Birdfair 2016

We spent last weekend at the British Birdwatching Fair, generally referred to as ‘The Birdfair’ or simply ‘Birdfair’.  It’s one of the highlights of our year and we would hate to miss it.

As always, we were part of the Avian Adventures team, there to promote the company’s programme of birdwatching and wildlife holidays, some of which we expect to be leading in the months ahead.  Of course, we were also there to talk about birdwatching in the Algarve.

The Avian Adventures 2017 brochure

 On the Avian Adventures stand with Ray Tipper and Gerry Griffiths

Birdfair is held at Rutland Water and is jointly organised by the Leicestershire & Rutland Wildlife Trust and the RSPB.  It encompasses the whole spectrum of the birdwatching industry whilst at the same time supporting global bird conservation. This is the event of the year if you’re into birds and wildlife.
One of the main attractions of the Birdfair is the opportunity it gives us to meet up with the countless friends we have made over the years through birding, many of them from overseas.

Birdfair has raised astonishing amounts of money for a wide range of conservation projects (£320,000 in 2015).  This year’s beneficiary will be the national NGO Asity Madagascar, BirdLife in Madagascar, which has been working since 2005 to save Tsitongambarika Forest.  This forest was the subject of the Birdfair mural painted by various artists who were exhibiting their work in the Art Marquee.

Darren Rees working on the Birdfair mural

Birdfair can be a serious threat to the bank balance!  There are hundreds of stands selling the latest products for wildlife enthusiasts. From scopes to sculptures, binoculars to bird food, eGuides to eco-holidays, you can find almost anything you can think of.  Books tend to be Peter’s weakness, while June this year again came away with several items of clothing, mostly in her favourite colour – khaki!

Books - hard to resist!

A brand new book that seemed to be particularly well-received was Britain’s Birds: An Identification Guide to the Birds of Britain and Ireland, published by WILDGuides.  We haven’t always been keen on photographic guides but this one really is good with lots of useful text on identification features and there are surprisingly few missing species that will affect its use in Portugal.

Chris Packham was just one of several television presenters who were there, some giving talks, some signing books.  Chris took part in a well-attended debate about the issue of Hen Harrier persecution associated with driven grouse shooting and was promoting the petition that it is hoped will result in getting this subject a debate in Parliament.

Because we’re usually too busy talking, we don’t manage to find much time at the Birdfair for actual birdwatching.  We did see a Great Egret while trying out a Swarovski telescope but we can’t wait now to get back to some proper birdwatching in the Algarve. 

Birdfair 2015

Last weekend saw the 27th British Birdwatching Fair held at Rutland Water and as usual we were there!

Tim Appleton, co-founder of the event, reports another record attendance this year and almost certainly a record amount of money raised for conservation.

This year’s fundraising project was ‘Hope for migratory birds in the Eastern Mediterranean: action against illegal killing’. The aim of the project is to reduce the scale and impact of illegal killing of migratory birds, and to improve protection and laws throughout the region.

The recent publication by BirdLife International of a report on this issue has emphasised the need for some urgent action to be taken; it estimates that around 25 million birds are illegally killed annually in the Mediterranean area with Egypt, Italy, Syria, Lebanon, Cyprus, Greece and France topping the list of offending countries.

Patricia Zurita, CEO of BirdLife International

It is somewhat ironic that the first Birdfair in 1989 raised funds for the ‘Stop the Massacre’ campaign which focused on the killing of migrant birds in Malta. We don’t seem to have made much progress! Malta’s absence from the current list of worst offenders is simply a result of its small size.

What we all have to do!

We spent all three days on the Avian Adventures stand promoting the company’s programme of overseas birding and wildlife tours and also taking every opportunity to talk about the birds of the Algarve. It was great to meet so many people who have been birding with us in Portugal and elsewhere.

As well as being very enjoyable and tiring, being on a stand at the Birdfair can also be a frustrating experience. There are so many things to see, binoculars, telescopes and cameras to try out, books to browse, countless talks and presentations to go to, so many old friends to catch up with, celebrities to spot and there’s even a wonderful bird reserve! The problem is that we just don’t have enough free time to get around. The result is that we come away knowing that once again we have seen only a small fraction of who and what was there.

Chris Packham, Bill Oddie, Simon King, David Lindo, Nick Baker 

and Mike Dilger were among the celebs we identified

 We were in the same marquee as both Wildsounds and Subbuteo - very tempting!

 Marco and Paco from Cotinga Tours - they will be 

arranging our tour in Costa Rica next February

Our long-time friend Steve Cale was amongst the team of artists 

working on the traditional Birdfair mural

Guto Carvalho from Brazil was our new neighbour for three days in Marquee 3

One very obvious change this year from previous Birdfairs was the catering. A range of different outlets offered an excellent variety of foods and it was possible to get served rather quicker than previously. We heard some complaints about the prices and the lack of vegetarian options but most agreed that there was an overall improvement.

 Cook Street by MPM Catering

Beechdean Farmhouse Dairy Ice Cream - their 1953 Morris Commercial van started life as an ambulance

And so, we look forward to the next Birdfair - 19th to 21st August 2016. The dates are already in the diary and maybe we should plan to have half a day off the stand!

Birdfair 2014

We’ve just enjoyed another great weekend at the British Birdwatching Fair at Rutland Water, three days of talking birds, travel and photography with a bit of cricket and football on the side!

As usual we were on the Avian Adventures stand promoting tours all over the world but there were plenty of opportunities to talk about the Algarve ("lots of birds and sunshine and less than three hours away from most regional airports in the UK")!

It was really nice to meet up again with so many friends, a great number of them, like Mavourneen Pearce (above), from overseas.  We re-lived quite a few past birding trips but also made plans for several more in the next few months.

The cover of the Avian Adventures brochure for 2015 features a Collared Araçari photographed in Honduras by James Adams.  Here Gerry Griffiths drinks a toast with James to the success of next year’s tour there.  See here for details!

We were in Marquee 3, seen here during a relatively quiet moment late on Sunday afternoon.

At the 2011 Birdfair we sponsored the BTO’s satellite-tagged Cuckoo, Chris, not realising at the time that it was named after Chris Packham.  Anyway, it proved to be a good choice as Chris is the only one of that year’s Cuckoos still to be transmitting.  Chris is currently in Italy on the way back to spend the winter in Africa and we have our fingers crossed for his continued survival.  It’s great that our stand in Marquee 3 is directly opposite that of the BTO as it gives us the chance to pop across during any quiet moments to talk to their staff who are working on projects such as this.

It looks as though June is about to be attacked by Findlay Wilde's Hen Harrier!  There were frequent reminders of last week’s Hen Harrier Day and if you haven’t already signed Mark Avery’s petition, you really should.  It's good to see that well over 15,000 people have so far signed.

Television presenter and President of the BTO, Chris Packham, has been a great supporter of the Hen Harrier campaign; he signed countless copies of his latest book.

The SPEA stand was one of several promoting Portugal and its birds.  Currently SPEA is mounting a campaign against the illegal trapping of birds, which is becoming an increasing problem in Portugal.  Details of how you might make a donation to help with this campaign can be found here.

Amy and Sering Bojang enjoying a joke with Neil Glenn - Sering’s combination of rubber boots and sunglasses rather summed up the weekend weather.  Neil was much involved in collecting football strips for Kits 4 Causes.

Although it’s called Birdfair, increasingly we’re seeing wildlife other than birds being featured.  Butterfly Conservation, Buglife, Bat Conservation Trust and the British Arachnological Society were just some of the organisations trying to get birders to look at a bigger picture, which most of us probably do.

There is a really good nature reserve and lots of birds at Rutland Water or at least that’s what we’ve been told!  Year after year we go the Birdfair but somehow never seem to find time for any birding.  Nevertheless, we are already looking forward to Birdfair 2015!

Birdfair 2013

We‘re just back from an exhausting but very enjoyable weekend at the Birdfair held as usual at Rutland Water Nature Reserve.  The organisers describe it as the international wildlife event of the year and who would argue?  This year Birdfair was celebrating its 25th anniversary and with almost 350 exhibitors and four simultaneous lecture programmes it has grown well beyond anything that could possibly have been imagined back in 1989 when Tim Appleton and Martin Davies organised the first modest birdwatchers’ fair on behalf of the RSPB and the Leicestershire and Rutland Wildlife Trust.

Right from the start, profits from the Birdfair have been donated to conservation projects with the total amount raised now standing at more than £3 million.  Currently Birdfair is supporting BirdLife International’s Global Flyways Programme, funding projects to study and help migratory species.  This year it is grassland-dependent migrants in the Americas that are the focus, species such as Upland Sandpiper, Buff-breasted Sandpiper, Swainson’s Hawk and Bobolink that rely on the effective management of grasslands throughout the Americas flyway where the remnants of native grasslands are fast disappearing under grain, oil-seed and other commodity crops.  A Birdfair-funded project will co-ordinate work at grassland Important Bird Areas in Mexico, Colombia, Bolivia and Argentina. 

Buff-breasted Sandpiper - this one was in the Algarve

We travelled to Rutland Water on Thursday to help put up the Avian Adventures stand and then spent most of Friday, Saturday and Sunday talking.  We talked about birds and we talked about travel.  We talked a great deal about the Algarve and we talked about many other places we have been and others that we would like to visit.  We talked to friends from countries in Africa, North, South and Central America and various parts of Europe and we talked to friends from the West Midlands.  We talked to people who have been with us on Avian Adventures tours and to many whom we have guided in the Algarve.  We talked to an encouraging number of you who are regular readers of our blog.  In short - we talked!

 The Avian Adventures stand before the Birdfair opened - all neat and tidy!

Marquee 3 - there were 10 marquees this year

Birdfair is undoubtedly one of the highlights of our year.  We always come away disappointed by how quickly three days have passed and because in that time we haven’t been able to get round the whole site and see everything and everybody.  Already next year’s event is in our diary - it’ll be on 15th, 16th & 17th August 2014.  

Birdfair 2012

We’re just back from Rutland Water where we spent the weekend at the 24th annual British Birdwatching Fair.  As usual it was almost as exhausting as it was enjoyable!

After all the rain that had fallen on it in recent weeks there had been quite a lot of concern about the state of the Birdfair site and how it would stand up to thousands of visitors and their vehicles.  The reservoir was full to overflowing and the weather forecast for the weekend wasn’t that good.  It was a bit of a worry!  In the past there have been some fairly wet and muddy Birdfairs and everyone knows how unpleasant that can be. We still remember 2004!  As it turned out there was no problem, the ground had dried out well, there were just one or two showers during the weekend and in fact it was the heat and humidity that were the main features.

We arrived at Rutland Water at lunchtime on Thursday and spent the afternoon helping to erect the Avian Adventures stand in Marquee 3.  The exhibitors’ cocktail party followed but as it didn’t start until 7.00pm we had time for our own little party beforehand.

Marquee 3

Pre-party party

No, not the karaoke, Tim Appleton welcoming the exhibitors.

The cocktail party was sponsored by Extremadura.This is Elisa Cruz Parejo, Director General of Tourism for that part of Spain. 

Gerry Griffiths and Peter Scholes on the Avian Adventures stand.

The way they were:  Gerry Griffiths and Peter Scholes 
on the Avian Adventures stand in 1995!

Friday, Saturday and Sunday were mostly spent on the Avian Adventures stand where we did an awful lot of talking!  We were there to advertise the overseas tours that we are scheduled to lead for Avian and also, of course, to promote the Algarve but there was also time to talk about many other topics including Belvide Reservoir and breeding gulls in the West Midlands!

We talked to countless people who have been on past tours and lots whom we have met in Portugal.   Many of these we now count as friends.  They included a couple who were on the first tour that Peter led for Avian in 1994 and have been coming with us ever since.

As in previous years, we looked out from the stand, across the marquee to the BTO stand opposite.  We have been enthusiastic supporters of the BTO for many years but we still haven’t come to terms with the new logo.  From some of the comments we heard, it seems we aren’t the only ones who regret the passing of the Gannet.  We hear that the RSPB are planning to ditch their Avocet logo in the near future, which if true also seems like a very strange decision.

We were able to get away from the stand from time to time but there were so many people to stop and talk to that progress through the marquees was slow.  We had to try out the amazing new Swarovski telescopes and we always like to look at books.  Peter even managed to go and hear Frank McClintock give a talk about Lagoa dos Salgados and the efforts being made to prevent the planned tourist development that threatens it.

Mike Warren working on the Birdfair mural, an annual feature of the event - his new book, American Birding Sketchbook, was just one of our weekend purchases!

Steve Cale was another artist exhibiting his work.

Bill Oddie, Nick Baker, Chris Packham and Simon King were amongst the television ‘personalities’ in attendance.

The colourful stand of ProExport Colombia – 
a country that we are both scheduled to visit soon.

If you’ve never been to the Birdfair, you’re missing a treat.  Next year’s event will be the 25th and there are already plans afoot to make a few changes.  That will be on 15th, 16th and 17th August 2013 – put it in your diary.