obtain one before undertaking such activities. So stating NE 'and some other experts' as the source of an apparently opposing view is not a very convincing argument. It is more a case of them saying they are not sure if one is needed or not (admission of their non-expert status), rather than the provision or a counter-statement. However on the previous page you provided this information in the form of evidence of an opposing view. |
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Richard2
Senior Member Joined: 01 Dec 2010 Status: Offline Points: 285 |
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I was only reporting the advice I was given when I phone NE and when I spoke to an onsite warden in the office at a reserve. Their understanding of the law was a bit more permissive than yours, and I was glad of that. You takes your choice. I don't know what a member of the public is to do except ask the agencies and authorities responsible. Whether their employees work in offices is irrelevant. Or, actually, it is reasonable to assume that working in offices for those organizations would give the employee some expertise. One is entitled to expect these authorities to provide guidance, and they did.
There was also the substantial and knowledgeable contribution from MancD - or so it seemed to me. I found that enlightening and a touch surprising. He clearly spoke from some expertise. I don't see why the credentials of these people should be merely dismissed. But there you go. Obviously this is an area of legitimate doubt. We are both speaking from a strongly held sense of priorities, which tug us in opposing directions, but it seems to me that the practical difference between us is smaller than the intensity of our rhetoric suggests. Perhaps we should only start all this up again if we really have something new to say.
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