Jog on

Picked them up in the 'scope, as they crossed the old counter wall from Ferry Marshes. Jogger. It would mean I could get a fair count of birds on Chetney as this pain came through disturbing everything.

'But he's no worse than a birder' came a nagging voice in my head.

I tried to think he was, justified my indignancy because he wasn't using the marshes for anything more than a running track- he really could do that elsewhere. Okay, he's on a footpath, but that should be for people who respect the countryside. Just because I wade is getting bigger these bloomin' villagers think they can do what they want..

'But he's no worse than a birder' came the nagging voice in my head.

Of course he is, he's a runner, no way he'll ever be appreciating the wildlife. Look at everything go up- oh, hang on, he's stopped to take some phone pics of the wildlife.

'See' my internal voice said smugly, he's no worse than a birder taking pics, no worse than you'. But he'll tell his mates. Then they'll all start running the path at different times each day.

'So, no worse than a few birders then?' came the terse voice.

You know what I mean. These poor birds will be up and down, up and down, they need this sanctuary. "What? On a game shoot? Oh, look further over, there's the first four-by-four arriving." laughed the voice.

As I watched, I heard two cars pull up behind me. Birders jumped out, set up scopes, scanned a handful of times. I heard one say 'Elmley?' They jumped back in their cars, and were off.

"Ah" said voice murmured in my head. "You win. People who actually use footpaths are much worse than most birders nowadays."