Well, what an amazing few days!!! I left home last Tuesday and headed down to London to stay with a friend so I could help out at the Wildlife Whisperer stand at the Outdoor Show, this year at the ExCel arena.
I joined the team on Wednesday, the day before the show started, to help with the stand build. The others had already built the main structure of the stand and it took the six of us from 9am until 8pm to finish it! When you see the photographs, you will see why! The stand was pretty big. At one end there was a till area and a table for Simon to sign his books and chat to visitors. There were then several ‘pods’ that offered information about tracks and signs, bird song ID and activities for kids. Running alongside the hazel hurdling that created the ‘walls’ of the stand was a wildlife garden. Within this there were mini habitats, bird feeders and a model of Simon, displaying the kit he used to film most of the films on the new Wildlife Whisperer site.
We also had an amazing wooden tower. Zeiss were there with some stunning binoculars and scopes and visitors could go up the tower and try out these pieces of kit. It was very popular.
For Thursday and Friday, we were also lucky enough to have the amazing Darren Woodhead on the stand with his truly inspiring pieces of artwork. Darren is another of the whisperers and if you are not familiar with his work, then check him out on the Wildlife Whisperer site by visiting the ‘About the team’ section.
Thursday was pretty quiet in the show, but the momentum soon picked up and by Saturday, it was heaving! We all met some great people and I thoroughly enjoyed talking about the great things that are going to appear on Wildlife Whisperer over the coming months.
I had set up a range of activities for kids, including a competition and keyring making. The Wildlife Trust had provided us with some animal masks to colour in. I met some amazing children, some of whom were seriously interested in Wildlife and it was fantastic to talk to them and their parents.
Simon was on the stand for most of the time, nipping off only to do talks in the main arena. His knowledge and skills in this area are phenomenal and my admiration for him grew over the time we spent together on the stand. It is an honour to be able to work with such a brilliant naturalist and wildlife film maker.
Enough of me enthusing!! I think you get the picture! I truly enjoyed my time representing the project on the stand and can’t wait to get cracking on all the new and exciting things we have planned for Wildlife Whisperer over the coming months.
A big thanks to the Wildlife Whisperer team of Jason, Debbie, Jerry, Gill, Marguerite, Darren… not forgetting Simon! Another thank you also to Ian Cook, who has supplied these photos….
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