Tuesday 21 August 2012

Tuesday 21st August

Yes, the Islay team did us all proud down at the Bird Fair at Rutland Water, the "undercover judges" were out unknown to us on Friday snooping around. We did not even know there was such a competition, and then on Saturday afternoon, we were "presented" with 3rd prize in the Tourism section. Not bad going as there were around 140 exhibitors alone in this category. The winning exhibit was the Trinidad and Tobago stand, but we reckon that it was drinking our whisky that made Newton, Nigel, Jason & co so laid back.....For those of you out there who do not know us all, in the above image is Bob on the left, Dave from the Oa , then me, Ian holding the certificate and on the right is Andy Robinson who also works with RSPB. We should also like to thank all the Distilleries who kindly donated Whisky and Gin for us to give to folk as tasters, and also Calmac, our ferry operator who provided us with ferry tickets to enable us to attend both to the Scottish Bird Fair and also to Rutland. A special mention is due to our "vols" who I had press ganged to give us some time off, so thanks to John, Dot, Andy, John, Karen, Hilary, Danny & Wanda, much appreciated.
While we there , we saw different species of birds not often seen here, the resident "Rutland water Osprey", Hobby, Red Kite, Tree Sparrows, Great Spotted Woodpecker, Turtle Dove and some Bullfinches too. Even a Nuthatch was on the feeder where I was staying. Back to Islay birds tomorrow night. Thanks to James and Michal for doing the blog while we were away.

1 comment:

Islay Natural History Trust said...

Congratulations to you all for what was obviously a lot of hard work as well as a very successful Bird Fair.