Earlier this evening I had a visit from 2 of our boys in blue. They were very courteous and informed me that I was being cautioned and charged for Breach of the peace on July 23rd !
I had to think quickly what did I do on July the 23rd ? This was apparently for shouting at 4 canoeists on July the 23rd, my response to the constable was, you must be joking!
Apparently no joke, so public enemy No1 has been caught and charged!
Fortunately my memory of the incident came flooding back, and to refresh your memories if you click on this blog entry for July the 23rd you will see why I was shouting ! http://simplysuperbswans.blogspot.com/2009/07/mid-summer-madness.html
In addition to that blog entry, here are another few pics that will explain why I was so annoyed at the so called canoeists !
These people were not canoeing, they were in fact punting with long poles over inches of water, rattling the stones and scaring all the wildlife witless ! I felt obliged to shout on behalf of the wildlife, since they have no voice to shout themselves !The Countryside act requires canoeists /kayaks etc, to act responsibly. These photos clearly show that they were not acting responsibly. They were not canoeing
in the true sense, you can see the leader standing in the middle of the river with a pole ( he I was told is the one who made the complaint to the police).
They had no regard for the upset to the wildlife using the river at the time, and all the ducks etc, fled from the area.
in the true sense, you can see the leader standing in the middle of the river with a pole ( he I was told is the one who made the complaint to the police).
They had no regard for the upset to the wildlife using the river at the time, and all the ducks etc, fled from the area.
There is an important issue here, is this a wildlife haven/habitat or not ? If so should canoeists be allowed to chase them from it any time they please ? The Swans nesting island is a haven for ducks and other species of birds too, should the canoes be allowed to disturb them or not ?
The 900 people who signed the petition to stop the canoeists from setting up a slalom in this very spot, are now being given some payback methinks.
The hundreds of people who value and watch the River wildlife on a regular basis can be assured that I will continue to defend the rights of the River Nairn Wildlife, regardless of any trivial watersports enthusiasts.
Perhaps it's time to consider making the area from the roadbridge to the Bailey bridge a designated Town wildlife haven, and priority given to the hundreds of birds who inhabit it ?
To my mind this piece of river is non navigable, and craft of any kind should not be allowed to disturb the Wildlife habitat.
It is common knowledge that this is a wildlife area, the canoeists knew this but persisted in disturbing the peace of the wildlife inhabitants.There are plenty of areas below the Bailey bridge and round the entire country for the canoeists, they do not need a couple of hundred metres of Nairn wildlife habitat to spoil as well !
I might be calling on the local powers that be, to consider passing a bye law designating the area in question as a wildlife haven to the exclusion of all boating activity.
This might require another petition from the good folk of Nairn yet again.
sorry joe i put my comments to your police matter in to the wrong blog i actually put it in the piece you did previously about the canoeists perhaps u could retreive it and put it here ? steve
ReplyDeleteHi Joe , first of all may i say i am sorry to hear about your unfortunate brush with the law,and i am sure nothing will come of it infact i would go as far to say it will either not go to court or you will be admonished . but may i also say havin been on the receiving end of your outbursts myself, it is a fault that you readily admit yourself, and i also truly beleive your intentions with our local wildlife are true and may i say well appreciated by a lot of locals.. but you have to control your outburst and perhaps have a diff approach when it comes to educating people about the wildlife on nairn's riverside, i supose the right approach you should have taken about the canoeists if you thought they were up to something no good was to report it to which ever authority you thought might deal with it best , instead of as they say "taking the law in to your own hands" but i wish you good luck joe with the outcome of this matter Joe ...... Steve (indians friend )
ReplyDeleteSteve I take your point about my manner of speech which can be over exuberant, especially when it's something I am passionate about.
ReplyDeleteThanks for your good wishes anyway.
At the time I did point out to the leader of the group of canoeists not to venture past the island, since this would chase the wildlife and some ducks were still nesting on the riverbank. He chose to ignore my advice and did what he wanted to do, he was bullish and uninterested in the habitat of the wildlife. The Inverness canoe club were given a clear message by the people of Nairn with the petition to keep canoes/slalom out of this area of the river, and that we value our wildlife. This gentleman still chooses to ignore this ! To my mind they were not canoeing anyway, they had no paddles and were punting with poles, inch by inch upstream ensuring that all the wildlife would be scared away! They chose this spot which is recognized by everyone in Nairn as a Haven for wildlife, it was iresponsible and contrary to the Countryside Act in my book.