Birdfair 2017

On Saturday 19th August I attended the Bird Fair, which was the third I had been to. 

The journey there took around 3 hours, but it was worth it. I also arrived at the Bird Fair earlier than I had done the previous years, so I had more time to look around. I met up with my aunt and then started to visit the many stands. 

We started on Marquee 1 where Dave Gosney was, the creator of the series of 'finding birds in' DVDs. I bought a few DVDs then carried on looking at lots of different stands such as Oriole birding (who I had just been on great holiday with) and also different companies that do tours all around the world.

I visited all the Marquees, picking up as many holiday brochures, entering as many competitions as I could and visited stands such as the BTO, Spurn and Fair Isle Bird Observatory, Wader Quest, the RSPB, and a lot of good areas that sold books, and definitely had some that I will be buying in the future!

I then visited the BTO bird ringing area which was outside, and watched some of the birds being ringed, which included a lot of Blue Tits, a Great Tit, a Linnet, a Reed Bunting and a Willow Warbler.

The best one though was the last one I saw, which was a female Sparrowhawk, apparently twice the size of a male they had caught earlier in the day. I got some great views of it being ringed, though there were a lot of people there. 

Female Sparrowhawk Being Ringed

Chris Packham was also filming in the area and I also saw the author of the 'Best Birding Sites - Yorkshire' and 'Best birding sites - Norfolk' books, Neil Glenn.

Chis Packham Filming

I had lunch back at my aunt's car, and then went around to look at the remaining stands

I finished the day going the talk on Spurn Bird Observatory - where I will be going shortly.

Soon after the talk there was a message that most of the stands would close, but I had looked around most anyway, so I decided to take the train home.