Birdlife International

Today was a fabulous day and I didn't even lift a pair of binoculars!

I called the PR agency who looked after the Oman Tourist Board to tell them that I couldn't take up their generous offer of a press trip to Oman later this month. My reason was that it clashed with my trip to Alderney. To my surprise, the director of the PR agency told me not to worry and that she would hook up a trip there just for me whenever I wanted to go. How incredible is that!

Last week, I bumped into Birdlife International's illustrious Dr Nigel Collar, a true giant in the conservation world - google him. Anyway, I spotted A&C Black's Nigel Redman strolling through the streets of London's Soho with another gentleman. As I was about to walk past I decided to make myself known to Nigel Redman, as I have known him for years, - since the days when we both had a lot more hair. He introduced me to Nigel Collar and I immediately dropped to my knees in worship. A 30 second introduction led to today's invitation to join Nigel Collar and some of his learned colleagues on an expedition to southern Ethiopia in search of the Ethiopian Bush Crow.

Going on an expedition is something that I have always dreamt about doing since I was a boy reading Gerald Durrell books. And here I am, on the verge of living a dream. Unfortunately, I can't go due to my current commitments. The good news is that I may have the opportunity to join him on other expeditions in order to write about them to publicise the work of Birdlife International, the country that we are visiting and of course, the bird that we are searching for.

To use that hackneyed phrase - happy days!

I'm one totally lucky geezer!