Yesterday marked the first of our annual 'Great Scarecrow Days' held in the playmeadow under leaden skies. Over 200 visitors came and tried their hand at making scarecrows of all shapes, sizes and themes.

Everybody really enjoyed their time here despite the occasional watering from above, vowing to return next year armed with more clothes, more hats and more ideas of how to be crowned Middleton Lakes Scarecrow Maker Extrordinaire!

Whilst all this chaos was cracking off in the playmeadow, there was something akin to a 'light twitch' going on elsewhere on the reserve. A pair of curlew sandpipers and a couple of little stints had turned up to see what all the fuss was about. None of them were perturbed by our scarecrows - obviously we're going to have to do better next year!

How about suggestions for themes?

See you on the reserves,

Best regards,

Chris Edwards