My first visit to Bird Fair 2017

Date:  19 August 2017

Location:  BirdFair, Rutland Nature Reserve

I only discovered there was a Birdfair a few years ago and since then I have been eager to see what all the fuss was about. Renowned as the Glastonbury for birders we almost didn't go this year, but a last minute change of plans saw us travelling up to Leicester to attend the great event.

Seeing we were only attending the day (and not the whole weekend) we decided to try and do as much as possible; including a cruise with Simon King. Unfortunately the evening cruise was full so we had to attend the 6am one, this ment getting up at 3.30am and travel from our Coventry hotel to get to Rutland in time.

The harbour was pretty easy to find and we were relieved the weather was nice, infact there wasn't a cloud in the sky - great conditions to spot ospreys :)

Here are some pics from the cruise:

The Rutland Belle with the sun rising behind

Simon King spotting ospreys!

Common Tern

A gulp of cormorants!

Amazing Osprey taken pic by Dan

Dan, myself & Simon King aboard the Rutland Belle

The lovely message Simon wrote in my birding notebook. 

"Lovely to have shared Rutland & the ospreys with you" Simon King

What a fantastic start to the day and we managed to spot several Ospreys! After the cruise we headed over to the main Birdfair event. We had no problem parking, grabbed some breakfast in the shape of croissants and orange juice (we had brought with us) and then excitingly headed into Birdfair 2017. All I can say is WOW, we looked at the event map and realised there was so much to see. So with limit time we set ourselves a sort of to-do list:

• Attend Chris Packham's bird crime lecture
• Go to the BTO tent to see them ringing birds
• Meet David Lindo, Bill Oddie & Chris Packham
• Check out the Art Marquee
• ...have fun!

I am pleased to report we did all these things and more, here are some pics from the great day...

Chris Packham leads the talk on 'Tales from the Frontline of Conservation' - an excellent report on wildlife crime in Malta, Cyprus and the UK. The footage and stats were heartbreaking and all bird lover needs to make a stand against this slaughter of our wild birds. 

Chris gave us some Twitter accounts to contact, here they are on the screen.

All the heroes on stage: as well as Chris Packham, there's Ruth Tingay, Ruth Peacey,
staff from Birdlife Malta/Committee Against Bird Slaughter and Mark Avery

Below is an excellent video from Chris Packham's You Tube channel on the bird crime in Cyrpus. Some clips from this video were shown at the event and I encourage you to watch it to see the horrific reality these birds are enduring as we speak. 

After the presentation I felt quite emotional, not only for the torture these birds are going through but the pure heroes these people are in all what they do for the protection of birds. This was my first ever lecture I attended at Birdfair and was so pleased I was able to witness it.

After this we decided to check out the BTO stand where they were ringing birds. There was quite a few people around the stand but we still got a pretty good view. As we waited for the next bird to be revealed a voice came over the tanoid saying the BTO stand was about to reveal something special...

The big reveal...what is the bird going to be?

Unbelievable! It's a sparrowhawk! WOW, what a stunning bird! She was a bit feisty with incredibly sharp claws, but still got ringed, weight, examined and then let free. What a treat!

The next bird was equally as feisty but just a little bit smaller: the adorable blue tit

After spending over half an hour at the BTO stand we decided to have a stroll around all the marquees. With so many different stands it was hard to choose which ones to go to: cameras, optics, charities, wildlife holidays, art, local produce, clothes, books. The art marquee was very inspiring and there were a few artist in that really caught my eye.

Everyone seemed so friendly and we talked to so many people. I even met my Facebook friend Stuart Pike whilst visiting the League Against Cruel Sports stall - it was great to finally met him and his partner Majella in person. The celebrities were lovely too, Bill Oddie signed my birding book and we all had a chat about bridge cameras - a legend! 

Meeting Bill Oddie - what a lovely chat, we talked about bridge cameras and he signed my birder book :)

At the RSPB stall...here is Dan sporting a rather fetching puffin hat and I am a Roseate tern (complete with sand eels!)

Dan tries some virtual reality discovering puffins and terns on Coquet Island with the RSPB

The icing on the cake though was to finally meet my wildlife hero Chris Packham - he was signing his book so i queued up to meet him. What a gentleman, firstly he signed my copy of 'Fingers in the Sparkle Jar' and also my personal birding book. I explained I was doing the #My200BirdYear but was starting to struggle. He was so encouraging and said there was plenty of time with the winter birds due in the coming months and that I could definitely hit the 200 mark! He then took time to have a pic with Dan and myself. A experience I will never forget :) Thank you Chris!

The legend Chris Packham. I have so much admiration for this man, an inspiration to us all.
Dan and I so honoured to meet him

About to sign my copy of  'Fingers in the Sparkle Jar' book

The inspiring autograph and message (on the first page of my birding book) I will cherish all my life x

"Good luck with the 200!!!" Chris Packham

The day was coming to an end and we were starting to flag a little so we decided it was time to say goodbye to Birdfair. Before we went we managed to get one last pic with The Urban Birder - David Lindo. A great guy who knew where Swansea was (where he had actually been birding!). He signed a book for us and happily posed for a pic. 

Dan, David Lindo and myself

So this was the end of our Birdfair experience and even though we were only there for a day we thoroughly enjoyed it and got to do and see so much. We will definitely be back next year, but this time we will plan to go for the whole weekend and make sure we get to see all the lectures we want to see. After Birdfair we decided to go to a different part of the Rutland Nature reserve - Lyndon.

Lyndon Nature Reserve coming very soon...

Day 7 - 30 Days Wild - Lunchtime Safari

* Today's random act of wildness - Lunchtime Safari *

After reading Chris Packham's 'Wild Side of Town' it encouraged me to go and look around the City of Swansea for wildlife for my lunch break. It's quite a busy city, so I was so please with what I found within the hour...

Herring Gull on top of car park lights

Goldfinch fledgling in the car parks trees

Another goldfinch fledgling in the trees

Male Goldfinch 

Male goldfinch

Female sparrow

Carrion crow on a street light

Carrion Crow just a few feet away

Lots of feral pigeons...

...and some more!

Jackdaw contemplating whether it likes this piece of sponge cake

Back in the office Wildling checking out for seagulls

It's also my sister's birthday today, so happy birthday June - Some more good news is my local Swan's cygnets hatched today, they still on the nest so we don't know how many there are - Here's a pic of them last year from 30 Days wild - Day 14!

Day 6 - 30 Days Wild - Reading a wild book in the rain!

* Today's random act of wildness - Read a nature book *

Not a very 'wild' day today, but did manage to catch up with recording my painted lady butterfly sighting from yesterday on the butterfly-conservation.org website - it's important recording wildlife, so organisations like this can keep track on numbers and monitor the impact of climate change.

After work I sat out the garden (with Wildling) and enjoyed reading Chris Packham's 'Wild Side Of Town' book. It's a great book for someone like me who lives in a pretty built up urban area.

First published in 2007, this edition is a 2015 revised version and Chris introduces you to the various habitats literally on your doorstep. He explores the urban jungle and forcuses on the wildlife found in parks and gardens. Full of interesting facts and tips on where and when to find wildlife. It also has a handy guide to some of the Wildlife Trust Nature Reserves in Great Britain and a field guide highlighting the different species you can find without looking too hard.

The book is inspiring and if the weather is nice tomorrow lunchtime I am going into Swansea's City Centre to see what Urban wildlife I can find.

I love this book, beautiful photos, humorous and very helpful - I recommended to everyone who loves wildlife and nature :)

We also had a storm last night and our first bit of rain for days, I was trying to get a photo or video of lightning, but all I could hear was the thunder. Hopefully it will clear the air and tomorrow won't feel too muggy. I do love a storm though, but pity all the little fledglings that are leaving their nests for the first time - Stay safe little ones x