Wildlife ignorance - What mistakes have you overheard?

[werdnal]

Were at our local out of town shopping centre yesterday, where they have a wildlife pond, where we sat to have our pasty lunch. A few ducks around, and one large, very loud, white goose. Whilst we were there, 3 separate famillies passed by, and all said to their children "Oh look at the lovely swan" Our son is 9 and I asked him after the first lot went by, "What is the white one" He replied "A goose". When the next family came by and made the same mistake, our son (totally umprompted) said loudly "can I throw the goose some crumbs?" The family moved on none the wiser.

Finally when the last lot came up, the mum thought about her comment and said to her kids "I think its a goose, not a swan" At last! I know we are lucky to live in a rural environment and see all these things regularly, and our son has been brought up knowing a lot of birds and animals, but I am appalled that so many people know so little! This is not the first time we have heard this type of thing either, although I can't call to mind any others at the moment. To be honest, if I wasn't sure, I'd rather say I didn't know what the creature was, and look it up when I got home!

What ones have you overheard?

[Stinky Bob]

When I was having my cavity wall done last year one of the installers pointed at a house martin (that seemed to me desperate to cr*p on said installer) and asked is that a sparrow, I would have thought everyone would have known what a sparrow looked like

[mrbright]

the one that makes me mad, is my neighbours calling collared doves, pigeons and telling their children they are flying rats,,aaaaaagh. i know it is pedantic as they are same family, but it just annoys me.

[Jason Green]

Afternoon all,

I once heard someone say to her child 'Look at that lovely stork', whilst pointing to a grey heron...

Take care,

Jason

[darrenm]

seeing a holiday day trip tour leader very vocally miss-identify most of the bird species in front of him from a public hide on a site i was working on last year it was my day off but had to interject in the end because i felt people were not getting good value for money

[neldadog]

Have a look at this survey conducted by Travel Lodge about British people’s view of the countryside, particularly the stats towards the end.

Very worrying ....

https://www.travelodge.co.uk/press_r...ase.php?id=347

[mrbright]

Originally Posted by neldadog

Have a look at this survey conducted by Travel Lodge about British people’s view of the countryside, particularly the stats towards the end.

Very worrying ....

https://www.travelodge.co.uk/press_r...ase.php?id=347

great survey, at least i can identify a sheep, have several nesting in my pine tree.

[RoyW]

I have to say that the level of ignorance that the general public shows about wildlife is probably very similar to the ignorance show about just about every other subject you could think of - we just notice it more if it is a subject we are interested in.

It really shouldn't be happening when people are being paid to know about the wildlife, as in this example that Darren posted;

Originally Posted by darrenm

seeing a holiday day trip tour leader very vocally miss-identify most of the bird species in front of him from a public hide on a site i was working on last year it was my day off but had to interject in the end because i felt people were not getting good value for money

I have seen this myself on a couple of occasions, including on a boat trip around Gairloch (NW Scotland) several years ago, where the 'guide' was confidently giving 'facts', like "Arctic Terns can be seen in Britain on migration but none breed in the country, they all breed much further north". I have no problem with guides occasionally misidentifying something (if it's an easily made mistake), but some facts that you hear given incorrectly can be easily learnt from a book before you start giving tours with very minimal effort!

IMO the most ignorant people are the ones who DO know what they are looking at, but prefer to sit back and 'snigger' at people making mistakes (in a hide for example) rather than using their knowlege to help others learn. (Note- this IS NOT a dig at anyone who has posted here, who I'm sure are all happy to help others learn!)

Anyway, I'll end a long(ish) post with one example...
People frequently report 'Bitterns' to the volunteers at the Lee Valley Bittern Watchpoint which are quite clearly Great Crested Grebes when they describe them (often young ones still with stripy heads). They know that there are Bitterns in the area, and think that the grebes look like the large painted woodern Bittern on the back of the hide (long, pointed bill and striped neck). Some stick to their ID even after being shown pictures of both grebes and bitterns and having the differences explained ("It was DEFINITELY a Bittern, I saw it quite clearly swimming along the river!") - sometimes I think that they are just too ebarassed to admit that they made a mistake!

[caernerch]

a lady in scotland saw me dressed up in my cam suit, carrying scope and bins
and, having correctly identified me as a birdwatcher, she informed me that she had just seen a puffin with a carrot in its beak - on cairngorm???? (no prizes for guessing what it really was).

another on my local patch (merseyside), this time she was carrying bins and a field guide, was adamant that she had just seen a wryneck and a red grouse (sky lark & partridge)

caernerch

[Cowgirl]

My ma-in-law (who's a bit more on fullers earth rather than this one) once got very excited and while looking out our window shouted "ooh look a peacock, isn't he handsome?" (Now I will interject & say this was possible as an estate next door kept peacocks & they did wander about.) However when we looked out it was a male pheasant (albeit very handsome in the sun)! Husband banished me from the room