Whos else ended up going bird fair?

[Ukwildlifeo]

Just got back from the bird fair up at rutland. Fair to say (no pun intended!) I had a good time. First we wandered round the optics tent and I looked through all these lovely scopes and binoculars I'll never be able to afford and looked at lots of lovely books and displays in the other tents. Then we wandered up to the vistor centre and to the bird ringing demo nearby, where I nice chap was ringing a blue tit, which he then let one of the kiddies release, in which he domostrated how if they frlt pressur on their wings they would not fly off. he did this by laying the bird on its back and it just stayed there. Stupidly I didnt have my camera out yet
He then showed us how to record and ring a long tailed tit:



Which he then let another kid release this one too. He then moved onto the Willow Warbler and went quickly through how you could tell it was one and not a chiffchaff (shorter wings, orange feet).


Then as it was a migrant and needed to fatten up it had already been ringed etc and he asked if it was anyones birthday, which it wasn't so he then asked if it was anyones birthday this week and it was mine on Tues...so I got to release my first (definate) Willow Warbler that I had seen:


its behind my hand!


Its the yellow blur 45 degrees down from my chin!

I also went to a talk on dragonflys and on the way there, there was a crowd gathered round a green dragonfly, but I wanted to get to the talk so I banked on the cold weather keeping it there. 40mins later I came out and it was!:


Also while there we had a brief walk round to a couple of hides but there wasnt much on show. But in the hide opposite the vistor centre there was a few feeders outside on which I saw my first ever tree sparrows:

Sorry for the bad pic: a combination of bad conditions, limited Megapixels/zoom and bad photography

And groups of gold, chaff and green finch, including this group:


And as for no wildlife highlights I saw a small man that is Bill Oddie but he was always busy talking and I didnt have my camra out AGAIN! lol. But I did meet this man:

(its Simon King for you non-TV watchers)

and went to a talk by Nigel Marvin


All in all a nice day out despite the crummy weather

[Dan Salter]

Sounds like a brilliant day...thats two years now i have intended to go but not been able to for whatever reason....i absolutely WILL be there next year !....

Dan
Id love to meet simon king....hes superb!

[goosey]

Nice report ukwildlifeo with some great photo's, love the dragonfly - what a beauty. It sounds like a great day, and to have met the great Simon King in to the bargain! Thanks .

[John]

Excellent report Ukwildlifeo with some nice images to go with it.

This is the first time in six years that I haven't been, as I just have too much to do prior going on a Pelagic for a week from next Saturday. If there is anyone that hasn't done the Birdfair I urge you to give it a try as there is plenty to cover most tastes. It isn't just about birds but covers a whole range of subjects.

There are many highlights with some fabulous Wildlife celebrities that at times are very approachable. I was lucky enough to have Simon King approach me last year and we stood talking for 30 minutes before he was called away. It was a fabulous moment in my life and one that has been repeated for other visitors to Rutland as well.

John

[Fourwings]

I went along for a few hours yesterday and had a reasonably enjoyable time.
Personally I felt that it was not as good as past years, for me at least there were far too many holiday firms taking up the stands, I have nothing against this at all but its just a shame that there seems to be a bit less in the way of book stalls, main camera dealers, wildlife study equipment than there used to be.

Having said that it was good to catch up with some old friends and have a good browse in the optics marquee, I also came away with a couple of new books that I wanted and it didn't rain whilst I was there there.

[eeyore]

did anyone see one of mr rouses talks ? - I believe he was on the paramo stand - I was going to go soley for this reason but in the end was so tired i stayed in bed all day instead

[Gill Osborne]

I'm another one who's been meaning to go for years but never had the time/money/opportunity The past three/four years seem to have consisted of us selling our house and moving three times in as many years! Possibly next year....depends how soon we move to Cumbria and get ourselves settled somewhere

I'd love to meet some of the folks I see on tv.....though Neil and I have been to a talk by Bill Oddie in the past.

[Tormentil]

Originally Posted by eeyore

did anyone see one of mr rouses talks ? - I believe he was on the paramo stand - I was going to go soley for this reason but in the end was so tired i stayed in bed all day instead

Mr Rouse could n't rouse you, tut, tut !!!

[Wild-Woman]

We didn't go.
Wanted to so much too. A series of things cropped up. Eg-Chris not feeling top form, weather, realising how much uni stuff for our youngest is going to set us back again!

[paulchandler6]

Have not been for the past 2 years now, all previous ones though. A good place to meet people and the odd celebrity, spending money etc. However I found that there were too many holiday firms trying to coax you onto rather expensive organised tours. Having said that its always a good day out. Cheers