I’ve never been to Fair Isle, and maybe I never will, but I care about it because of its place in British birding – both recreational and that verging on the much more scientific. See David Parkin’s guest blog about his Fair Isle memories – click here.
Many charities have fallen on hard times because of COVID but Fair Isle had a disastrous fire in 2019 which necessitates the rebuilding the observatory – not easy in a time of COVID and not cheap on a remote rock at any time.
The Warden and the Observatory’s administrator (David and Susannah Parnaby) have been made redundant and the Observatory is appealing for funds to get back on its feet again.
There are various ways that you could help from becoming a ‘Freind’ through which you get an annual bird report and a couple of newsletters for £15pa (seems too cheap to me – they should put the price up – but you can always contribute more) to a straight donation by various methods – click here for details of how you can help.
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A lot of charities have seen their income rise during covid actually (despite their fears), mostly as one-off gifts. (Though admin of legacies was slow, so a temporary drop there).
People whose jobs carried on were spending less than usual in lockdown I suppose, and were reminded of the value voluntary groups provide.
If the economy tanks in the next year or two the situation may become very different of course.