GETTYEuropean bee-eaters were a highlight at a National Trust Over coming weeks we will be assailed by the Oscars, Golden Globes, Grammys, Baftas and Brits with all their posh frocks, gush and glitter.
Ahead of all those cringeworthy acceptance speeches, another set of awards are taking a bow for the first time to recognise all that is best about British birdwatching.
The inaugural Birders’ Choice Awards have been organised by Birdwatch magazine in association with bird news website BirdGuides.com. They salute the personalities and products that help make the pastime so rewarding.
Leading the laureates is television presenter Chris Packham who has been voted Conservation Hero of the Year by the magazine’s readers.
Away from the Springwatch cameras, Packham has been heavily involved in highlighting illegal bird hunting on Malta.
He visited the Mediterranean island to witness the slaughter of migratory birds last spring and was also at the House of Commons to see the issue debated. His #MaltaMassacre campaign trended number one on Twitter.
Indeed #MaltaMassacre was also voted Campaign of the Year by readers.
In contrast, former Environment Secretary Owen Paterson, who oversaw the controversial badger cull, received the Guano Award for Environmental Harm, while ethical cosmetics chain Lush was named Company of the Year for its stance against animal cruelty and support for the hen harriers protection campaign.
Away from the Springwatch cameras, Packham has been heavily involved in highlighting illegal bird hunting on MaltaAnother key conservation issue highlighted in 2014, namely the impact that neonicotinoid pesticides have had on birds as well as bees, was declared the Discovery of the Year.
The successful nesting of two pairs of European bee-eaters at the National Trust’s Wydcombe Estate on the Isle of Wight was voted the Rarity Event of the Year and Spurn Point in Yorkshire, which turned up a masked shrike in September, was hailed Site of the Year.
Taking 60 per cent of the votes cast, the Touchpress app version of the best-selling Collins Bird Guide was the landslide winner of the Best New Product of the Year.
The Helm Guide to Bird Identification by Alan Harris, Keith Vinicombe and Laurel Tucker, an update of the classic title first published in 1989, was declared Bird Book of the Year.
Finally, young activist, blogger and online fundraiser Findlay Wilde became the Local Hero of the Year. Birdwatch’s managing editor Dominic Mitchell says he has been delighted at the response to birding’s equivalent of the Baftas and Oscars.
“There are tens of thousands of keen birdwatchers in Britain, but until now there has been no easy way for them to recognise the products, companies and people who deserve it the most.”
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