The Birdwatcher's "Glastonbury"

There are distinct similarities between Birdfair 2013 and Glastonbury festival as Graeme and I discovered on Friday 16th August..... Mud! We travelled by taxi on Friday morning, in pouring rain,  to the Birdfair site. We were suitably attired with boots, hats and an umbrella. But nothing can prepare you for the squelch through fields of thick mud! By the time we reached the admission point our boots were well and truly caked as were our lower trouser legs! But, we had our electronic tickets and soon escaped into the welcome of a very humid marquee...

Once 'inside' the weather is of little consequence. There is a fantastic buzz around the place. This was the first day of the 25th annual Birdfair, the largest and best wildlife fair anywhere in the world. And we were sharing this amazing event with 1,000s of other birdwatchers and wildlife lovers. The inclement weather is soon forgotten.

The 25th fair was huge, attracting almost 350 exhibitors and the most sponsors (24) than ever before. In the first marquee I bumped into David Lindo, writer, broadcaster, speaker and bird guide, aka The Urban Birder. A great character who writes every month in Birdwatching magazine. I would very much like to tour with David on one of his organised birding events.  http://www.theurbanbirder.com

Me with the Urban Birder David Lindo

BTW: you will notice in the photo that I am wearing a rather fine Tilley hemp hat unlike David's rather shabby baseball cap!

One needs a plan to navigate the Birdfair: eight marquees, the art marquee, the optics marquee, three lecture marquees and the catering marquee. So far as the last of these is concerned I am pleased (and relieved) that I managed to visit all the optics manufacturers' stands without adding to my collection of binoculars... (Ros - please note!)

The Isle of Islay stand was well worth a visit not only for the information on tourism and birdwatching opportunities on the island but for the fact that they were providing wee drams of Islay single malt whiskies. Well, it would have been rude to refuse! I also entered a competition to win a holiday to this fabulous location. Fingers crossed...

I always visit the Event Gallery and my favourite wildlife artist, Kay Johns. Her talent is astonishing and once again I had to purchase a piece of her artwork entitled 'The Line Up', a stunning picture of five Belgian Brown Hares. See more of her work here  http://www.theeventgallery.co.uk/default.asp  Last year I bought 'The Mad March Hare', which hangs in my study.

Lynn Hazel is a very talented sculptor of British Wildlife. It is pretty well impossible to visit her stand and not purchase something. I did. A beautiful Goldfinch, which complements the Wren I bought last year. More about Lynn here  http://www.lynnhazel.co.uk

One of the very busy marquees

Clint Banbury creates art that makes you smile. His illustrations have been featured in over a hundred different projects ranging from an Italian poster campaign for Vauxhall cars to his current children's Scribble Down transfer packs. More about Clint here  http://www.clintonbanbury.com . I bought the highly amusing "Blackbird & Robin".

Graeme and I spent six hours walking around the fair, taking in the Bat Conservation Trust, the Bird Watching Magazine, Birdlife International, Birdwatching Northumberland, British Birds, the British Dragonfly Society, Country Innovation Clothing (I did not buy anything!), Extramadura Spain, the Fair Isle Bird Observatory (a visit here is on my bucket list), Garden Bird Supplies, the Hawk and Owl Trust, In Focus, KT Nestboxes, Leicestershire & Rutland Wildlife Trust, Mongolian Ornithological Society, Oman Ministry of Tourism (I last visited the Sultanate of Oman in 1994), Outdoor Photography Gear, Rare Bird Alert, the RSPB, Shetland Nature and many more.

Six hours in the humid atmosphere of the marquees was enough and we taxied back to the Crown Hotel for a few well deserved pints of Everard's best.

We have booked to go again next year......