British Birdwatching Fair
Encyclopedia
The British Birdwatching Fair or Birdfair is an annual
event for birdwatchers, held every August at Rutland Water
in England. It is described as the birder's "Glastonbury
".
A large number of suppliers of binoculars
, camera
s, books, clothing and other birdwatching
equipment, plus artists and tour companies, display and sell their wares, and there are lectures and other attractions.
The first fair was held in 1989. All the organisers' profits are donated to a charity
, Birdlife International
. Prior to the 2008 Fair, visitors had contributed £1,488,000 to international bird conservation
. The 2009 event attracted 22,800 people and raised £263,000 for BirdLife's work in saving critically endangered birds around the world.
On other continents is replicating this experience, the most important is the South American Bird Fair
Web Site
Year
A year is the orbital period of the Earth moving around the Sun. For an observer on Earth, this corresponds to the period it takes the Sun to complete one course throughout the zodiac along the ecliptic....
event for birdwatchers, held every August at Rutland Water
Rutland Water
Rutland Water is Anglian Water's drinking water reservoir in the county of Rutland, England, just east of the county town Oakham. It was known as Empingham Reservoir during its construction and until its official opening in 1976. The centre of its dam is at British national grid reference...
in England. It is described as the birder's "Glastonbury
Glastonbury Festival
The Glastonbury Festival of Contemporary Performing Arts, commonly abbreviated to Glastonbury or even Glasto, is a performing arts festival that takes place near Pilton, Somerset, England, best known for its contemporary music, but also for dance, comedy, theatre, circus, cabaret and other arts.The...
".
A large number of suppliers of binoculars
Binoculars
Binoculars, field glasses or binocular telescopes are a pair of identical or mirror-symmetrical telescopes mounted side-by-side and aligned to point accurately in the same direction, allowing the viewer to use both eyes when viewing distant objects...
, camera
Camera
A camera is a device that records and stores images. These images may be still photographs or moving images such as videos or movies. The term camera comes from the camera obscura , an early mechanism for projecting images...
s, books, clothing and other birdwatching
Birdwatching
Birdwatching or birding is the observation of birds as a recreational activity. It can be done with the naked eye, through a visual enhancement device like binoculars and telescopes, or by listening for bird sounds. Birding often involves a significant auditory component, as many bird species are...
equipment, plus artists and tour companies, display and sell their wares, and there are lectures and other attractions.
The first fair was held in 1989. All the organisers' profits are donated to a charity
Charitable organization
A charitable organization is a type of non-profit organization . It differs from other types of NPOs in that it centers on philanthropic goals A charitable organization is a type of non-profit organization (NPO). It differs from other types of NPOs in that it centers on philanthropic goals A...
, Birdlife International
BirdLife International
BirdLife International is a global Partnership of conservation organisations that strives to conserve birds, their habitats and global biodiversity, working with people towards sustainability in the use of natural resources...
. Prior to the 2008 Fair, visitors had contributed £1,488,000 to international bird conservation
Conservation biology
Conservation biology is the scientific study of the nature and status of Earth's biodiversity with the aim of protecting species, their habitats, and ecosystems from excessive rates of extinction...
. The 2009 event attracted 22,800 people and raised £263,000 for BirdLife's work in saving critically endangered birds around the world.
On other continents is replicating this experience, the most important is the South American Bird Fair
South American Bird Fair
The South American Birdwatching Fair is an annual event for birdwatchers, held every November at San Martin de los Andes in Patagonia, Argentina...
Web Site
Themes
Each year the Birdfair has a different fundraising theme; a list of these is as follows, with the approximate amount raised:- 1989: Stop the massacre campaign, MaltaMaltaMalta , officially known as the Republic of Malta , is a Southern European country consisting of an archipelago situated in the centre of the Mediterranean, south of Sicily, east of Tunisia and north of Libya, with Gibraltar to the west and Alexandria to the east.Malta covers just over in...
(£3,000) - 1990: Save Spain's Donana National Park (£10,000)
- 1991: Danube DeltaDanube DeltaThe Danube Delta is the second largest river delta in Europe, after the Volga Delta, and is the best preserved on the continent. The greater part of the Danube Delta lies in Romania , while its northern part, on the left bank of the Chilia arm, is situated in Ukraine . The approximate surface is...
project, RomaniaRomaniaRomania is a country located at the crossroads of Central and Southeastern Europe, on the Lower Danube, within and outside the Carpathian arch, bordering on the Black Sea...
(£20,000) - 1992: Spanish Steppes Appeal (£30,000)
- 1993: Polish Wetlands Project (£40,000)
- 1994: Project HalmaheraHalmaheraHalmahera is the largest island in the Maluku Islands. It is part of the North Maluku province of Indonesia.Halmahera has a land area of 17,780 km² and a population in 1995 of 162,728...
, IndonesiaIndonesiaIndonesia , officially the Republic of Indonesia , is a country in Southeast Asia and Oceania. Indonesia is an archipelago comprising approximately 13,000 islands. It has 33 provinces with over 238 million people, and is the world's fourth most populous country. Indonesia is a republic, with an...
(£45,000) - 1995: Moroccan Wetlands Project (£47,000)
- 1996: Ke Go Forest Project, VietnamVietnamVietnam – sometimes spelled Viet Nam , officially the Socialist Republic of Vietnam – is the easternmost country on the Indochina Peninsula in Southeast Asia. It is bordered by China to the north, Laos to the northwest, Cambodia to the southwest, and the South China Sea –...
(£55,000) - 1997: Mindo Forest Project, EcuadorEcuadorEcuador , officially the Republic of Ecuador is a representative democratic republic in South America, bordered by Colombia on the north, Peru on the east and south, and by the Pacific Ocean to the west. It is one of only two countries in South America, along with Chile, that do not have a border...
(£60,000) - 1998: Threatened Birds Programme (£120,000)
- 1999: Rescuing Brazil's Atlantic Forests (£130,000)
- 2000: Save the AlbatrossAlbatrossAlbatrosses, of the biological family Diomedeidae, are large seabirds allied to the procellariids, storm-petrels and diving-petrels in the order Procellariiformes . They range widely in the Southern Ocean and the North Pacific...
Campaign (£125,000) - 2001: Eastern CubaCubaThe Republic of Cuba is an island nation in the Caribbean. The nation of Cuba consists of the main island of Cuba, the Isla de la Juventud, and several archipelagos. Havana is the largest city in Cuba and the country's capital. Santiago de Cuba is the second largest city...
: a Caribbean Wilderness (£135,000) - 2002: SumatraSumatraSumatra is an island in western Indonesia, westernmost of the Sunda Islands. It is the largest island entirely in Indonesia , and the sixth largest island in the world at 473,481 km2 with a population of 50,365,538...
's Lowland RainforestRainforestRainforests are forests characterized by high rainfall, with definitions based on a minimum normal annual rainfall of 1750-2000 mm...
s (£147,000) - 2003: MadagascarMadagascarThe Republic of Madagascar is an island country located in the Indian Ocean off the southeastern coast of Africa...
's Fragile WetlandWetlandA wetland is an area of land whose soil is saturated with water either permanently or seasonally. Wetlands are categorised by their characteristic vegetation, which is adapted to these unique soil conditions....
s (£157,000) - 2004: Saving northern PeruPeruPeru , officially the Republic of Peru , is a country in western South America. It is bordered on the north by Ecuador and Colombia, on the east by Brazil, on the southeast by Bolivia, on the south by Chile, and on the west by the Pacific Ocean....
's dry forests (£164,000) - 2005: Gurney's PittaGurney's PittaThe Gurney's Pitta, Pitta gurneyi, is a medium-sized passerine bird. It breeds in the Malay Peninsula, with populations in Thailand and, especially, Burma....
s and their forest home (£200,000) - 2006: Saving the Pacific's Parrots (£215,000)
- 2007: Preventing ExtinctionExtinctionIn biology and ecology, extinction is the end of an organism or of a group of organisms , normally a species. The moment of extinction is generally considered to be the death of the last individual of the species, although the capacity to breed and recover may have been lost before this point...
s programme (£226,000) - 2008: Preventing Extinctions programme