Mystery on Bird Island (1954)

Two youngsters travel to the Channel Islands for a holiday, quickly befriend a pair of local siblings and together the four set about having some seaside adventures. It's only when one of them thinks they've spotted some men on a nearby bird sanctuary, though, that their escapades turn a little more mysterious and they start to wonder if some real egg poaching is going on. Now they must try to convince the adults to investigate, and to take some steps to built a keeper's hut on the tiny island of Burhou. This is where we all discover that it's not just the eggs that are being smuggled! Trying to stay one set ahead of the dastardly perpetrators, can they galvanise the children of Alderney and organise a petition to take to the government and save the birds? I quite like these CFF films - they had an Enid Blyton style of innocence to them that, though not readily acceptable nowadays, didn't pigeon-hole the boys vs. girls roles as awkwardly or stereotypically as some I've seen. The plot's got no jeopardy at all, but features the inventive use of a ladder and a fun boat race as we end with an abominable waste of Scotch whiskey... For children of a certain age, nowadays - probably those over 50!