This Saturday will see an online Hen Harrier Day like no other.
Hosted by Chris Packham and Megan McCubbin, the team that brought you a new, and many say improved, Springwatch, it will have some things and people old and some new, some things borrowed and some things blue, or at least blue-grey.
I don’t know much more of the details than you do at this stage but the anonymous postcard auction, see here, is pretty impressive and I’ve got my eye on a couple of lots – or three, or more. There are over 70 lots from which to choose.
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I will be on line for this important event. Looking forward to it.
I think when people start show-casing family members as part of their presentations it lessens their authority and credibility. I’m afraid I found much of Springwatch tedious to the point of turn off.
Agree, Sandra. And every time any wildlife presenter says ‘wow’ they should be docked at least ten percent of their fee.
Austringer – Wow! Really?
Yes, really. That and the dreaded rising inflection are constant irritants in modern television presenters. Listen to Attenborough and learn how it should be done. Old fashioned, I know. So be it.
Good to see the potential this year for reaching so many maybe new people. Reading the details here reminded me to make my donation (now done) to the Langholm Moor community buyout project. I think such initiatives, to inform what driven grouse shooting uplands could actually look like, are vital.
Thank you Mark for mentioning the auction, we are really proud to be supporting Hen Harrier Day again this year.
As the auction is anonymous we cant reveal who has created each piece but we can tell you that we have had some well known names contribute their time to help us: Gill Lewis, Pippa Pixley, Esther Tyson, Dan Powell, Claire Blank, Cathy Fisher, Barry Robson and Axel Scheffler to name abut a few!
I’m really looking forward to the online event too.
In addition to the art auction, Derbyshire Wildlife Trust has set up two Hen Harrier Day-related webinars on Thursday this week (6th).
The afternoon webinar is aimed at families and children and focuses on the hen harrier, its ecology and habitat without dwelling much on persecution.
The evening one, which features Mark Thomas (RSPB) and Tim Birch (DWT) and is hosted by Mark Cocker, is entirely about raptor persecution in the uplands.
For details of how to register (both are free) go to
https://www.derbyshirewildlifetrust.org.uk/hen-harrier-day .
Thank you Mark. It’s really exciting to be involved with an event which is drawing in communities from across the UK. The event will have songs, poems, short films made by young producers, some of our brilliant young ‘ambassadors’, some fantastic street art and much more. As well, of course, as some fantastic presenters and great new footage of hen harriers and more. Big thanks to the hundreds of people who are contributing.
And here is one place to say a special thank-you to Derbyshire Wildlife Trust. They have been brilliant partners, offering help and support far beyond the auction and webinars mentioned by Di and Nick. The secret postcard auction is brilliant, put together like much else at very short notice and it’s got some really fine pieces – as well as a few quirky ones. There’s a direct link to the auction site here: https://bit.ly/3gmZZ5a and there is one for the webinars in Nick’s comment above. Thank you DWT!