Friday 21 August 2009

Rutland Bird Fair

Went to the bird fair today-I go every couple of years.
Big mistake-I really like the new Leica scopes with the 25-50X zoom, and of course there is all the nice Nikon camera gear to play with too. Looks like I need a spare £15000 or so.
Back in the real world, I picked up a few nice books that I have been after, but the main reason is to see people that I don't see all that often, see old friends and every now and again do a spot of birding. Lee Evans was looking dapper as usual in pin striped jacket and shades, plugging his new rare bird site guide, and the wild man of Exmoor, Johnny Kingdom in full regalia gave what seemed to be a very popular talk, which over ran somewhat. All the usual birding/wildlife celebs were around though I failed to tick some of them off.
Thanks to the TV programs, the Ospreys were very popular, with the viewing hides overflowing. Bit pointless really, as one of the birds could be seen (and heard) on the nest post from the car park. The other hides overlooking the lagoons were very peaceful by comparison. I failed to find the reported Wood Sandpiper, though there were a lot of Green Sandpipers and Greenshank present. Egyptian Geese seemed to be very abundant, with few Shelduck by comparison. Still a few Terns, and Sand Martins, and there may have been a few good ducks around but I did not fancy sorting through thousands of eclipse Tufties, Gadwall etc.

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