At the last Wildlife Explorers meeting we decided to have a walk around the reserve to do some bird watching . We all got a pair of binoculars and were shown how to use them properly. It's trickier than you think !
We set off along the estuary track and the first thing we spotted was the heronry in Benarth Woods. With the binoculars we saw around 8-10 herons in the trees, we hadn't even realised that they were there. As we walked along the track we were able to spot redshank, curlew and shelducks poking about in the mud for food because the tide was out.
When we got to the top of the estuary track we came across a bit of a mystery. At the side of the path were bundles of feathers scattered around and further along we also found a rather large leg bone. We decided to collect a few feathers to try and identify what bird it had come from when we returned to the Education room.
Just as we were wandering around the 'crime scene', someone found a vital piece of evidence across the path. There was a pile of fox poo, which even had some feathers in it. We came to a conclusion that the fox must have had a tasty treat.
Making our way back, we saw a variety of birds, we managed to spot 16 different species in total ! When we got back we questioned Julian (the Manager) on the mystery of the feathers and were guessing it was a curlew. He thinks the bird may have been injured and that’s why the fox got it.
At the end of the day everyone had fun and also a few of us managed to bag some feathers as well !
Anna Carpena age 13