“That season” is fast approaching again - you know, the one with the pine trees and the reindeer, the jolly chap with the beard (no, not your dipso uncle Harold, the other chap) - and 10,000 Birds is getting in the mood by asking you to give AND to receive…and help us take the next step in our efforts to save the Endangered Sharpe’s Longclaw, a species entirely dependent on the rapidly-disappearing tussock grasslands of south-western Kenya.

• Giving:

Regular readers will know all about Sharpe’s Longclaw, Dominic Kamani the “Small African Fellowship for Conservation” that we set up a few months ago, our relationship with Dr Muchai Muchane and the National Museums of Kenya and the Friends of Kinangop Plateau, the life-changing trip I made to Kenya in October, and the inspiring and wonderful Njabini Wool-spinning Workshop that 10,000 Birds has pledged to support - new visitors to the blog probably won’t so I’ll wait a second while you click on the links in the first part of this sentence and catch up…

We’ve been saying for a while now that we’ve been negotiating with the interested parties in Kenya (in particular the Friends of Kinangop Plateau [FOKP] and Nature Kenya [the BirdLife partner in Kenya]) about producing labels and leaflets for the Njabini Wool-spinning workshop, because at the moment there is very little information available for visitors and purchasers that explains exactly why the workshop is so important to the Kinangop grasslands and the people who live there.

These things do of course take time, but in between lots of other stuff we’ve been beavering away writing different drafts of those very leaflets and we just about have a final version. Darn good it is too!

What we need now though is a little help with the cost of producing both the leaflets and labels. We don’t think it’ll take very much money - in fact 500 USD may cover it. I’m personally putting in 100 USD to get things started - if another 400 visitors (less than half the number of people who visit the blog every day) Chip In just a dollar each we could reach our target by - well, by tomorrow in fact!

So how about it? I know that money is tight at the moment abnd there are pesents to be bought, but please think of it as an early-ish seasonal present for some very deserving folk, a dollar out of your December budget, the amount you’ve got down your sofa right now…oh, you know, it’s a dollar, what can I say…

NB: The cost of 500 USD is a rough estimate for producing 1000 sew-on labels and full-colour gatefold leaflets. 10,000 Bird guarantees that 100% of money raised through this appeal will be used for this purpose. If costs come to less than 500 USD, or more than 500 USD is raised, we will explicitly donate the surplus to Dominic Kimani and the Friends of Kinangop Plateau for work on the protection of Sharpe’s Longclaw.

• Receiving:

That would be the giving part, but I did mention that there’d be some receiving too…Yes, we’re going have another of our justifiably famous competitions! And the prize - well, the prize is unique…

Before I tell you what you can win, here’s what you need to do.

When I said that we “just about have a final version” there is one thing that we do still need to come up with - and that’s a tagline, a clever slogan if you will that sums up the work being done on the Kinangop. Something like “The threads that bind the Grassland” - only better, because I came up with that just now and it’s okay but not quite right…

Think Kenya, think grasslands, think conservation, community, weaving, wool, longclaws, blue skies, or whatever you else you think would neatly encapsulate the very essence of the Njabini Wool-spinning Workshop. When you’re done mail your stroke of genius, your words of brilliance, to us or leave them in the Comments below. We’ll then pass them all on to Dominic, Luca and the rest - and THEY’LL chose the one they like the best. Your phrase and your name will then forever be immortalised on thousands of leaflets used in the conservation of one of the world’s most threatened birds (and if the workshop gets big enough to produce a TV advert there’s every chance it’ll be used on that too)!

And what will you get in return if it’s your simple sentence, pithy phrase, or wonderful one-liner that’s chosen?

You will get a one-off, totally unique woollen rug hand-made by the good folk at the Njabini Wool-spinning Workshop, that’s what. Kind of like the one I was presented with in October, which was one of the proudest moments of my birding life so far…

…only there’s another part to this offer. YOU get to choose which bird species you’d like depicted on your rug. Want a Sharpe’s Longclaw? No problem. Prefer something from nearer home (wherever home is)? No problem. The craftsmen and women at Njabini will work out how to weave it into your rug, and - though it may take a little time and it may perhaps not be the most accurate portrayal ever seen - they will create something you’ll never be able to buy anywhere at any time…

And you don’t even have to donate a dollar to enter - though, you know, don’t let that stop you if you want to of course…

So there you have it, the Workshop needs some money to produce the information they desperately want to be able to provide, and hopefully - between us - we have the money they need. And one lucky winner will get a prize available nowhere else in the world that you just know will have heart and soul poured into it…

• This appeal and this prize is presented as part of a full collaboration between The Friends of Kinangop Plateau, Nature Kenya, the National Museums of Kenya, and 10,000 Birds to help protect the Kinangop Grasslands and the Endangered Sharpe’s Longclaw.