Starsphinx

Yes same here. If when they are chased they still only have to pay what they would have done in the first place without any compensation or fine or loss of account facilities why not risk it - which is a bad business model.

Just an update I have had a reply back to the email saying it is being passed on to the billing department, which is good news.

Thanks guys - good to know. We will see what happens.

Thanks. Kind of annoying as once again we are talking a national news title here - and the amount may be peanuts to them but the smaller amount I make from it is important to me.

I have just emailed contributors @ alamy regards an undeclared use and a couple of licence issues through live news back in December - having given it the four months. I got an auto response about "may not be able to respond to email due to corona". Is there a different email I should be trying or is it just wait however long it takes to get back to some sort of normality and email the problem again?

I was put onto a Facebook group specialising in identification of plants in the UK by a friend . My bush thingy is a Japanese red cedar Cryptomeria elegans. For any other UK who find themselves in need of plant ID the group is https://www.facebook.com/groups/586029354781067/

Not sure I am brave enough - and the property has sold at least once as it is a village I regularly drive through and I sort of pay passing attention to "for sale" signs. Looks like an alley worth exploring - although a search for Juniperus communis macro throws up images of everything from scaley type leaves through to an image of a yew branch with a berry - and I know what yew looks like. Thank your for the communis suggestion, just juniper was too large and imprecise.

What about the "Polo Sharpshots" range? 😈

I must admit I have given up for the day. I cannot find anything close enough to put me on the scent. I dont think it is a particularly unusual or rare thing in my area - one of those that I see all over the place and dont realise how little I know about it until I take its picture and try and identify it.

Zoos, safari parks, game reservers etc can all vary from total extremes and I do not think there is anyway to say that as a whole they are or are not ethical because some are and some are not. A lot of establishments now have exhibits purely from "pet" rescues or illegal smuggling. These animals often have issues from their previous situation that require a lot of specialist care. They cannot be released to the wild so the option is put them down or put them in zoos that are experts at rehabilitation. If you visit a zoo that tells you there is no guarantee you will see any animal because all the animals have access to large private areas, if that zoo is getting breeding results in rare species, and if the animals are long lived then I think that is the best place such animals can be - and totally beats putting animals down because idiot humans screwed them over in the first place. It might not be the wilds but it is still a good result.

My bad. Been back out and looked - it is a tree with a trunk about 10 to 12 ft high. Foliage does well cover it and the bottom is behind a wall . I will look at larch species and see if something comes up. Amazing what we dont see when we are not properly looking

Bush is probably 6 to 8 ft, this is one of those guilty spontaneous shots where I was so fascinated by the texture I totally forgot to get reference shots to help with identification. It was taken last week on the 13th. Edit - definitely a bush not a tree, a roundish hump with the foliage extending to the floor. I have seen similar used in hedges. It is a village near me so I may have to go back and get better wider angle shots

I am really stuck on this one - I cannot even identify what family this is I cannot tell if it is a conifer or something else. Image search results in "grass" which is not helpful

The thing that gets me with the whole "could be DWP(DSS), private investigator, creepy stalker *insert nefarious possibility here*" crowd is that if someone is doing covert shots they are going to be using much less obvious gear. For legal purposes, say an investigator for the DWP(DSS) or a private investigator gathering evidence, the image does not have to be pin sharp noiseless to the same degree as stock and totally acceptable images can be (and are) taken with pocket point and shoots or phones which many people are blind to being used now. There seems to be a distinct lack of thought in the "Tackle the person with the really obvious gear who is the least likely to be doing something questionable" attitude.

If Alamy had not cut the the rates I would have continued only submitting to Alamy - in effect been exclusive. Their change resulted in me changing my behaviour which benefited me.