the children spotted a Great Tit and Moorhen as soon as we opened the shutters
On Sunday morning we took our two granddaughters, aged 10 and 5, to the Reserve while their Mum got on with the packing for their return home in the afternoon. Fortunately, there was plenty to see and the eldest child wrote down the species and the younger one put in the numbers. Here is what we recorded as a family:
Birds:
SC209694 Great Black Back gull flying over; Rook x 2 flying over .
SC209694 ( bird hide) Great Tit 1; Moorhen 1; Goldfinch x 3; Blue Tit x 2; Woodpigeon x 2; Mallard 1 (flyng over and later Drake on water); Siskin 1; Redwing x 2; Chaffinch 1;
SC208694 Dunnock 1; Heron flying over.
SC209695 Goldfinch x 2
Robins heard but not seen throughout reserve
Other:
SC208695 tiny brown toadstools
SC209694 small brown toadstools
SC208694 Blue bodied Garlic snail?; 3 x Nemastoma bimaculatum Harvestmen (immature, extremely small); unidentified worm.
what shall we see from the hide?
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| A Great Tit |
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| A Moorhen at the back of the pond |
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| later it came down to the water |
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| A Mallard drake |
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| 2 Goldfinches near the Private entrance |
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| a Grey Heron flying over |
an extremely small toadstool 
Snowdrops near the gate 
cultivated daffodils in bloom
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| the blue body suggests this may be a Garlic Snail |
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| Nemastoma bimaculatum Harvestman - only about 1 mm long! |
Every naturalist should have a junior assistant! They have better eyesight and stand closer to the ground, so see more! Many thanks to our two young Citizen Scientists!
Weather permitting, I hope to make a regular recording visit to the Reserve later this week.
please click on photos to enlarge them
