That’s exactly how I see it, but you put it far more eloquently than me.
Birders can be just as bad. Anywhere there is blanket legislation it becomes a game of top trumps, and associated ‘professional costs’
Take bracken control- only way is mechanical these days, and to be fair has been for a while on a lot of my work due to the landowners wishing to stay organic. That means three cuts throughout the growing season if you want to put it into remission. Trouble is, a nature reserve will normally be a a matrix of different habitats, including scrub. So there might be ground nesting things around. It’s probably only be a pheasant, but it might also be a nightjar.
So on one hand you’ve got the birders kicking off about that. But on the other hand, the habitat in question is the last refuge of a red list insect in the UK. And if you don’t control the bracken, it goes extinct. But birders can claim top trumps- it’s an absolute offence to disturb any nesting bird.
If it wasn’t for volunteer ornithologists and conservationists who tick the survey box each time we cut, either the work to save a species from extinction wouldn’t get done, or ‘professionals’ would be have to be engaged on the taxpayers pound. Charging more for strolling about with a clipboard than a contractor does for providing £60k of machinery.
I like the suggestion about using AI and a camera to count and identify bats. Something like that is needed to bring down costs if we as a society decide that bats are worthy of such veneration.
Don’t think I’m bashing conservation- it’s a mainstay of my work. The issue is the same as in many industries- gatekeeping and associated high costs being forced upon the rest of society by ill thought out legislation.
Whilst I’m at it- badgers. Should be on the general license. No shortage of the bastards, and if we really care about ground nesting birds they are a major source of predation. By all means make it a capital offence to engage in badger baiting- but if we can control foxes then why are badgers any different?