Bird Fair 2011

I had a great time yesterday, at the Bird Fair.   Many go looking for new optical equipment or to broaden their horizons - I seem to bump into all those people I have met during the previous years on various trips at home and abroad - and I love every minute of it!   How great to catch up with like-minded people who are keen to reminisce over old meetings and give sound advice on potential trips in the future.  

I went with Malcolm and Sally and our first port of call was a cup of tea - the first of the day for me - before sitting down with the map to plan the day.  This was all thrown completely out of kilter when I bumped into Rachel who was manning the Regua stand (shared with the Ubatuba team) for my favourite reserve in the Brazilian Atlantic Rain Forest.  [see the link to REGUA]  As we chatted over the latest sightings at the reserve and marvelled at the skill of the guides and the fact that they keep on finding new birds for the reserve (456 species on the list as I write) I was offered some of their fantastic cakes including Bellbird Brownie, Spadebill Shortbread and Bananaquit or Fruitcrow Flapjack - just to remind me a little bit of Brazil.

BTO Bird Ringing Stall

As I moved around the fair there were bird ringing demonstrations by the BTO, some excellent coffee sweets from Colombia, coffee from World Land Trust, free dried mealworms from one of the bird feed companies, and more tourism stalls than you could ever imagine - given the current financial climate, it's hard to see how they can all continue to flourish.   There were some excellent book stalls with both new and used books at great prices, clothing was also a highlight for anyone needing to upgrade their wardrobe.

After Brazil, it was off to South Africa for me where Kay and Rob were manning a stall for a good friend of theirs.   We are planning a trip to Chile, hopefully next year and the point of our meeting was to move the arrangements forward - sadly our friend Enrique from Chile was not in the UK this year so we could not have a reunion on this occasion, but the power of the internet will, I am sure, prove successful evenutally.

In the Lecture Marquee

Next port of call was Margaret's stand, a photographer friend who has taken many fine photographs of birds and wildlife in various parts of the world.   Not only mounted and framed pictures, but also canvases which really seem to set off the subjects well.   Although a little slow at first, I am sure business will pick up as the fair progresses, as her photos are great.   It is always good to see the end result of pictures taken when we have been away on trips together.

After that it was off to see my friends at the Ornitholidays stand - I have travelled with them several times over the last few years and it is always good to catch up and see what new trips are available for the coming year.  I bumped into Paul, the person who led my very first birdwatching holiday and we had a great time remembering incidents from that trip over 12 years ago.   Amazingly he could remember more incidents than I, although he must have led 100s of tours since then.

Taking my leave of them it was time for lunch and another guide and friend, Mike and I decided to try the pork roast sandwiches, scrummy with stuffing and apple sauce.   Fully saited it was back to cover the second half of the marquees.   Mike knows lots of stand holders as he has (a) been coming to the bird fair as an exhibitor and (b) he has been leading tours for many years and travelled all over the world.   It was great to go around with him and be introduced to so many interesting people.   The ladies from the Alderney Tourist Board offered Chilli Dark Chocolate, there was a warm welcome from the two ladies from the Asa Wright Centre in Trinidad, and some friendly banter between Mike and David from Naturetrek.   As they stood trading insults I took the opportunity to catch up with Paul from the same company who had co-led my recent Arctic trip.

By now it was time to take our leave of the Bird Fair and move off to the Wildlife Trust Reserve at Lyndon to see the Ospreys.   As we had been to the Bird Fair you are allowed free access to the reserve and the volunteers there are so helpful and friendly you can't help but enjoy a trip there.   From the centre windows we watched greenfinch, chaffinch, and house sparrow on the huge feeders, then Malcolm noticed a marsh tit which repeatedly fed from one of the feeders then flew off to some hawthorn bushes and back to the feeder again. 

Two Ospreys at the Nest

Then it was off to see the ospreys.   They have been successful this year and we watched a male and two young near one of the nests and there was apparently another juvenile and the female somewhere in the area.   As we watched the youngsters feeding on the nest, the male made swooping flights over the water and perched in a nearby tree.   In a field there were two buzzards sitting on the ground and swallows and martins flew low over the reservoir, following the swallows as they began to soar Sally noticed several birds of prey high over the treetops - in the end five buzzard were "kettling" in the thermals.

Bug Hotel

As we left the reserve for the long drive home, we admired the bug hotel near the entrance, which has a wide variety of homes for all sorts of insects.

The drive back was uneventful but lengthy - Friday night never being the best time to attempt the M11 and M25 but we made it in just under 3 hours.

Having left home at 7.15 am and arriving back at around 8.00 pm, it was great to have a dinner ready and waiting for me - I'm so lucky to have Karon & Richard as neighbours.