It's only February and I've already dispensed with the need for the RSPB fleece whilst enjoying picnics!
What a beautiful day on Sunday, birds were singing, adders were basking, and I was hoping that my visitors were enjoying their guided walk/birdwatching course...
We always hope for a few 'star' birds to put in an appearance on our events, and sure enough a couple of lovely birds were very co-operative (and I didn't even need to bribe them with mealworms!).
A nice range of songsters entertained us on the heathland trail, but we were really hoping to find a crossbill or two, and, just before we were due to head back towards the centre, 3 of them flew into the conifers just above our heads - perfect! As a little reminder of these fantastic birds here is another of Russ' photos of a Pulborough crossbill.
We then headed down towards Fattengates courtyard keeping our fingers crossed that we would find goldcrests and firecrests - all very good for practising those new id skills we'd been talking about. A tiny bird hovered around the low conifer branches, briefly settled and turned towards us, and there was the eye stripe of the firecrest - a brilliant view of a great little bird. Although the firecrest is the rarer of the two, perhaps most exciting was a couple of rather feisty goldcrests who were involved in a bit of an altercation and confronted one another with their crests raised and flared out - such an incredible splash of colour, and something I've only been lucky enough to see a couple of times. It's a tough job sometimes!
And it looks as though we weren't the only ones out having fun and seeing some great wildlife - Richard Trueman sent in this photo of a weasel. Not sure I'd like to be a mouse or vole with this fellow around ...