BIRD FAIR - Day Two!

BILL ODDIE and me.

Today was the BEST BIRD FAIR EVER!!!!
and no, Simon King didn't propose!!!! In fact it was much more exciting (sorry Simon! X).

Firstly it was hot, very hot indeed, so hot my clothes felt as though they were on fire! I wore my new 'blog' teashirt (which I designed) today which I ordered off the net from a site called "Zazzle":

People I bumped into today were: Dave and Jacquie Bridges (Norfolk Bird Recorders) and had a lovely chat with Jacquie, thank you so much for your support x - Simon King (goes without saying), Sue and Paul Bryan, LGRE (white suit today), Steve Seal, Di Stone, Dean Eades, Mark Golley, Steve Beal, Paul Lee, Bill Oddie, Andy W. with his hot chick Mandy, David Lindo, Paul Hackett, Tim Appleton, Ian Wallace, Alan Davies and Ruth Miller and the list goes on....... Saw Bill Oddie several times today, he looked much happier and relaxed I thought - I just LOVE Bill - an incredibly funny man, see last nights 'Celebrity Event'.

Dave and Jacquie Bridges, Norfolk Bird Recorders.


David Lindo and me.


Sue and Paul Bryan.

Lee Evans.

Lee Evans on the Birdguides stand.


Sir Ian Wallace with Editor of B.B. Roger Riddington.


Johnny Kingdom chats with visitors on his stand.

The only thing missing from Bird Fair this year was music and dancers. There always seems to be amazing musicians every year, but I haven't seen any yet!

Had an early lunch and sat in the main food marquee and had a wonderful salad for £4.95 and a naughty dessert!

Courtyard area adjacent to the Food Marquee.

I sacrificed rushing to the Carl Zeiss Stand to get Simon King's photo card and usual yearly picture, because it coincided with the following event:

A Portfolio Review with Mark Carwardine and Jonathan Scott – 1:00pm-1:45 pm
"Mark Carwardine, and Jonathan Scott cast their eye over wildlife photos as taken by willing members of the audience and generate a lively and entertaining debate. " On the Bird Fair website it suggested to email your pictures to them for this event for selection, which I did - I sent about six pictures. I never, never expected to see my pictures on the big screen in the Events Marquee!!!

I was sitting about five rows from the front and was ready to watch other people's photographs flash up to be reviewed. The first picture appeared on the screen - bloody hell it was mine!!! A picture I took of a Grey Heron catching a fish at Holme, I was gobsmacked to say the least, the second picture flashed up, also mine! a picture of a Grey Partridge I had taken at Burnham Overy and the third picture also mine, a Sedge Warbler taken at Welney (submitted this shot in a landscape crop). I have been feeling pretty down in the dumps lately with my dear father becoming increasingly unwell and the speed of life and work etc, but this gave me a massive lift and has inspired me. Some of the other pictures were awesome, especially a picture of penguins under an iceberg overhang. They reviewed the pictures very fairly I thought and were very constructive. I was lucky with mine - their comments were very complimentary – Jonathan describing my Sedge Warbler as a 'cracking shot'! I have already submitted this picture to the WWT Photography Competition - see here - please feel free to vote for my picture, thanks in advance!

PORTFOLIO REVIEW
The first picture to appear was my Grey Heron taken at
Holme Marsh Reserve.

PORTFOLIO REVIEW
My second picture, a Grey Partridge taken at Burnham Overy.

PORTFOLIO REVIEW
My third picture, a Sedge Warbler taken at Welney WWT.

I was on such a high after this event that I celebrated and went to the Rare Bird Alert Stand and signed up for a pager again!!! Its all very well kidding yourself that you can open RBA website on the iphone, when in fact you can't - because its Norfolk and vodaphone signal is cr*p!!! So pleased to have a pager again, thanks Brian!

RARE BIRD ALERT.

It was so incredibly hot by mid-afternoon. I went to the birdwatching centre and bought a mint magnum ice-cream and shortly after this I gave up with the heat and went and bought a pint of lemonade and lime, filled with ice and sat in the marquee and people watched for an hour and a half! Heaven!

I bought a book from the Subbuteo stand: National Geographic's Field Guide to the Birds of North America by Jon L. Dunn and Jonathan Alderfer and got £5.00 off for being a Birdforum member! Also bought the new Micro Moth Book for my mother.

Simon King picking out the numbers for Wildlife Bingo at the
Wildlife Trust Stand.

Visitors playing Wildlife Bingo with Simon King on the
Wildlife Trust Stand.

The Optics Marquee.

The only picture of Simon King and I this year!

The day ended very well indeed as I spotted Simon King by his stand and managed to get my photo card signed and also another one for a lady at work and also my yearly hug/picture was taken aswell!!!! I'm glad now that I didn't get to his signings earlier, I would have been queueing for ages!!!

All in all, an excellent day!!!