Rutland Revisit

The Rutland Birdfair is over for another year. It was as good as ever, better even than last year. Unlike the journey from Sussex to Uppingham. There is no other choice than to follow the route M23 on to M25. There are then choices: M40, M1 or A1M. But the M25 is a nightmare. Slow moving or stationary four lanes of traffic. In places overhead gantry signs instruct to use the hard-shoulder as well, increasing the queue to five lanes...

The journey of little more than 150 miles took five hours. Google's estimation was 2 hours 45 minutes! It was a joy to leave the motorway system and drive country roads through Northamptonshire, Leicestershire and finally Rutland. On arriving at The Crown Inn we dumped our luggage and patronised the bar, consuming pints of Everard's award winning Tiger ale. 

The evening was pleasantly mild so we wandered off to the market square and managed to get a table at the brasserie Don Paddy's where the ale was good and the food was excellent. The cask marque awarded Timothy Taylor's Landlord ale is a terrific pint. A great atmosphere here with friendly staff serving really excellent food.

Wandering around the Birdfair is always enjoyable, often bumping into old friends and wildlife celebrities like Simon King, who had his own marquee:

Essential visits included the optics marquee, the art marquee, the clothing stands of Rohan and Country Innovation and the Shetland stand where I bagged a load of information on these sceptred isles, which I plan to visit before I conk out.

It was another enjoyable weekend and I hope to visit next year again for my 5th visit. Will definitely go by train though as we faced the same horrendous traffic on our return journey...

Ready for Rutland

That's it. Didn't take long to pack. I like to travel light for weekends away and am a big fan of Rohan clothing for birdwatching and trekking. Excellent for layering, windproof, outers often waterproof, lightweight, easy to pack (I roll items for packing, takes up less space and Rohan stuff doesn't wrinkle) will dry in 3-5 hours after a wash and, best of all, does not require ironing.

I will leave early in the morning for the drive to Chailey to meet my colleague, then we will travel onward in his car. The route will be M23, M25 then M1 to Northampton, then the A43 to Kettering, by-pass Corby to our destination at the delightful market town of Uppingham

We will spend Saturday at the Birdfair the main purpose of the trip. And of course there will be two nights at the wonderful Crown Inn the cosy bar, the excellent Everard's ales, the good food and the friendly locals.

I probably won't be posting over the weekend as the mobile and wi-fi signals in this area are virtually non-existent. I will certainly post some photos next week when I get back home.

British Birds

Those lovely people at British Birds have just sent out the August 2014 edition of the journal (a must for any keen ornithologist) and included the full 80 page Official Programme 2014 to Birdfair which means that I can plan my visit well in advance rather than having to buy a copy on the day.

This will be the 26th annual Birdfair and this will be my fourth visit, staying as usual at the wonderful Crown Inn, Uppingham which has won many awards for the traditional ales it serves including Tiger Best Bitter brewed by Everards and serves excellent pub grub. I don't know what I look forward to most - the visit to the Birdfair or the Crown Inn!

Simon King Wildlife is an associate sponsor of Birdfair and I look forward to meeting him again along with many other personalities from the world of bird-watching and wildlife conservation. Simon King has worked in the field of natural history film making for over 30 years. He is the creator and presenter of many award-winning productions including Springwatch, Big Cat Diary, Planet Earth and Blue Planet. Simon is current president of the Wildlife Trusts.

Simon King

This year Birdfair has added a new Authors' Wildlife Forum Marquee offering the chance to meet the authors of some of this year's top titles. 

I just need to be careful not to splash out too much cash; easily done here particularly in the optics marquee. Nevertheless I shall have to take a look here: www.swarovskioptic.com and here: www.hawkeoptics.com .....

International Birdfair 2014

I have been spending a lot of time watching the Commonwealth Games on BBC television and have just watched the breathtaking final of the Ladies 4 x 100m Medley Final in which England took the silver medal and then the final final in the pool of the Mens 4 x 100m Medley Final in which England took the gold medal in thrilling style. And then I realised that the Birdfair 2014 is just two weeks away....

I will be attending for the fourth year in a row with my good friend Graeme. We will be driving from Brighton to Uppingham in Rutland on Friday 15th August and staying at one of our favourite Inns anywhere: The Crown Inn an 18th century pub that serves the finest ales, wonderful pub grub and offers fantastic hospitality.

We will visit the Birdfair on Saturday 16th August, no doubt nursing mild hangovers...

Birdfair encompasses the whole spectrum of the birdwatching industry whilst at the same time supporting global bird conservation. This is the event of the year if you’re into birds and wildlife. It is a fabulous event not to be missed.

Rutland's Hidden Gem

Uppingham is one of England's hidden gems - a delightful, historic market town with an attractive mix of honey-coloured stone buildings that represent a long architectural history. The Times recently named Uppingham as a really appealing small market town, well placed in Britain's smallest county. It is a friendly and welcoming place to visit and I have just completed my third visit to this delightful place.

typical architecture in Uppingham High Street, opposite my room at The Crown Inn

Rutland is the smallest county in mainland England, occupying 151.1 square miles of the East Midlands and extending only eighteen miles from north to south and seventeen miles from east to west and Rutland Water is the ornithological gem in the county's crown, with a shoreline in excess of 40 kilometres (24 miles).

One of the joys of Uppingham for me is the wonderful selection of individually owned shops, including several second hand book shops, crafts and gifts, old fashioned sweets, pre-loved clothes, jewellery, handmade shoes, two first class butchers and a superb traditional baker, Baines with its adjoining tea shop, a step back in time and a sheer delight. I enjoyed toasted teacakes with butter and strawberry jam and a pot of real leaf tea, whilst listening to music from the 40s and being fussed over by an attentive waitress.

Baines Bakers and Tea Shop

The Falcon Hotel is located on Uppingham's historic Market Place that dates back to the 13th century. From c1750 the Falcon was the coaching inn for the town. The main arched doorway into the hotel is the original coach entrance.

The Falcon Hotel, Uppingham

Uppingham  is famous for its public school founded in 1584. It spreads its impressive buildings throughout the town.

Uppingham School main building

My favourite spot in Uppingham is The Crown Inn in the High Street, Rutland CAMRA Pub of the Year 2011 and runner up in 2013. I always stay here to enjoy Alan's hospitality, Phillipe's cooking, the friendly locals and the Everard award winning ales. The accommodation is comfortable and spotlessly clean.

View from my room at The Crown Inn

There is much to see and enjoy in the Rutland area (known as the 'second Cotswolds') not forgetting the Ospreys that return in the summer months to Rutland Water. There are nature reserves, an RSPB bird centre at Egleton and plenty of good walks.

Time moves slowly here...

The Journey North

On Thursday 15th August I set off on my journey to Rutland with my best mate Graeme, to spend a long weekend in Rutland and a visit to the 25th annual Birdfair held at the Egleton Nature Reserve on Rutland water. Our journey started at Brighton station on a First Capital Connect service to St Pancras International. St Pancras is known for its Victorian architecture and is a marvel of engineering and construction, remarkable when you consider that it was opened in 1868. When it opened, the arched Barlow train shed was the largest single-span roof in the world.

St Pancras escaped planned demolition in the 1960s (thank goodness) and the complex was renovated and expanded during the 2000s at a cost of £800 million. This now includes a security-sealed terminal area for Eurostar services and domestic services operated by East Midlands Trains, First Capital Connect and Southeastern High Speed. The travel writer Simon Calder  has described the redeveloped terminus as "the world's most wonderful railway station", a sentiment I wholeheartedly agree with.

For our onward journey we joined an East Midlands train service to Sheffield and alighted at the first stop - Leicester - where we transferred to a Cross Country train service to Oakham via Melton Mowbray.

A local bus took us to our final destination of the Crown Hotel in Uppingham where we thought it would be rude not to have a pint of Everard's Tiger ale before checking into our rooms.....

More to follow about Rutland and the Birdfair.

The Woodpigeon

We have regular daily visits to the garden feeders by Woodpigeons Columba palumbus and these birds have become remarkably adept at accessing the smaller, hanging seed feeders. Of late, the parent birds have been joined by two juveniles who tend to feed on one of the platform feeders.

This photo of two juveniles, taken earlier today, is not particularly sharp - taken on a Nikon Coolpix P510 at full zoom, through the kitchen window and hand held at 1/60th! The juvenile lacks the white neck patches of the adult bird although they do already have the diagnostic white wing flashes. These two youngsters clapped their wings noisily as they took off in tandem.

I am now getting everything packed for my journey tomorrow to Rutland to visit the Birdfair 2013. I will be travelling by train: 1st leg on First Capital Connect from Brighton to St. Pancras International, then a change to East Midland trains to Leicester and the final leg on Cross Country trains to Oakham. The plan is then to take a bus for the 12 mile journey to Uppingham and the Crown Inn.

Meanwhile another photo of Bertie:

And some attractive flowers in my garden. Anyone know what they are?

I hope to post from Rutland if I can find a sufficiently strong Wi-fi signal.....

Celebrating 25 Years of Birdfair

The August edition of British Birds arrived yesterday, in the post, with a nice surprise. The 80 page Official Programme for Birdfair 2013 had been included. I usually purchase a copy when I visit the event and it is particularly useful to have a copy well in advance to be able to plan my visit.

This international wildlife event is celebrating 25 years 1989 - 2013 and this will be my third consecutive year of attending. The Fair runs from Friday 16th to Sunday 18th August and is held at the Rutland Water Nature Reserve. More information here www.birdfair.org.uk

For the third year I will be staying here: http://www.thecrownrutland.co.uk a fabulous pub with accommodation, quality real ales, a comprehensive selection of single malts, proper English food and a great atmosphere. The pub is located in Uppingham, a delightful market town in Rutland.