Starstruck!

Our opening events with special guests Bill Oddie and Jelly from CBeebies were a smashing success! The sun was shining on Middleton Lakes and all of its visitors today.

It was so lovely to see families enjoying picnics in the Playmeadow, children hanging from our Tangly Tree, and young and old alike weaving their way through the tall grasses. I even saw a family flying a kite this afternoon!

A whole gang of our fabulous volunteers were set up in the marquee 'making and doing' from the word go. There were a lot of happy faces in that marquee!

Volunteer Phil Green took a small group on a guided walk at 10.30, but returned to 'base' on his own! His guests wanted to spend more time out on the reserve having a look around; the view from Fisher's Mill viewpoint is enough to lure anyone out on a day like today.

I had a ridiculous grin glued to my face from moment Bill Oddie and Jelly arrived. I got to speak with Bill briefly about our education programme at Middleton Lakes - he was supportive of the work we've been doing with secondary school students in particular. A thumbs up from the man himself! I couldn't have been more pleased.*

While I didn't have the chance to speak to Jelly, she also seemed to be having a great time meeting people and making new friends with a few of our smaller visitors!

Well over 50 people signed up for our afternoon Nature Hunt. The idea was to spot as many different types of plants or animals as possible in just 45 minutes. One randomly selected group of visitors were lucky enough to have their Nature Hunt led by Mr Oddie himself. The other three teams were led by me, Rebecca, and Nick. Well, we soon learned who the *really* lucky ones were - Nick's team turned out over 100 different species! The children on Nick's winning team were awarded prizes, but all were impressed by the amount of diversity we found in such a short amount of time. Absolutely amazing.

I had to leave before the origami duck races had begun, but with Lesley and Elli in charge, one can assume there was fun had by all. Any photos to share, ladies?!

Thanks again to all of our brilliant volunteers who helped out today. We know we can rely on you to look after our visitors!

I'm now home on the sofa, recovering from yet another fantastic day at work...I'll be back tomorrow. Hope to see you there! 

*Having said that, I did get my picture taken with him as well - he said my hair tickled his face. My hair tickled Bill Oddie's face!