Birdfair round up – day 1
It comes round so quickly! It did not seem anything like a year since Birdfair 2009, but here we were heading back to Rutland Water for the annual birding festival. In the back of the car was our usual passenger on these occasions – Iain Campbell from Tropical Birding – one of our closest friends and a ball of energy who was bursting with new ideas on how to spread the gospel of birding!
We arrived at the field and were directed to our parking area and unloaded the Tropical Birding and Biggest Twitch banners, books and brochures. As we struggled under the weight towards our place in Marquee 4 we met Chuck Bell from the American Birding Association. Even before we reached our pitch and put down our heavy loads, Chuck dropped a bomb-shell! He told us the American Birdfair, the first one ever, for 2011 had been cancelled! We were all stunned, the ABA had asked all of us to help with this potentially massive event and now it was cancelled – just like that. Iain was not happy, he just walked in and was hit with this huge blow, we busied ourselves with putting up the stand as Iain tried to reason with the ABA and get them to change their minds. It soon became clear the minds were not for changing!
With the stand assembled we headed into town in search of a hot shower and food. We had just got to our room and were looking forward to relaxing when a knock on the door spelt trouble! Iain was down stairs, and he was not happy. His hotel was double booked – there was literally no room at the Whipper-In. With thousands of people coming to Birdfair the chances of finding a room were looking grim, so some frantic phone calls ensued. Luckily room was found some 15 miles away for the first night at least, so all thoughts of showers put on hold, we jumped back in the car and now in pouring rain, we drove across country to Iain’s new abode. Luckily they served food, and it was plentiful and good. As Iain headed upstairs to sleep, we had the long drive back down the dark and twisting lanes to Oakham, and crashed out much later than expected.
Iain Campbell and Alan on the Tropical Birding/Biggest Twitch stand