If, for the sake of argument, a rare bird was found injured and rehabilitated within GM and a release was arranged for somewhere with lots of easy bus/rail access and good parking and the money was for charity - I'd happily pay £10 for a "life tick".

£10 to run into and out of the "Lost Gardens ..." was taking the, well you know.
I'm sure if the price for a run in and out was £2.50 many many more would have paid up to see the bird on the way to and from Scilly this year.

Mark,

I agree that £10 on top of a tank of petrol is small change really, but if it was within our County boundaries one would probably not have spent that much in getting there. So would people splash out more than £10? It could set a dangerous precedent. I've got to say that at the moment I might pay someone to smuggle some rarity into G.M. and still pay for the privilege of seeing it as well!! On second thoughts, I'll just find my own

£10 is small change compared to the price of the petrol/diesel it normally takes to get you there!

I coughed up to see the Green Heron last week so would happily do it again for a lifer and particularly for such a charasmatic and rare bird. Completely hypothetically speaking (of course, this is GM! ), if something like this was present close to home and a similar price asked for it would be seriously hard to resist! In the case of 'the Lost Gardens of Heligan' in Cornwall some of that money is being used to directly conserve great habitat and species too which is a real bonus.
Thanks. Henry.

-- Edited by Henry Cook on Saturday 16th of October 2010 06:27:46 PM

O.k. you well-heeled twitchers; hand over your money!! I'm sure you're all chewing the covers of 'Rare Birds in Britain' as you try to suppress your twitchy tendencies and put thoughts of the Green Heron in Cornwall to the back of your over excited minds. But say one, or something like it, did appear in Greater Manchester! What would you pay to see it? I'm putting this hypothetical scenario forward because, as some of you will no doubt know, the cost of seeing the heron in Cornwall is £10, i.e. the entrance fee to Heligan gardens. Now I know we don't have anything similar in G.M., but say something turned up in a farmers field out of sight of any public footpath or road, just how high would you go to see, let's say, a rustic bunting? I can almost envisage the rush towards such a site, binoculars in one hand, chequebook in the other. But what price would NOT be right? NOTE: Lynching the farmer would not be allowed as a viable alternative!!