When we launched the 10,000 Birds Conservation Club last month we wrote out a list of FAQs and sent a little wish into the blogosphere which ran:

Those few lines could have been one of those rather forlorn appeals that no-one responds to, but - and I really can’t explain how grateful we are - several future donors have already mailed me! One of those that did was Fiona Barclay from the mighty BirdGuides.com, which as anyone with a FatBirder top list button will know is the organisation/company which has occupied the #1 spot on the list for - oh, decades it seems (particularly to those of us perpetually trailing in their wake)…

There is a very good reason that BirdGuides is probably the most-visited birding site on the internet - they’re darn good at what they do. For those few of you reading this who don’t know what that is, to quote from their website: “BirdGuides brings you better birding through technology. We offer up-to-the-minute news and views on British and Irish birds, comprehensive online and mobile reference, a huge photo library and the best products for birdwatchers everywhere.”

Included amongst these “best products for birdwatchers everywhere” is a series of outstanding interactive DVD-ROMs. They’re not cheap - quality rarely comes for free as anyone who’s bought a pirated copy of a latest movie will know - but that only makes it more remarkable that Fiona has donated a copy each of TWO of the best DVD-ROMs that BirdGuides makes to give away to Conservation Club Members in our latest competition!

Yes, I kid you not!

We have a copy of Birds of the Western Palearctic Interactive (BWPi) which Lars Svensson (author of the Collins Bird Guide) says is “…easily the best-value buy I’ve made for years. Excellent.”

On the BirdGuides website BWPi is described thus:

AND we have been given a copy of British Birds Interactive (BBi) to give-away too. Why might you want BBi? Because as the BirdGuides website explains:

The combined retail cost of this package is over 300USD/200GBP, but ONE lucky Conservation Club member can win BOTH by entering the competition below!

• And if you’re not yet a Conservation Cub member click on the ‘Subscribe’ button below and join - it’s just 25USD/15GBP for a full twelve months and you can enter every single competition we run during that period - including ones that are already running (check out the Sound Approach and Wetlands and Wildfowl Trust competitions at the bottom of the page).

  And remember 10,000 Birds doesn’t keep ANY of your membership fee - we give everything that’s left after the small PayPal charge (and any postage charges) to conservation projects that Members themselves get to choose!

BUT BirdGuides’ generosity hasn’t stopped there!

Incredibly they’ve also given us a PLATINUM subscription to their superb BirdGuides News Services to give-away (worth over 90USD/60GBP)!

The Platinum level subscription gives users access to four separate news services + access to the BirdGuides webzine + Iris Pro.

• Bird News Extra - browse our bird news output on the web
• Email Alert - receive select bird reports by email
• Bird Text Alert - receive select bird reports on your mobile phone by text message
• Bird News Anywhere - browse our bird news output on your mobile phone or PDA
• BirdGuides webzine - read our online magazine articles

Happy Christmas, Happy New Year, and Happy 2010 I reckon!

So, how can you win these amazing prizes?

Firstly, you MUST be a 10,000 Birds Conservation Club Member and you must use the email address you joined with to enter (that’s how we identify who is a member and who’s not).

Secondly, you need to answer the following questions by 24:00 GMT DECEMBER 31ST 2009 (answers can be easily found on the BirdGuides homepage).

The winners (or single winner conceivably) will be notified by email no later than three days after the closing date.

New members can enter these two competitions provided they join the Conservation Club by 24:00 GMT on December 28th 2009.

• And remember Conservation Cub members can enter every single competition we run during the twelve month period of their Membership

Competition give-aways Live right now!!!

Yes, the wonderful team at the fabulous Sound Approach have given us all three of their wonderful books - ‘The Sound Approach to Birding’, ‘Petrels night and day’, and ‘Birding from the Hip’ - specifically for a Conservation Club competition and we’re going to give them ALL to ONE lucky Conservation Club member!

25 dollars for a chance to win over 100 dollars worth of books? Fantastic eh…

To enter the competition Club Members (using the email address they joined with) need to answer the following question by 24:00 GMT SATURDAY 12TH DECEMBER:

• Mark Constantine, who founded the Sound Approach, began a company in the 1970s called Constantine & Weir that sold vegetarian bath and beauty products. That Company has evolved into a globally-recognised brand sold in more than 600 stores in 43 countries. What is the name of the Company now?

  A) The Body Shop
  B) Lush
  C) EcoOils

Send your answer to Charlie at charlie10000birds@gmail.com - please use the subject line CC Competition: Sound Approach (we may well end up with overlapping competitions and that will make sorting entries out that much easier).

The winner will be notified by email no later than three days after the closing date.

We’ve been given TEN (yes, TEN!) full single adult memberships for the superb Wetlands and Wildfowl Trust (WWT) to give-away to Conservation Club members (that’s one WWT membership to ten different Club Members in case anyone was hoping to have their entire Christmas gift list problems solved in one quick hit - though do please note if you do win your membership can be ‘gifted’ to anyone you nominate)!

To enter the competition to win one of TEN Wildfowl and Wetlands Trust single adult memberships, 10,000 Birds Conservation Club Members (using the email address they joined with) need to answer the following question by 24:00 GMT WEDNESDAY 23RD DECEMBER (NB: Please note that WWT have said to us that this offer is not available to anyone who is currently a WWT member, or who has been a member of WWT in the last 3 months):

• Send your answer to Charlie at charlie10000birds-AT-gmail.com - please use the subject line CC Competition: WWT (we already have overlapping competitions and it will make sorting entries out that much easier).
• The winners will be notified by email no later than THREE days after the closing date.

• A single adult membership of WWT normally costs £34.00 (approx 56 USDollars) so for a one-off payment of just 25USD/15GBP you stand a fairly good percentage chance - we only launched last month remember - of winning a WWT membership that’s worth more than twice as much!

Thanks again to the Wildfowl and Wetlands Trust for supporting this initiative of ours!

And remember this is just for starters! Members can enter every single competition we run for just that one little 25 dollar/15 gbp payment - WHICH GOES TO SUPPORT CONSERVATION remember - for twelve months from the date of joining the Conservation Club!

The 10,000 Birds Conservation Club has been launched as part of our commitment to supporting projects on Critically Endangered/Endangered birds and to Birdlife International’s ‘Preventing Extinctions Programme‘, which we signed up to as Species Champions in January 2009.

Species Champions are ”a growing community of Companies, Institutions and Individuals who share our concerns and demonstrate their commitment to protecting the planet’s natural heritage by funding the work undertaken by our Species Guardians”.

There are different ‘levels’ of Species Champion (requiring different levels of financial commitment). Whilst we joined the PEP at a ‘lower level’ 10,000 Birds is now officially a Species Champion along with such conservation giants as Sir David Attenborough and the British Birdwatching Fair, conservation minded businesses like Swarovski Optik (who also sponsor 10,000 Birds of course), In Focus, and WildSounds (the Species Champions for the Spoon-billed Sandpiper), and a small number of unsung individuals like Dr. Urs-Peter Stäuble, Ed Keeble, and Peter Smith.

• For a full list of Species Champions please go to BirdLife Species Champions ‘Roll of Honour’.