Day 1 of the Bird Fair just flew past – and much of it went more or less to plan.
Gave away my spare 3-day ticket (with the plea that the recipient spent some money on the BAWC stand) TICK!
Queued in the car but not at the gate – excellent! TICK!!
Found Ruth Miller and gave her some cash – TICK!!
Dropped something off for Mr Betton at ABC stand – TICK!!
Dropped by Birding for All and World Land Trust stands (it helps they are next to each other) – TICK!!
Took some (quite bad) photos for this blog – TICK!!
Drank beer – kindly bought for me by a representative of a land-owning organisation – TICK!!
Had lots of chats with lots of really nice people – some planned many unplanned. Learned a few secrets – always fun. TICK!!
Didn’t really see any birds – although at my first Bird Fair the sight of a Little Egret flying over fields south of Rutland Water would have been remarkable.
Didn’t see Chris Packham – one for tomorrow.
Did go to Arjan Dwarhuis’s 6000 birds in a year talk – or most of it. I’m pretty sure he missed some out.
Failed to go to Stuart Housden’s or Guy Anderson’s talks – my loss.
Was part of a wildlife and politics discussion which was packed with 600 people – they were all Mike Dilger fans!
We had a pretty good chat but, for me, the remarkable thing was that 600 people turned out for a talk with politics in its title – Bird Fair isn’t losing any of its birds and birding content but is adding a greater conservation and political flavour.
A bit later in the afternoon I attended the Brexit discussion – that was very good, and also well-attended, with Andy Clements, Philip Lymbery, Stephanie Hilborne and Chris Rose making some excellent points.
I didn’t get to Conserving Critical Critters or the RSPB Birders’ lecture but I did have a lot of fun and was home by soon after 6pm and opening a bottle of wine.
And for those of you who have enjoyed their singing at Rainham Hen Harrier days – Peregrina enchantica were also present – excellent!
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Had a great day at the Birdfair. Bought a puffin print by Alison Ingram, a calendar from Cary Ackroyd and a few other things. Planned a few exotic holidays. Spotted you at a distance deep in discussion with somebody near the food stalls. Food was a bit on the expensive side, but then it usually is. Six hours in the car but well worth it.
Paul – 6 hours in the car! You need to move house 😉
Glad you had a good time. Three days of good time can be gruelling but I’m up for it.
We spent a large part of the day looking at exotic holidays and works of art that we could never afford yet thought the food pricing was reasonable and is entirely in line with large events such as the cricket. Food quality and value in the local produce section was excellent and there were many freebie samples on offer across the site.
Good to see you first thing this morning Mark. Just back to our B&B at 1030pm after an excellent final debate chaired by Dominic Dyer and with Chris Packham and other great contributors. Most of the day spent in the lecture marquees, how the political atmosphere of Birdfair has changed!
I though the conservation organisations seemed lower-key that in recent years, and the tours more ever-present. Highlights – a great talk on sound recording night migration in Dorset, Calamari & chips and catching up with several colleagues, including the Inglorius Bustards. My Friday mornings at Bird fair are always littered with meetings planned, afternoons for me. Low-lights – lagoon almost wader free but heavy with Crassula, queue into carpark seems unnecessary and the traffic home to Cambridge was absolutely rubbish (not the fault of birdfair at all). Bought too many books (incl Sparkle jar), renewed Birdlife Malta membership, all done and dusted. Will probably miss next year.
A big thank you- have just ‘found’ Peregrina EnChantica – right up my street!