The founder of the Rutland Water Nature Reserve and also Bird Fair is remembering a 45 year friendship with Bill Oddie who passed away at the weekend aged 85.
Tim Appleton says he first met the comedian and presenter at the County Bird Races and often went on birding trips with him. Bill Oddie was a regular visitor to the Bird Fair in the Egleton days for many years.
"He used to come up to the Bird Fair every year, and we used to do these fashion shows and you know, everyone else had got sense, but he'd come in with about eight different layers of clothing on and it was hilarious.
And we'd been on trips abroad, about 10 of us. We had a fam trip to Northern Israel. I mean, we are going back a long, long time. And there's Bill, we all sat on a tank and you know, he's waving up in the sky at some vulture or something going past. And you know, he was just fun to be with. And we went to Tanzania.
But when you go to Tanzania in the early days, you would actually fly into on Ethiopian Airways. But on this occasion, the plane was delayed. And we thought, now how on earth can we get out and see some birds? So someone said, actually the only place you can see actually from within the airport, if you go into the gents loo, stand on the seat, there's a slim window.
And there we were, you know, on individual seats. And I think a lots of people listening will have their own memories. They will know him in so many different ways. And his little black book, you know, was the Bible of birding."
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