We were 13 for this walk. We started around the parking area with the albeit brief spotting of a Crossbill in the tree tops, which for those of us who saw it was a great way to begin, and then wandered slowly down to the river and along to the bridge where we had wonderful views of family parties of Grey Wagtail, Redstart, and Stonechat.
We spent the rest of the morning just ambling slowly down towards Snaily House, most of the time with a Heron staying just ahead, and then back again up the river, before settling down for a picnic lunch under the trees hoping for more views of Crossbill which we could tantalisingly hear.
The morning gave us a nice selection of 22 species seen and heard, and notably some delightful family parties with plenty of young birds around.
In the afternoon we set off up past the Youth Hostel watching house martins, sparrows and swallows on the way, and into some of the plantation tracks. The sun came out and it was the hottest afternoon of the year so far so as we expected the bird sightings were fairly quiet, though we often walked to the accompaniment of Goldcrest and Coal tit, heard, if not seen, and a Buzzard soared on the thermals. There were some beautiful butterflies including marsh fritillary, and quite a few dragonflies, including one amazing hawker that caught a bee, settled on a foxglove and proceeded to despatch the bee with us all watching.
It proved a delightful relaxed day, with good company and a nice variety of birds, totalling 32 species.
Mary Wallis
