As I drove into the car park of Bird Fair 2018, at Rutland Water, I could not believe that another year had passed! It only seems like last week, we were setting up the Bushnell stand in the Optics Marquee and here we were again!
It has to be my most favourite show of the year! Not only is it crammed packed full of great stalls, but it is also a wonderful opportunity to catch up with so many wildlife enthusiasts!
I work on the Bushnell stand for the weekend, along with Gareth, a fellow trail cam user. We also work with the Manfrotto team who work on the optics sales of the Bushnell binoculars and scopes.
Gone are the days when I used to have to build the stand… we now have the main part of the stand built for us and I come in to ‘dress it up’ a little with additional plants and feeders. I like to set up the trail cams on real scenarios, to show the many ways that these units can be used to capture the wildlife that is right on our doorstep. Lots of first time buyers of trail cameras just want to know what is happening in their garden, especially at night. The trail cameras can be used in so many different ways, especially the NatureView that has close-up lenses. I also create the 3 slideshows on the monitors that showcase the capabilities of the trail cams.
Before the show, I had captured lots of different footage of birds visiting various feeders and I used this footage on the stand, along with a selection of feeders from CJ Wildlife. It all looked great and we couldn’t wait to welcome all the visitors to our displays.
As well as being on the Bushnell stand, I also did two talks in the new Wild Zone part of the show. This year is its first year…. creating a centre for all things aimed at younger visitors. There were quite a lot of children at the show this year… more than I have seen in previous years, but there is much scope for encouraging more families to visit. I am hoping this area will continue to grow and develop over the coming years and that the many wonderful talks in this area are advertised in the main talks part of the show guide. This year, they were advertised on a second double-page spread, missed by many who thought they could only come to these talks if they had kids… definitely NOT the case!
I met so many friends and Twitter followers, old and new and even managed to sneak out on my lunch break to hear a couple of photographers speaking on the Canon stand.
A massive thanks to the wonderful Manfrotto team and also to CJ Wildlife for their products for the stand.
Before we know it, we will be returning for BirdFair 2019!
