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    Birds and anglers

    First off, this is not meant as a criticism of any members that are also anglers, but as a possible talking point.

    I took this a week or so ago in my local park. Ar first glance it looks like a daily run of the mill shot of a young gull, until you notice it can't put down it's right foot. Looking closer it's because there's a loop of fishing line wrapped around the bird's ankle. While I'm not one to deny people simple pleasures, there is still a big problem with lengths of fishing line being left around and catching wildlife such as this. With the best will in the world, it's not possible to ensure no line is lost but I wonder how much effort anglers put into ensuring this doesn't happen...

    Gulls and anglers by Andy Mulhearn, on Flickr

    As an aside, the park has two sections to the lake - one fishable, the other not. The one that isn't fishable has carp in it as big as some of the mallards so there are often anglers sitting on the boundary between the two that accidentally cast into the wrong part of the lake. Which just proves there are people who seem willing to break the rules in every walk of life, even something as bucolic as angling.
    EOS 7D mk II, Sigma 150-660C, Canon 17-85 EF-S, Tamron 10-24 and a wife who shares my obsession.

    #2
    Re: Birds and anglers

    I remember years ago we had a lovely walk where signs said in Bold NO Fishing here, when we were coming back we saw that people were fishing and Swans were about, sadly one of them got caught up in a line and all hell broke lose.

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      #3
      Re: Birds and anglers

      I did the same a couple of years ago. Photographed a couple of swans on the river Stour just outside Canterbury and notice a pike lure hanging from the beak of one of them. Contacted RSPCA, who asked me to send a photograph and they would send someone out.

      John

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        #4
        Re: Birds and anglers

        I don't think most fishing line is left around on purpose. The problem arises mainly when anglers hook underwater plants or overhanging bushes, where the line breaks and is left in a place where it can't be retrieved from. That's why it's mainly water birds that are affected.
        A far bigger problem on a global scale is the amount of plastic floating around in the sea which many sea birds (and fish and turtles) swallow in mistake for food and die as a result. I was watching the TV programme very recently about Britain's overseas island territories and they showed one tiny remote uninhabited (never inhabited) island where the shoreline was covered with plastic debris of all sizes.
        EOS 6D, 6D Mk II, 80D, 70D, 100D, 200D, M50, M100. Canon 10-18, 18 - 55, 55 - 250 IS STM lenses, Canon 16 - 35 mm F4L, 35 mm EF-S macro, 50 mm F1.8 STM, 60 mm EF-S macro, MPE-65 macro, 85 mm F1.8, 200 mm F2.8 L II, M 15 - 45 mm, M 22mm F2, M 32mm F1.4. Sigma 24 - 35 F2 Art, 135 mm F1.8 Art, 17 - 50 F2.8 DC, 105 mm OS macro, 100 - 400 C, 150 - 600 C.

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          #5
          Re: Birds and anglers

          It's frightening to think that every single bit of plastic ever made (apart from re.cycled plastic) is still in existence and will be for at least another 150 years

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            #6
            Re: Birds and anglers

            Plastic isn't all going to be hanging around forever. Some is made from biodegradable materials and other from materials with additives that cause it to degrade. So it's not like we've not learned from some of our mistakes.

            I realise in a lot of cases it's not deliberate or careless, just that the outcomes are pretty horrible for the unfortunate bird.
            EOS 7D mk II, Sigma 150-660C, Canon 17-85 EF-S, Tamron 10-24 and a wife who shares my obsession.

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              #7
              Re: Birds and anglers

              I have foot in both camps & can assure the majority of anglers are also nature lovers & go out of their way to clear up all the line even if it isn't theirs. I often wind my line in & end up photographing the waterfowl.

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                #8
                Re: Birds and anglers

                Accidents will happen unfortunately and fishing line will bio degrade fairly quickly, as has been said, the majority of anglers are also wildlife enthusiasts.
                Hanging on in quiet desperation is the English way

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                  #9
                  Re: Birds and anglers

                  It's frightening to think that every single bit of plastic ever made (apart from re.cycled plastic) is still in existence and will be for at least another 150 years
                  I am all for shoving it in landfill, because 100 years from now when the oil is all but dried up, I can foresee a need for those plastics and man made materials from oil, that technology cannot at the moment exploit to its fullest potential, and they will be able to mine the landfill and recover the plastics for a more viable usage than exists today.

                  Poor little blighter, it makes me so cross to see what we do to the innocents of this world.
                  Last edited by TonyT; 09-01-2017, 11:05.
                  Canon 1DX, 50D, EF500 F4.0 L, EF100-400 f/4.5-5.6L I , EF100-400 f/4.5-5.6L II, EF70-200 f/2.8L II, EF180 f3.5L Macro, EF 24-105 f/4L, EF17-40 f/4L, EF2.0X III, EF1.4X III, 430EX II, MR-14EX...

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