20 things you must do at the Bird Fair

Mark 18 Comments

 

Recognise anyone? Cartoon by Ralph Underhill @cartoonralph
Recognise anyone? Cartoon by Ralph Underhill @cartoonralph
  1. Buy a copy of A Message from Martha
  2. Miss the opening ceremony (it’s not exactly Danny Boyle) but if you find yourself waking up at the end of it then do stay for an interesting talk by Tristan Reid about running for Turtles Doves and some other bloke about a bird that’s been extinct for very nearly a century
  3. Buy a raffle ticket from Birding for All
  4. Visit some non-birdy stands – Butterfly Conservation, Plantlife, LACS, British Dragonfly Society, Buglife and some others too
  5. Read the programme so that you don’t go ‘Damn, I’ve missed it‘
  6. Subscribe to Birdwatch – the magazine that supported Hen Harrier Day
  7. Drink some beer
  8. Have an ice-cream
  9. See a 6ft tall Hen Harrier
  10. See a 5ft 2in tall ginger-headed boy who made a 6ft tall Hen Harrier
  11. Tell Carry Akroyd that she is responsible for two of the very best book jackets of the year; A Message from Martha and Tweet of the Day
  12. Tell Martin Davies that it won’t be the same next year without him – after 26 years of co-organising the Bird Fair
  13. Look up occasionally and see how many birds of prey you can see over the three days
  14. Visit the BTO stand and tell them that the Atlas was wonderful, Birdtrack is wonderful, the Cuckoo project is wonderful and they are all rather wonderful
  15. Visit the Cornell Lab of Ornithology stand – they may talk in a slightly odd accent but they know their birds, and actually, they know your birds too!
  16. See how many points you can get over the three days by spotting (one point each) the following: Chris Packham, Tim Appleton, Mike Clarke, Stephanie Hilborne, Mike Dilger, David Lindo, Bill Oddie, Martin Warren, Matt Shardlow, Martin Davies, Richard Porter, Findlay Wilde, Stephen Moss, Conor Jameson, Andy Clements, Ed Drewitt, Ieuan Evans, Debbie Pain, Ian Wallace, Ian Newton.
  17. Visit the Birdlife Malta stand and ask them how you can help
  18. Go to Bird Brain of Britain and pretend you knew all the answers (Saturday 3pm)
  19. Have another ice-cream?
  20. You did get that copy of A Message from Martha didn’t you?

Martha ends

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18 Replies to “20 things you must do at the Bird Fair”

  1. 21. Visit the BirdLife International stand and get your photo taken with a large vulture

    1. Findlay – I bet you are no more excited about it than I am! I’m just a 6ft 3in kid, really!

      I’ll be looking out for you all – all five of you.

      weather forecast is not perfect – but it’s got to be better than last Sunday, hasn’t it?

    2. Wish I was going to Birdfair and I could say hello to you, Findlay. Just a thought but has it occurred to you that you could make yourself more easily recognisable, perhaps by dying your hair a distinctive colour… 😉

    1. Richard – I’ll be wearing mine and there will be one as a prize in the raffle referred to in #3

  4. My granddaughter still hasn’t forgotten the day you advised her to do numbers 8 and 19 (and that granddad would pay). I am bringing 2 grandchildren this year so that makes it doubly expensive.

    1. Bob – hee! hee! Hope you have some cash left over for numbers 1 & 20! And hope to see you there!

  5. Sorry not to be at Birdfair this year, will be on our honeymoon sailing from Padstow to Milford Haven, should see some good sea life tho in the Bristol Channel, will try to post a pic or 2 . Have a great BF14 🙂

  6. 21. See a Hookpod on the RSPB stall the latest of many ingenious inventions saving the albatrosses 🙂

  7. Wow thanks Mark, it’s my first Birdfair so I ‘m
    Really looking forward to it. Thanks for sharing
    🙂

    1. Sue – I hope you enjoy it. It’s probably bigger than you think – so a bit of planning (with the programme and/or website) won’t go amiss. Expect to get too hot, too cold and too wet all on the same day – it is summer in England after all. And bring your binoculars too – it is a nature reserve!

  9. Enter lots of raffles – it really is possible to win (I did, and am still happily using the binoculars!)

  10. We will be wearing our HH t shirts too. They have been hanging on the line all week. I hope they are dry!!

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