Although it’s all over (all over bar the fundraising actually!), over the next few days I will be blogging ‘as-live’ on the Champions of the Flyway event I attended in Eilat Israel. ‘As live’ means I will write about each day as though it has just happened and without telling you anything about the events later in the trip.
Day 1 – Friday 25 March
I suppose my first Champions of the Flyway 2016 (COTF2016) day started in a car on the M25 travelling at least at 70mph at midnight. I had just given talks in Devon (Wednesday evening) and Somerset (Thursday evening) and I left the Taunton area at 10pm to drive to Luton airport to get a few hours sleep before getting a flight to Tel-Aviv.
At the airport I met up with two of my three team members (the Birdwatch-Birdguides Roadrunners); Captain David Callahan and Mike Alibone. We all knew each other a bit, but not well, and so part of the next few days until the bird race itself on Tuesday (my birthday) would be about getting to know each other. Our fourth team member, Andy Clements from the BTO, was already out in Eilat.
I was wearing my Hen Harrier Day 2014 T-shirt (spreading the word) and someone on the flight asked if I had gone to the event. I said I had, and that I’d been involved in organising it and then we had a chat about Hen Harriers and their persecution. The e-petition to ban driven grouse shooting had passed 10,000 signatures just yesterday and just before I spoke to the Somerset Ornithological Society.
At Tel-Aviv airport we met more birders heading for COTF2016 including American Tom Reed who was to travel with David, Mike and me on our journey south the next day. We were scattered across different hotels, we had to pick up our hire car and by now we were feeling tired and hungry. But we kept meeting birders and so we had a wonderful buffet meal in a hotel overlooking the Mediterranean sea, talking about what the next few days had in store before getting some proper sleep.
This was the end of Good Friday and I had spent its evening in Israel.
This was to be my first visit to the Middle East.
The event is over – but the cause goes on! Please consider topping up our fundraising pot here. Thank you for all contributions.
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“Spell-binding talk by Mark Avery at Ruishton village hall ”
Quote I found on internet!