Blogger: Adam Murray, Communications Officer
What makes the perfect partner? Now do not fret I am not going to get all gushy about how great my wife is, my better half, the wind beneath my wings, the Ying to my Yang. This month on our blog we have been looking at partnerships and it got me thinking about this question of the perfect partner.
Some of the answers came to me on a blustery weekend walk with my Little Chief & my wife, Abi. I don’t know about you but our family day revolves around food and what better way to talk about partnerships than food related interludes and what (in the words of my Dad) “eats well together”.
We started off early with a Sausage Bap & Cup of Tea at RSPB Titchwell Marsh. Here we spotted many usual suspects and made our way to the beach where the Little Chief took his first sustained steps and found every razor clam shell and pebble totally fascinating.
After finally toddling our way back via my handy work at the Parrinder hide we drove along the coast to Holkham. Here we began the peaceful forest walk to Wells-Next-the-Sea which we had been meaning to do for ages. This is when the blustery weather turned into soggy drizzle, the sort of rain that doesn’t seem to wet until later you realise you are wet through to your pants. We were lucky enough though to see evidence of one our favourite beasties.
Finally we got to our destination and filled up on the Great British tradition of Fish, Chips & Mushy Peas. With the 3 mile walk back past the old dunes in the rain we knew that we were well deserving of a little bit of sweetness so topped up our reserves with locally produced Mint & Choc Chip Ice-cream.
There is nothing more satisfying than a big stomp in the great outdoors with your loved ones. Even when we were wet through to the bone, a cheeky smile from my little one, an encouraging word in my ear from my wife, and a touch of Dad-humour from me, got us through to the end of the day. Now that in my eyes is a perfect partnership – team work.
Therefore, in answer to my original question, I think the way Kate describes a great partnership here is spot on; “The trick is involving someone who does have the highest level of expertise. Nature is in real trouble and if we are going to save it then we all need to work together. The more we do this, pooling expertise and resources, the more we’ll achieve”.
So whether you are a Great British food combo, a family team or conservation partnership, all are better as a whole rather than as individuals. Here at the RSPB in the East we look forward to working with more partners and seeing what extra things we can “bring to the party”, only this way can we meet our goals of saving nature by 2020.
Photo Credit: Titchwell at Sunset by Andy Hay (rspb-images.com)
Photo Credit: Thames Estuary Furturescape by Eleanor Bentall (rspb-images.com)
P.S. For those curious about how we finished off our culinary daily delights we ended with that other perfect British partnership of Chicken Tikka Masala & Peshwari Naan