WildWings Media Resources - August 06 Come and see WildWings at BBWF

COME AND SEE WHAT’S NEW WITH WILDWINGS

AT THE BRITISH BIRDWATCHING FAIR 18 - 20 August 2006

PLEASE NOTE AMENDMENT TO STAND NUMBER - Stand 52 in Marquee 4

Birdwatching specialist, WildWings, will again be exhibiting at the British Birdwatching Fair (WildWings’ thirteenth year!), the largest international birdwatching event held each year in Rutland, the smallest county in England. Visitors certainly won’t be disappointed as they plan to launch another exciting selection of tours - all of which will be featured in the 2007 WildWings brochure, also available at the show.

As with so many of the UK’s summer events, much of the success is dependent on the weather … but there are no sturdier folk than birdwatchers especially when armed with their binoculars and wellingtons! Despite at least one rainy day during last year’s British Birdwatching Fair (BBWF) they saw record numbers through the doors at Rutland Water - one of the best inland nature reserves in England - and also exceeded all expectations for monies raised for their annual global conservation project to support Gurney’s Pittas in Myanmar and Thailand.

Here are some of the tours to be featured by WildWings at BBWF this August:

Strap on the binoculars and power up the camera, it’s the Christmas Island Bird Week - Lying south of Indonesia and northwest of Australia, the tropical paradise of Christmas Island will host their first-ever Bird Week starting on 31 August 2006. Participants will spend the week with the island’s resident scientists catching the majestic Abbott’s booby usually high up in the rainforest canopy, monitoring brown boobies on the remote and secluded rocky coasts and learning first hand the nesting biology and foraging ecology of Christmas Island frigatebirds and red-tailed tropicbirds. And, of course, there will be the chance to search for a few of those rarities for which Christmas Island is so famous. Around 65% of the national park contains species of flora and fauna found nowhere else in the world.

Prices for 31 August – 7 September 2006 start from £799 per person sharing a twin room. There are plans to repeat the event in August 2007; there will be a slight price increase for 2007. Price includes return flights Singapore/Christmas Island, 7 nights accommodation in rooms with private facilities, all meals, four-wheel drive vehicle hire and special birding events.

Expect the Unexpected whilst Birdwatching in the Azores – An isolated archipelago of nine main islands and many smaller islets in the North Atlantic, the Azores are at the most westerly limit of the Western Palearctic. The endemic Azores Bullfinch and the range-restricted Atlantic Canary are the star landbirds, although the phenomenal track record that these islands have established for American vagrants – both passerines and waterbirds –means that birdwatchers should expect the unexpected during this autumn visit. Add to that some exciting seabirds, and this 8-day island-hopping tour offers a unique new dimension to birding in the region. The group size for this tour will be just 8 participants plus tour leader.

Prices £1449 per person sharing a twin room including international flights and hotel accommodation in rooms with private facilities, breakfast, ground transport by mini bus, Birdwatch Magazine/WildWings tour leader. Departure date 6 – 13 October 2007

Northern Islands Adventure Cruise - An expedition cruise ship is the ideal vessel for exploring the wild, seabird-filled islands of Scotland and the North Atlantic. Legendary sites such as St Kilda, Fair Isle, Foula and Mousa are all on the itinerary and there’s a selection of 8-12 day cruises from which to choose; all timed for May, June and July when the seabird colonies are at their busiest. For the last two years, a vagrant black-browed albatross has adopted the uninhabited Scottish island of Sula Sgeir as its summer residence (a long way from its southern hemisphere home) and both of the May voyages plan to visit this particular site. The Scottish Islands are a birdwatcher’s paradise with gannets, manx shearwaters, the comical puffin, guillemots, razorbills, kittiwakes and fulmars. Great and Arctic skuas can be added to this impressive list as well as a variety of terns including the ultimate long distance migrant, the Arctic tern. Grey seals and otters are often found in these waters as are orca, minke whale and bottlenose dolphins, whilst golden and white-tailed eagles may be spotted gliding overhead.

Prices from £1399 per person sharing a twin cabin including accommodation, all meals and zodiac excursions while on the voyage. Price excludes travel to/from the ports of Aberdeen, Oban, Edinburgh & Longyearbyen (Spitsbergen) depending on the chosen itinerary.

Departures Good selection of dates in May, June & July 2007

New Ecovolunteers working conservation holiday in Myanmar (Burma) - still classed as one of the world’s undiscovered destinations, Myanmar is also the stunning location of this brand new Ecovolunteers project focusing on the conservation of the gregarious plain-pouched hornbill.

Qualifying as vulnerable in conservation terms, the hornbills’ small, rapidly declining, population is a result of hunting and extensive deforestation. Coincidentally, in 2005, BBWF were successful in raising funds for another Myanmar based project - saving the forest home of the Gurney’s pitta. Final details of this project are in the process of completion – further details will be found on www.ecovolunteer.org.uk.

Roel Cosijn, who operates Ecovolunteers, will be attending BBWF and would be pleased to talk about Burma’s plain-pouched hornbill project and other Ecovolunteers working conservation holidays. WildWings are the UK agents for Ecovolunteers.

Bird’s Eye View of the Hula Valley Bird Festival – Birdwatchers from all over the world are expected to join November 2007’s bird festival organised by Israel’s Society for the Protection of Nature. During autumn and winter, the Hula Valley wetlands in Israel are a magnet for tens of thousands of waterfowl, raptors and waders. During the festival period, birders can expect spectacular sightings of upto 20,000 common cranes and several thousand white pelicans. Other species as diverse as pygmy cormorant, black francolin and great black-headed gull will also be seen, along with the more exotic sounding species such as oriental skylark, buff-bellied pipit and moustached reed warbler. Lectures, guided tours and identification workshops are all part of the festival, whilst motorised gliders will offer a bird’s-eye view of migrating flocks and mobile hides provide handy birdwatching lookouts.

Price from £895 per person sharing a twin room. Price includes return flight London /Tel Aviv, hotel transfers, accommodation on a half board basis (breakfast and evening meal) in twin-bedded rooms with private facilities, free shuttle bus to reserve, local English speaking expert guides. Departure date 4-11 November 2007

Who from WildWings will be at BBWF?

On any of the show’s three days you can meet John Brodie-Good (founder and MD of WildWings) and his team: Wendy Coe, Sarah-Jane Thompson and Jan Clements. However, on Friday 18 August, they will also be kept company by some of the Wildwings birding experts/guides, all of whom will be happy to talk about their particular areas of expertise.

Gerard Ramsawak, owner of Trinidad’s Pax Guest House, never fails to be a hit with his birding guests. Set in the idyllic gardens of a monastery, Pax Guest House has been run as a favourite birding destination by Gerard and his wife, Oda, for the last 12 years. The property is celebrating its 90^th anniversary this year (it was built in 1916).

Ornithologist, lecturer, writer and photographer, Tony Marr, has been leading WildWings tours since 1994 and, although he specialises in polar expeditions, he’s also led tours to other exotic birding destinations such as China, West Africa and India.

Dick Filby is one of the UK’s most experienced leaders to Antarctica. He’s been a WildWings guide for over ten years travelling extensively around the world, yet he remains very active on the UK birding scene. Dick pioneered the UK Rare Bird Alert pager service, now expanded to encompass mobile technology and the web.

Author of the ‘Photographic Guide to the Waders of the World’, David Rosair is one of Britain’s leading wader specialists. David has recently achieved his personal ambition to observe all of the world’s known shorebirds. Congratulations David!

Artist, photographer and bird illustrator, Mark Andrews, is one of few experts on the birds of the Cameroon. He is author and illustrator of a new field guide to African mammals and will exhibit his work in BBWF’s art marquee.

Notes to editors:

1) The British Birdwatching Fair will take place at Egleton Nature Reserve, Rutland Water from Friday 18 August through to Sunday 20 August.

2) WildWings are in Marquee 4, stand 52.

3) Each year, the Birdfair adopts a different BirdLife conservation project and, for 2006, the project is Saving the Pacific’s Parrots.

4) For a press pass to visit the Birdfair please call Emma on 01572 771079 or email bbwf@rutlandwater.clara.net and quote ‘WildWings’.

5) For a copy of WildWings new 2007 brochure (to be launched at BBWF) please call WildWings on 0117 9658 333.