The British Birdwatching Fair or Birdfair is an

annual Annual may refer to: * Annual publication, periodical publications appearing regularly once per year **Yearbook ** Literary annual * Annual plant * Annual report * Annual giving * Annual, Morocco, a settlement in northeastern Morocco * Annuals (b ...

event for

birdwatcher Birdwatching, or birding, is the observing of birds, either as a recreational activity or as a form of citizen science. A birdwatcher may observe by using their naked eye, by using a visual enhancement device like binoculars or a telescope, by ...

s, held every August at

Rutland Water Rutland Water is a reservoir in Rutland, England, east of Rutland's county town, Oakham. It is filled by pumping from the River Nene and River Welland, and provides water to the East Midlands. By surface area it is the largest reservoir in En ...

in England, run by staff and volunteers from the

Leicestershire and Rutland Wildlife Trust The Leicestershire and Rutland Wildlife Trust (LRWT) is one of 46 wildlife trusts across the United Kingdom. It manages nature reserves in Leicestershire and Rutland, and was founded in 1956 as the Leicestershire and Rutland Trust for Nature Con ...

. The birdfairs in 2020 and 2021 were cancelled because of the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identif ...

and in November 2021 the fair was permanently discontinued over financial concerns. By January 2022, however, one of the original conceivers of the Birdfair, Tim Appleton MBE, announced a new event under the guise of Global Birdfair. In March 2022 an official announcement was made that Global Birdfair would take place at a new location, Rutland Showground, from 15–17 July. It has been described as "the birder's

Glastonbury Glastonbury (, ) is a town and civil parish in Somerset, England, situated at a dry point on the low-lying Somerset Levels, south of Bristol. The town, which is in the Mendip district, had a population of 8,932 in the 2011 census. Glastonbury ...

". A large number of suppliers of

binoculars Binoculars or field glasses are two refracting telescopes mounted side-by-side and aligned to point in the same direction, allowing the viewer to use both eyes (binocular vision) when viewing distant objects. Most binoculars are sized to be held ...

camera A camera is an Optics, optical instrument that can capture an image. Most cameras can capture 2D images, with some more advanced models being able to capture 3D images. At a basic level, most cameras consist of sealed boxes (the camera body), ...

s, books, clothing and other

birdwatching Birdwatching, or birding, is the observing of birds, either as a recreational activity or as a form of citizen science. A birdwatcher may observe by using their naked eye, by using a visual enhancement device like binoculars or a telescope, b ...

equipment, plus artists and tour companies, display and sell their wares. There are also lectures and other attractions. The first fair was held in 1989. All the organisers' profits are donated to a

charity Charity may refer to: Giving * Charitable organization or charity, a non-profit organization whose primary objectives are philanthropy and social well-being of persons * Charity (practice), the practice of being benevolent, giving and sharing * Ch ...

Birdlife International BirdLife International is a global partnership of non-governmental organizations that strives to conserve birds and their habitats. BirdLife International's priorities include preventing extinction of bird species, identifying and safeguarding ...

. Prior to the 2008 fair, visitors had contributed £1,488,000 to international bird

conservation Conservation is the preservation or efficient use of resources, or the conservation of various quantities under physical laws. Conservation may also refer to: Environment and natural resources * Nature conservation, the protection and manageme ...

. The 2018 fair raised £322,000, making a total of £4,679,152 since the inception. Other countries are replicating the fair, including the

South American Bird Fair The South American Birdwatching Fair is an annual event for birdwatchers, held every year in a different country of the continent. It is described as the birders' principal meeting in South America, with people from all over the world. Lovers of ...

, which was first held in 2010 and th
Amazon Birding Fest
since 2019.

Themes

Each year the Birdfair has a different fundraising theme; a list of these is as follows, with the approximate amount raised: * 1989: Stop the Massacre Campaign,

Malta Malta ( , , ), officially the Republic of Malta ( mt, Repubblika ta' Malta ), is an island country in the Mediterranean Sea. It consists of an archipelago, between Italy and Libya, and is often considered a part of Southern Europe. It lies ...

(£3,000) * 1990: Helping Save Spain's

Doñana National Park Doñana National Park or Parque Nacional y Natural de Doñana is a natural reserve in Andalucía, southern Spain, in the provinces of Huelva (most of its territory), Cádiz and Seville. It covers , of which are a protected area. The park is an ...

(£10,000) * 1991:

Danube Delta The Danube Delta ( ro, Delta Dunării, ; uk, Дельта Дунаю, Deľta Dunaju, ) is the second largest river delta in Europe, after the Volga Delta, and is the best preserved on the continent. The greater part of the Danube Delta lies in Ro ...

(£20,000) * 1992: Spanish

Steppes In physical geography, a steppe () is an ecoregion characterized by grassland plains without trees apart from those near rivers and lakes. Steppe biomes may include: * the montane grasslands and shrublands biome * the temperate grasslands, ...

Appeal (£30,000) * 1993: Polish Wetlands (£40,000) * 1994: Project

Halmahera Halmahera, formerly known as Jilolo, Gilolo, or Jailolo, is the largest island in the Maluku Islands. It is part of the North Maluku province of Indonesia, and Sofifi, the capital of the province, is located on the west coast of the island. Hal ...

Indonesia Indonesia, officially the Republic of Indonesia, is a country in Southeast Asia and Oceania between the Indian and Pacific oceans. It consists of over 17,000 islands, including Sumatra, Java, Sulawesi, and parts of Borneo and New Guine ...

(£45,000) * 1995: Moroccan Wetlands Project (£47,000) * 1996:

Kẻ Gỗ Nature Reserve Kẻ Gỗ Nature Reserve is a nature reserve in Vietnam. It is located in three districts of this province, namely: Cẩm Xuyên, Thạch Hà, Hương Khê. It was established by the Decision No. 519/QD-UB dated May 3, 1997 of the Ha Tinh People ...

Forest Project,

Vietnam Vietnam or Viet Nam ( vi, Việt Nam, ), officially the Socialist Republic of Vietnam,., group="n" is a country in Southeast Asia, at the eastern edge of mainland Southeast Asia, with an area of and population of 96 million, making i ...

(£55,000) * 1997:

Mindo MINDO, or Modified Intermediate Neglect of Differential Overlap is a semi-empirical method for the quantum calculation of molecular electronic structure in computational chemistry. It is based on the Intermediate Neglect of Differential Overlap ( ...

Important Bird Area Project,

Ecuador Ecuador ( ; ; Quechua: ''Ikwayur''; Shuar: ''Ecuador'' or ''Ekuatur''), officially the Republic of Ecuador ( es, República del Ecuador, which literally translates as "Republic of the Equator"; Quechua: ''Ikwadur Ripuwlika''; Shuar: ''Eku ...

(£60,000) * 1998: Threatened Birds Programme (£120,000) * 1999: Rescuing Brazil's Atlantic Forests (£130,000) * 2000: Save the

Albatross Albatrosses, of the biological family Diomedeidae, are large seabirds related to the procellariids, storm petrels, and diving petrels in the order Procellariiformes (the tubenoses). They range widely in the Southern Ocean and the North Pacifi ...

Campaign (£122,000) * 2001: Eastern

Cuba Cuba ( , ), officially the Republic of Cuba ( es, República de Cuba, links=no ), is an island country comprising the island of Cuba, as well as Isla de la Juventud and several minor archipelagos. Cuba is located where the northern Caribbea ...

– Saving a Unique Caribbean Wilderness (£135,000) * 2002: Saving the last Lowland Rainforests in

Sumatra Sumatra is one of the Sunda Islands of western Indonesia. It is the largest island that is fully within Indonesian territory, as well as the sixth-largest island in the world at 473,481 km2 (182,812 mi.2), not including adjacent i ...

(£147,000) * 2003: Saving

Madagascar Madagascar (; mg, Madagasikara, ), officially the Republic of Madagascar ( mg, Repoblikan'i Madagasikara, links=no, ; french: République de Madagascar), is an island country in the Indian Ocean, approximately off the coast of East Africa ...

's Fragile

Wetland A wetland is a distinct ecosystem that is flooded or saturated by water, either permanently (for years or decades) or seasonally (for weeks or months). Flooding results in oxygen-free (anoxic) processes prevailing, especially in the soils. The ...

s (£157,000) * 2004: Saving Northern

Peru , image_flag = Flag of Peru.svg , image_coat = Escudo nacional del Perú.svg , other_symbol = Great Seal of the State , other_symbol_type = Seal (emblem), National seal , national_motto = "Fi ...

's Dry Forests (£164,000) * 2005: Saving

Gurney's Pitta Gurney's pitta (''Hydrornis gurneyi'') ( th, นกแต้วแร้วท้องดำ) is a medium-sized passerine bird. It breeds in the Malay Peninsula, with populations mainly in Myanmar. The common name and Latin binomial commemorate ...

s and their forest home (£200,000) * 2006: Saving the Pacific's

Parrots Parrots, also known as psittacines (), are birds of the roughly 398 species in 92 genus (biology), genera comprising the order (biology), order Psittaciformes (), found mostly in tropics, tropical and subtropics, subtropical regions. The order ...

(£215,000) * 2007: Preventing

Extinction Extinction is the termination of a kind of organism or of a group of kinds (taxon), usually a species. The moment of extinction is generally considered to be the death of the last individual of the species, although the capacity to breed and ...

s programme (£226,000) * 2008: Preventing Extinctions programme (£265,000) * 2009: Preventing Extinctions programme (£263,000) * 2010: Southern

Ethiopia Ethiopia, , om, Itiyoophiyaa, so, Itoobiya, ti, ኢትዮጵያ, Ítiyop'iya, aa, Itiyoppiya officially the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia, is a landlocked country in the Horn of Africa. It shares borders with Eritrea to the ...

n Endemics (£243,000) * 2011: Flyways – The Eurasian-African Flyway (£227,000) * 2012: Flyways – The East Asian-Australian Flyway (£200,000) * 2013: Flyways – The Americas Flyway (£270,000) * 2014: Protecting the Worlds Seas and Oceans (£280,000) * 2015: Protecting Migratory Birds of the Eastern Mediterranean (£320,000) * 2016: Saving IBAs in Africa (£350,000) * 2017: Saving Paradise in the Pacific (

Rapa Iti Rapa, also called Rapa Iti, or "Little Rapa", to distinguish it from Easter Island, whose Polynesian name is Rapa Nui, is the largest and only inhabited island of the Bass Islands in French Polynesia. An older name for the island is Oparo. The ...

) (£333,000) * 2018:

Mar Chiquita Mar Chiquita is a coastal lagoon in the southeast province of Buenos Aires in eastern Argentina. It is located by the Atlantic coast, 30 km north of Mar del Plata. The area is a natural reserve where a number of animal species live around ...

: a haven for Argentina's flamingos (£322,000) * 2019: Conserving Cambodia’s big five in Western Siem Pang (£155,000) * 2020: The Birdfair was cancelled in 2020 because of the

, with an online event to take place instead. * 2021: Cancelled because of the COVID-19 pandemic. * 2022: Global Birdfair announced at Rutland Showground 15–17 July 2022

References

{{coord, 52.656, -0.702, type:landmark_region:GB, display=title 1989 establishments in the United Kingdom Annual events in the United Kingdom BirdLife International Birdwatching fairs Conservation in the United Kingdom Festivals established in 1989 Ornithology in the United Kingdom Recurring events established in 1989 Tourist attractions in Rutland