Yesterday morning, around 6.30 I left South London for the blissfully quiet drive north to Rutland Water and my first trip to Birdfair. Encompassing all the various aspects of birding (conservation/travel/gear etc), I've seen it referred to as the 'Glastonbury' of birdwatching which is weird. I was kind of hoping it was going to be markedly less muddy and indeed, less shit than that...and thankfully that was the case. It was a jolly day out on all counts.
I managed to avoid all the temptations to sign myself up for some of the many EPIC trips that were on offer by companies from across the world. Instead I realised prize draws and raffles probably offered my best chance of going away anyway exotic in the foreseeable future. Tactics people! Albatrosses have been very high up on my 'wish list' of birds to see for a long time so I was totally taken by the Falkland Islands. I went to a brief presentation on the birds and geography of the (in)famous islands which firmly set the seed. Who knows, maybe one day? It was good to walk around and look through so many of the different stands, a welcome, if slightly frustrating, reminder of just how much there is out there to see.
It was great to catch up with Bernardo and Joao from Portugal at their stand and hear their interesting thoughts on the differences between nature conservation there and in the UK (hint - money!) You should look them up if you ever find yourself with a free day in Lisbon. I had a good laugh at David Lindo's talk (Honey Buzzard over Peckham!) and also really enjoyed the programme of short lectures that were taking place. To be honest they all sounded worthwhile but I went along to hear about the Rutland Osprey project and how the BTO's Breeding Bird Survey is signalling the changes in our bird populations. I thought the best lecture though was the one delivered by Tim Nevard, CEO of Conservation Grade farming and Danae Sheehan from the RSPB. It was a punchy talk about Operation Turtle Dove and the vital measures being taken to help our fastest declining migrant bird. A 91% drop in numbers since the 1970s and the reason? Me. And You. And him and her and the unsustainable demand we put on our food producing industries for MORE food at LOWER prices. The Turtle Dove is a bird that depends on the seeds of certain kinds of farmland plants/weeds for survival (as well as a safe roosting habitat/water) and these have nearly disappeared from our farming landscapes today. For a twenty minute lecture, it certainly made an impression on me.
And that latter point is something to mention because I think it's the one area that Birdfair fell down on. Amidst the sunshine and the friendly banter and the positive atmosphere I don't know what else people would've taken away from the event. No, hang on, that's not quite right, I mean I think the fair should've done more directly to ensure a conservation message came across. Nature and bird Conservation was part of it's core purpose and there were hundreds of amazing examples of this but something clearer and more 'in your face', for want of a better term, was needed. For example, this year the nominated project (to which an impressive percentage of the proceeds go towards) was Birdlife International's Flyways Programme - a really important project focusing on conserving wetlands along the main East Asian-Australasian migration route. Now if I hadn't have gone out of my way to look that up, I would've left Birdfair with little clue as to what it was about. Maybe I missed something, perhaps there was a talk about it earlier in the weekend...admittedly there was a really good article on it in the programme and I did see the mural also. But you can't guarantee everyone will read that and nor can you assume that just cos there's lots of birders around, everyone knows (or cares) about the devastating habitat threats facing Lesser Sand Plovers and countless other birds that rely on intertidal areas in the East. There'll never be a more receptive crowd and just a glance over the beautiful reservoirs, teeming with migrant birds (including a few of the most remarkable of all - Arctic Terns!) meant the inspiration was there for the taking. But just a little prod would've been good. Anyway, maybe that's something for someone who'll never read this to consider.
All in all it was a glorious day out and we finished up back round at Manton Bay watching Ospreys soaring across the sky in fading summer light. What could be better? Here are some other things we saw:
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| Elephant Hawk Moth caterpillar - monster! Thanks to the chap who pointed this out. |
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| Aw. One for Mum. |
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| A non-migrating Vulcan bomber doing the rounds over Rutland Water 19/8/12 |
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