01 May
A clear sky and temperatures reaching 17.1°C (12:42 PM) nearly made the weather ideal for my bog hill trip, if it wouldn't have been for the weak to strong winds. There also was another issue that prompted me to cancel the trip just after I started to monitor the first butterflies.
+-------------------------+---------------------------------+--------+ | Species | Location | Status | +-------------------------+---------------------------------|--------+ | Aglais io | FFH "Bog Hill" | Adult | |-------------------------|---------------------------------|--------| | Anthocharis cardamines | FFH "Bog Hill" | Adult | |-------------------------|---------------------------------|--------| | Issoria lathonia | FFH "Bog Hill" | Adult | |-------------------------|---------------------------------|–-------| | Pieris napi | FFH "Bog Hill" | Adult | +-------------------------+---------------------------------+--------+
I decided to check my main zones where the winds were noticeably calmer, however this was hardly any less hectic.
+-------------------------+---------------------------------+--------+ | Species | Location | Status | +-------------------------+---------------------------------|--------+ | Aglais io | Zone I / II / III | Adult | |-------------------------|---------------------------------|--------| | Anthocharis cardamines | Zone I / II / III | Adult | | | | / Eggs | |-------------------------|---------------------------------|--------| | Araschnia levana | Zone II | Adult | |-------------------------|–--------------------------------|–-------| | Gonepteryx rhamni | Zone II | Adult | |–------------------------|–--------------------------------|–-------| | Issoria lathonia | Zone II | Adult | |-------------------------|---------------------------------|–-------| | Pieris brassicae | Zone II | Adult | |-------------------------|–--------------------------------|–-------| | Pieris napi | Zone I / II | Adult | |–------------------------|–--------------------------------|–-------| | Polyommatus bellargus | Zone II | Adult | |-------------------------|---------------------------------|–-------| | Pyrgus malvae | Zone I / III | Adult | |-------------------------|–--------------------------------|–-------| |–------------------------|–--------------------------------|–-------| | Pyrrhosoma nymphula | Zone II | Adult | +-------------------------+---------------------------------+--------+
While I was slightly relieved to finally spot a P. nymphula and rather surprised to see a P. bellargus while P. icarus remains absent, what made both trips much less pleasant and calm than usual was the sheer amount of tourists everywhere. While my main route saw a group of cyclists, people letting their dogs roam free, mothers with perpetually crying babies or a car almost every three minutes, some tourists from Mainz drove all the way from Rhineland-Palantine to the bog hill to illegally map plants for some app, parking their car next to the path leading to the hill.
There's hardly any doubt about electric bicycles in particular not doing anything to mitigate climate change but no one talks about how communities such as iNaturalist and observations.org and apps such as Flora Incognita do not contribute to the pandemic of "nature deficit disorder" (or significantly change the sheer lack of knowledge in regards to plants, animals and other organisms) – those "citizen science" projects just gamified the process of collecting data on behalf of paid researchers and all of those apps and websites actively reward power users traveling to as many countries as possible to collect as many observations as possible. There already have been some rare reports buried within forums about some users violating multiple laws and outright chasing wild animals just to boost their own stats on iNaturalist [1], however the community behind this site in particular admitted that they wouldn't contribute nearly as much if it weren't for "gamification", also highlighting that actually learning about nature is much less important to them than reaching some goals to merely be proud of themselves [2]. Those people only like "nature" as a concept to enhance their social status online [3]:
A thought-provoking paper by Soledad Altrudi published last year examined how well iNaturalist achieved these aims. Through a series of interviews the author reveals a complex picture. While some users find the app has enhanced their understanding of their natural world, many others admit to increasingly relying on the app to identify their specimens rather than studying them themselves, and to focusing on getting photos that will garner them attention from other users, rather than on improving their understanding of their environment. Getting a photo and a name is the aim. The app, rather than acting as a portal to learning about the organism, is a barrier.
I left the bog hill just when I spotted two people photographing plants with their phones to not disturb the area any further but I'm among the very few people that take something like this into account. Reading through various discussions online where urban hobbyists already consider their own local laws "too complex" makes me even more furious because those same people want to be viewed as "experts" online. I'll try to pick another date for a proper bog hill trip, though it will clash with my ongoing renovations and my planned spring trip to the Meisel – and right now all animals need to calm down from the sudden wave of tourists, anyway.
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[1]
"Discourage and report illegal practices" (iNaturalist Forum)
[2]
"How much do you “gamify” iNaturalist?" (iNaturalist Forum)
[3]
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