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Birding for All Patron Bill Oddie

Patron Bill Oddie shares a joke with BFA Founder Bo Beolens at the British Bird Fair 2014 ©Ashley Beolens

Welcome to Birding For All

 

Birding For All is a relatively young organisation seeking to improve access for people with disabilities to reserves, facilities and services for birding – membership is FREE and open to all regardless of physical ability. We have members across the world but the majority live in the UK. There is a separate chapter in the USA.

When set up in 2000 it was known as the ‘disabled birders association’, but changed its name to Birding For All in 2010 in order to be more inclusive; After all there is no improvement to facilities, services or equipment designed to improve access for disabled people that makes them worse for anyone else. Indeed, improvements for disabled people may well improve things for all sorts of people; young, old, all gender, and all abilities.

We would never compromise the needs of birds or other wildlife with our push to get better access for people, but do believe that good design that gives access to people with mobility problems etc. improves access for EVERYBODY. If reserves etc. are open to the public this must mean ALL the public not just the minority who have no mobility issues. Half our members have a disability and half do not; we welcome all as it will only be by an alliance of disabled and able-bodied people that change will happen. Please join us – Membership is FREE for all.

Please feel free to contact us with news, ideas or reports on reserves etc. If you are going to check access on your local patch or reserve please print and use the form we have on line; so we can compare like with like.

Every year we have a stall at the British Birdwatching Fair – Come and meet us there.

Founder’s Message
Chairman & Founder Bo Beolens

Chairman & Founder Bo Beolens

Welcome to our website – constructed by professionals for us in line with our new “professional” image.

It’s important that we take our image seriously. Whilst we remain a member-led organisation, always happy to be informal, relaxed and light-hearted amongst ourselves, we need to show our professionalism to the outside world if we are to bring about the changes we all want.

We are already being taken seriously by the leading service providers; and this is starting to pay real dividends in changes to facilities to make reserves more accessible for us all.

R Crombet-Beolens – Founder

See my article in BBC Wildlife Magazine

Look around the site for Trip Reports – Optics Advice – Reserve Access Information and much, much more.

Membership is free, but please help us recruit more members, and promote our message by making an online donation. (See the right hand column for the easy way to donate through PayPal).

Corporate Sponsors

Birding For All could not continue to operate without the help of a number of major sponsors, which has included charitable trusts and commercial sponsors.

Our thanks go to many recent sponsors including:

  • Opticron – this internationally respected telescope and binocular maker has supported us greatly in every year of our existence by donating optics for us to use to raise money through raffles, auctions etc. Lately they have made very generous cash donations too.
  • Swarovski Optik – this internationally respected telescope and binocular maker has supported us greatly in every year of our existence by donating optics for us to use to raise money through raffles, auctions etc. Lately they have made very generous cash donations too.
  • Viking Optical – this internationally respected telescope and binocular maker has recently made a very generous cash donation.
  • Zeiss – this internationally respected telescope and binocular maker has supported us every year of our existence by subsidising the stand we take at the British Bird Fair.
  • Birding Ecotours – this internationally respected birding tour operator has been a long-term supporter and has recently made a generous cash donation.
  • Rockjumper Bird Tours – this internationally respected birding tour operator has recently made a generous cash donation.
  • Sarus Bird Tours – this internationally respected birding tour operator has been a long-term supporter and has recently made a generous cash donation.

There are other commercial enterprises, whose support has been generous, these include: Fatbirder and Wildsounds. Many individuals have made donations and bought raffle tickets helping to keep us afloat. Too many to name but in particular many of our patrons have been generous in their support.

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