Bird Walk - Saturday 21st March

A group of 15 of us gathered in the Perry Street car park where we were met by Bill Whittaker, an enthusiastic and passionate conservationist who had us enthralled with his knowledge of birds and their sounds. It's amazing if you focus on your surroundings exactly what birds you have around you… most of the time we are too busy to stop and listen.

Walking along the footpath Bill would suddenly stop and tell us the name of the bird that was singing, and more often than not a story related to it.  We heard and saw a chiff chaff during the walk which excited Bill no end. This bird is the first migrant bird and heralds the start of spring, which means there won’t be long before there will be other birds migrating back to the woods.

We heard and saw numerous other birds which included Mistle Thrush, Stock Dove, Long Tailed Tit, Great Spotted Woodpecker, Nuthatch, Green Woodpecker, Wren, Robin, chaffinch and a blackbird sending out an Alarm call.

We also heard a Dunnock, which is bird included in the National Biodiversity Action Plan for species needing protection. We saw Jackdaws feeding on the ground in one of the Fields together with magpies and moorhens in another.

Sadly the weather deteriorated and the birds decided they had enough and stayed within their confines, not the best of days for seeing all the birds but it was certainly an extremely informative and enlightening 2 hour walk.

I will definitely be going on the next one!

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