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I’ve just come back from Egleton, a sleepy village in equally sleepy Rutland. The last time I was here was on an intermediary leg of an inter-house road race relay, back in 1965. I would have been 16 or so, and was carrying the winning baton on a crucial leg through what today is the approach road to the Green Car Park for the British Bird Fair, held at Rutland Water, which is where I find myself today.

The Bird Fair, with part of Rutland Water in the background

ABOVE Egleton with bird fair / BELOW Admiral Hornblower

The Admiral Hornblower Inn, Oakham

I spent a good couple of days at Egleton, but not perhaps for the best of reasons. I stayed at a comfortable Inn (I use the word ‘Inn’ advisedly) in Rutland’s small county town of Oakham, where I had spent eight years of my schooldays as a boarder, although on this trip saw little of the town other than the insides of bars and restaurants. Transportation to the Bird Fair, a couple of miles away, was iffy as regards buses (organisers please note) but cheap enough by taxi if you could get one. I also benefitted from the occasional offer of a ride by the driver of one of the Oakham School buses. The Old Boys’ network is not dead.

Visitor’s Centre – with access to the hides

ABOVE: entrance to Rutland Water Visitors centre BELOW: Me with Bill Oddy

Me with Bill Oddie – I’m taller than him and he’s fatter than me

The British Bird fair is the biggest of its kind in the world, with exhibitors from all over the world except, for some curious reason, the United States. Go figure. There were a few celebrities around – Bill Oddy, who was very chatty, and Chris Packham, strolling determinedly across the meadow with a very serious look on his face that no doubt served him well as as protection against cholulos like me. I also met Enrique Couve, co-author of my favourite birding book Birds of Patagonia, Tierra Del Fuego and Antarctic Peninsula: The Falkland Islands and South Georgia. He was very pleasant and we have arranged to meet up in Punta Arenas in November.

Shetland Lass with a tempting smile

ABOVE: an invitation to the Shetland Islands BELOW interview with world-famous photographer Ben Tarvie

Ben Tarvie, bird photographer par excellence

I spent time on some of the Latin American stands, especially the Argentine one, and found all the stand holders exceptionally friendly and knowledgeable. There were useful stands offering photographic and other birding equipment but no bargains. There were several second hand book stands specialising in birding books but I somehow lacked the focus to pursue this (see below). And there were a number of stands dedicated to various aspects of bird crime: a message very well worth driving home, and to be copied to Argentina.

There were several stands highlighting the problem of bird crime

ABOVE Bird Crime BELOW Islay whiskies

Some of the many smoky malts on offer from Islay

The Islay stand was particularly hospitable, and I took up their offer to try nearly all of the malts distilled there. The whisky was excellent, but may have clouded my judgment and I soon tired of all the commercial side of things and decided I would pass on any further invitations to invest twelve grand in an all-inclusive trip to, say, Costa Rica: not my style of birding at all. And then I remembered that I was on the edge of one of Britain’s premier birding sites, Rutland Water, so I left Marquee 6 and headed for the hides. More about that in a separate blog.

At the bottom of Rutland Water (under the water, that is) is the submerged village of Hambleton, whose inhabitants were relocated when the valley was filled with water. I used to cycle all over the county when I was at school here, but here I shall ride my bike no more; it belongs to the wild life that have reclaimed the land and water.