Scroll through Flock Together's Instagram profile and you'll find practical pointers for where to spot kingfishers around the United Kingdom. In London, Hackney Marshes are a hotspot; Mancunians should head to Reddish Vale Country Park; birdwatchers in Belfast, to Bog Meadows; and for Welsh and Scottish twitchers, Aberdulais Falls and Inverness provide feather-focused opportunities.
It's the prismatic plumage of the kingfisher – a dynamic bird, bold in its orange and blue feathers, which shows off a neon flash down its back as it flies – that has inspired Flock Together's collaboration with Italian sportswear behemoth Fila on a compact collection of birdwatching-ready outdoor clothing.
Shake your tail feather with Flock Together and Fila
Here’s a compact, as-the-crow-flies history of Flock Together. The British birdwatching collective for People of Colour was established in 2020 by Ollie Olanipekun, a creative director, and Nadeem Perera, a youth sports coach, both from north-east London, in the wake of the Covid-19 pandemic and Black Lives Matter protests around the world.
The duo are working on building a world where ‘every person of colour has the freedom to explore and engage with the natural world, on their own terms’, and they hose monthly birdwatching walks in forests and local city parks, not only in and around London, but in Toronto and New York too. The collective operates according to six pillars: building community, challenging perceptions, showing the benefits of nature, championing ecological protection, offering mental health support, and providing creative mentorship for the next generation.
Flock Together and Fila’s collection boasts two retro-tinged technical fleeces and a pair of hike-ready high-intensity Trailblazer trainers, complete with colour-blocked and camo-print panels. In the right foot of each pair is an NFC tag, which, when scanned with your phone, will take you to a microsite featuring a database of the top kingfisher-spotting locations. We're taking to the collaboration like a duck to water.
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