Sunday 17 May 2009

The Lee Valley Wildlife Weekend

Me and a young birder who came all the way from Harrow to meet me
Did the Lee Valley day today. Unfortunately, the weather was not too kind initially with lashing rain and wind. Although there were sunny spells later, the damage had been done and far fewer people attended than originally hoped for.

Met fellow wildlife presenter, Steve Backshall, who I must say is a lovely man. We spent a lot of the day chatting shop as well as talking about his remarkable recovery from his recent terrible accident in which he broke his back and crushed an ankle. 
Steve Backshall and I trying to decipher the audio visual equipment
I gave a talk in the main marquee about the virtues of looking for wildlife in cities. I admitted to a childhood crime against wildlife when I drowned bumblebees whilst testing to see if they could swim!
The Urban Birder relaying the Wormwood Scrubs Prison story
My second talk was within a lecture room and was about how to become an urban birder. I embellished it be showing a couple of The One Show clips. 
Steve Backshall and I
Later, I appeared on the Eddie Nestor show on Radio London discussing the week's topical subjects that ranged from Jordan and Andre splitting to the cheating MP's scandal.

All in all, a tiring though enjoyable day.

2 comments:

Des McKenzie said...

Nice to see you inspiring the youngsters Dave, can only be a good thing.

Birders bevvy this Friday, give me a shout if you can make it.

The Urban Birder said...

I heard about the drink at The Pummellers?

I'll try to make it.