Blogs

Crikey, it has been a wee while since the last update, hasn't it? Not because I have been sunning myself on a beach (chance would be a fine thing) but because instead I have been out and about in the local community.

Whilst sites such as Top Lodge are of course very important to the RSPB, it is vital that we spread our message to as many people as possible. Therefore over the past few weeks I have been on the road. Standing outside supermarkets in Bourne and Kettering gives you a great opportunity to do one of my other hobbies, people watching. Plus it led to some great conversations with some really nice people.

The most exciting work I have been doing over the past few weeks though was in the somewhat grander surroundings of the gardens belonging to a stately home. Burghley House near Stamford is just a few miles up the road from us at Top Lodge. You may have heard of it as the venue for a prestigious equestrian event, the Burghley Horse Trials. The house (which incidentally is well worth a visit) has some very nice grounds, including gardens laid out by Capability Brown in which are housed sculptures. It was there, overlooking an ornamental lake, that we pitched our marquee and set up for a week.

The lake provided most of the birdlife that we saw, with a kingfisher providing brief but regular views. Grebes, coots, moorhens and ducks dabbled or dived on the water whilst buzzards, red kites and on a couple of days a hobby wheeled overhead. In the RSPB marquee we chatted to visitors and had fun with the kids making dragonflies out of pipe cleaners, with acetate sheets cut into the shape of wings.

I would just like to say what a pleasure it was to meet everyone over that week and how grateful we are to Burghley House for allowing us into their gardens. We are hoping to repeat it in 2010, watch this space!

On Monday I was asked to give a talk about the local red kites. Nothing unusual about that, I get to do it quite often. But the people I was talking to were the Welland Gliding Club. When flying they look out for thermals to give themselves extra lift. Kites do the same and so they often find themselves in close proximity to each other, giving some marvelously close views. All of which obviously piqued their interest.

Very kindly, one of the members of the club offered to take me up in his glider so I could get the impression of what a kite must feel like. Now, I have to admit that I am not the best flier in the world, so the idea of strapping myself into what is effectively a plane without an engine did make me think twice. But pretty soon I found myself sat in the front seat whilst Mike ran through the safety briefing and explained how the instruments worked. And then it was time to be off. The winch rope was attached and we started to hurtle along over the grass. One brief hop and then we were up, up into the air. After some intial nerves I soon got into it as we rose up to 1000 feet. It was marvelous to see the local countryside spreading out in front of us and looking down it really made you appreciate how good a kite's eyesight must be to spot food from up there. We drifted around whilst Mike pointed out local landmarks, and then all too soon it was time to return to earth again.

It really was a mervellous experience and I can highly recommend it to anyone.

Ready for take off!