Birdwatchers flock to Bird Fair

One of the beauties of birdwatching is that it can be either a solitary or sociable hobby, depending upon the mood that takes you. There are times when I seek out the attachment with nature that comes from birdwatching alone on my local patch or on one of the quieter stretches along the Norfolk coast. I can watch a bird, undisturbed by the comments of others, and really appreciate its character. At other times, I enjoy the comradeship and happy banter that is derived from the company of other birders, seeking out some rarity or combining a spot of birdwatching with a pub lunch or cake-filled visit to a tearoom.

The social side of birdwatching was brought home to me over the weekend, while working at the British BirdWatching Fair, held annually at Rutland Water. This event, the biggest of its kind in Britain (and quite probably Europe), brings together birdwatchers from across the continent. Many come to feast on the multitude of stands selling and promoting everything from binoculars and books, to birdwatching holidays and bird conservation. Others delight in the opportunity to listen to talks or to question ornithological experts on bird identification and behaviour. It is also a place to meet old friends, many of whom I only see at the bird fair, and to make the acquaintance of others who, like me, delight in watching and studying birds and other wildlife.

There is always a real buzz about the place and most visitors must come away from the fair pumped full of enthusiasm for their hobby. For me, in my role as the organiser of the BTO/CJ Garden BirdWatch, it is meeting those who participate in my survey that most inspires me. They are a diverse crowd; a mix of armchair birdwatchers – who only occasionally venture out to watch birds on nature reserves, keen birders – who dash around the country in search of rarities, and those in between, all watching birds to va rying degrees. There is one commonality though; all of these people enthuse about their garden birds. They delight in relating stories of chance encounters or in detailing observations on unusual bird behaviour that they have witnessed in their garden. Most of these garden birdwatchers get as much from witnessing the commonplace – the blackbirds, robins and finches – as they do from seeing something more unusual. To me, this emphasises the tremendous appeal of birds and of birdwatching itself. It is a hobby that is accessible to anyone and this must be why it draws in such a diverse following of acolytes. You can pick your own level, involve yourself as little or as much as you choose and that has to be a good thing.