Who did you see at the Bird Fair?
Here are five lists of my sightings:
- People who I saw and spoke to properly (an incomplete list – partly because I can’t remember everyone and partly to preserve others’ career prospects if speaking to me might endanger them):
- Lord (John) Randall – birder, former MP, former RSPB Council member and No 10 Environment policy advisor
- Elliot Morley – birder, former environment/agriculture minister
- Vicky Woodgate, writer and illustrator
- Patrick Barkham, journalist and author
- Mike Clarke – RSPB CEO
- Chris Packham – organiser of Walk for Wildlife on 22 September 2018
- the folk from BAWC
- Rob Sheldon, OSME and blogger
- Chris Perrins, scientist and author
- Ian Newton, scientist and author
- Tim Birkhead, scientist and author
- Simon and Niki of Inglorious Bustards
- the great DIM (Ian) Wallace – artist and birder
- Ben Reeve, one of the dream team of BTO regional organisers in Northants
- Iolo Williams, broadcaster, heartthrob and comedian
- Dominic, Rebecca, Heather, Josh and Mike from Birdwatch
- Tessa Boase – author
- Bill Thompson III, Bird Watchers’ Digest
- Jon Dunn, author and birder (first time we’ve met after much electronic correspondence over the years)
- Anneliese Emmans Deane, author and performer
- Matt Shardlow, CEO Buglife
- the British Wildlife team
- David Lindo, the uban birder
- Mark Carwardine, marine expert, author
- Dick Forsman – a lifer for me! Raptor expert and more, who described the state of raptors in the UK to me as ‘a national disgrace’.
2. People I saw but didn’t get to talk to:
- Ruth Miller and Alan Davis, Birdwatching Trips
- Jessie Barry, Cornell Lab
- John Riutta, the Well-read Naturalist
- John Burton, World Land Trust
- Dan Bradbury, World Land Trust
- Roger Riddington, British Birds
- James Robinson, WWT
- Ed Hutchings, writer and petitioner
- Mike Dilger, TV personality and good bloke
- Amy-Jane Beer, writer
- Charlie Moores, podcaster and more
- Mike Rands, former CEO BirdLife International
- Kevin Cox, RSPB Chair
3. People who I think were at Bird Fair but I never even saw them
- Sir John Lister-Kaye, author etc
- Kerry McCarthy, MP
- Debbie Pain, conservationist and scientist
- Mary Colwell, Curlew advocate
- Nick Baker, off the tele
- Bill Oddie, birder and Goodie
- Mark Constantine, LUSH and the Sound Approach
- Plantlife, back after a few years’ break and I hadn’t realised they were present
4. People I sometimes see at Bird Fair but didn’t see this time – were they there?
- Steph Hilborne, CEO of the Wildlife Trusts
- Christopher Price, from CLA
- Barbara Young, baroness
- Lee Evans
5. People I saw who don’t quite fit into any of the above categories:
- Philip Merricks, Hawk and Owl Trust
- Keith Cowieson, CEO of Songbird Survival
Surprised that Merricks and Cowieson dare show their faces amongst knowledgeable “normal birders” one because HOT have become an arm of the CLA and the other because they are a front for predator haters.
Having been at the Bird Fair for most of the last twenty or more years, the comment above from Paul Irving is surprising. I go to the Bird Fair as I’m interested in birds, as I manage two National Nature Reserves and as I chair the Hawk and Owl Trust. It might be worth reminding Mr Irving and your readers that the strapline of the H&OT is “Working for wild birds of prey and their habitats”. There can be little doubt that working with and engaging positively with those who own and manage the overwhelming majority of raptor habitats – ie farmers and landowners, whilst at the same time condemning those who break the law, is the best way to create a better future for birds of prey.
Nigel Middleton was the reason we joined HOT many many years ago.
You are the reason we left.