From Friday 27 January
Another 9am start – we all met up in the wildlife watchpoint to list the birds there and sort who does what. We had a new ‘trainee’ hide guide starting that day so we had to sort out a mentor for him. To be a hide guide, all you need is some knowledge of birds and wildlife and to be able to get on with any member of the public. We also share stories about the site, its history, the local geology, plants and anything else you can think of with interested visitors.
I stayed in the wildlife watchpoint until lunch time. We were treated to excellent views of the juvenile water rail which eventually came out into the clear and foraged in the bottom of the grass and soft rush for grubs and anything else it could find. After a spot of lunch in the cafe, where we were treated to a flypast bye a short-eared owl (SEO or shortie for those who like nicknames), I went down to the view point we had set up to show visitors a lone roosting long eared owl (LEO, see what we did there?) in the scrub on the west of the reserve. The weather was closing in so there weren't many visitors around. I did not stay at the viewpoint for too long as so few visitors, which was just as well as having got back to Paddy’s hide the heavens opened and it rained cats and dogs!
After the rain had subsided the birds became quite fidgety and even the curlews took off. The reason was soon apparent – a peregrine cruised passed the front of the hide.
We locked the hides, wrapped up warm and returned to the visitor centre – the end of another days hide guiding.
Mark