A guest blog from 11 year old Lauren who visited this week with her Grandfather and our volunteer Phil. Thanks to Phil for sending it in, his introduction and for the accompanying photos.
At Pulborough Brooks we are always very keen to encourage our young visitors as they will be the future of nature conservation. Last week I was asked by one of my old friends if I could give him a guided tour of the reserve. He had his granddaughter Lauren staying for a few days at half term, and thought she might enjoy a visit as she seems very interested in wildlife. So I readily agreed to meet them on Tuesday.
Having never met Lauren before I had no idea what to expect and was unsure how good her attention span would be. I need not have worried. We had a very full days visit. Afterwards, entirely of her own accord, Lauren wrote a report on her day at Pulborough describing what we did and saw. It may not be a spectacular list for seasoned wildlife watchers but I was so impressed that a girl of just 11 years should have the idea to do something like this that I thought it deserved a special feature.
So in her own words this is Lauren’s story of the day.
RSPB Nature Reserve
Today was a rather rainy day to begin with but it soon cleared up about an hour later we still saw a great number of birds, fungi and a few animals. We saw highland cattle, a great spotted woodpecker, a few carrion crows, cows, blackbirds, swans, some deer and so many more fascinating creatures of the wild, which was so amazing and awesome.
The thing I forgot to mention is that dotted around the trail are these little bird houses which are full of fun activities. The activities are things like stopping and listening to the wildlife around you, or seeing how old oak trees are and also going hunting for bushes and trees.
This RSPB nature reserve helps save birds of all type and RSPB stands for Royal Society for the Protection of Birds. This is an amazing place to go it has fun sights to see and fun things to explore.
We had a tour guide called Phil and he is a really nice man. He showed us the animals and helped me and my Grampa understand what the creatures were if we were confused. It is much nicer than you would expect it to be and a lot bigger too.
The most fascinating part was when we went to the ponds and there wasn't much going on but if you stayed a minute or two longer than you would see much more species of bird than you think.
Green sandpiper at Winpenny
We went the whole way round the nature reserve it was big and tiring but it was worth it. It took me and my Grampa about 1 hour 10minutes to get here from where he lives. We were there for 7 and a half hours which is from 9.10-4.40.
I personally think that this is an amazing place to go and I think more people should go there. I love how in all the hides they have the seasons and what birds come around that time and season of the year.
I want to thank Phil a whole load for showing us around the reserve. I also want to thank my Grampa for taking me.
Review by Lauren Turnbridge-Hegarty
11 years old
I Rate it 10 out of 10
The birds we saw were:
Great spotted wood pecker
Carrion crow
Blackbird
Mute swan
Pied wagtail
Magpie
Robin
Wood pigeon
Canada goose
Greylag goose
Grey heron
Stonechat
Reed bunting
White dove
Sparrow
Wren
Green sandpiper
Snipe
Teal
Wigeon
Lapwing
Blue tit
Pintail
Green woodpecker
Tuesday 25/10/2016
My friend “Grampa” assured me that he had thoroughly enjoyed his first visit too and that he and Lauren hope to come again maybe at the next half term. The photos, all taken by me recently, illustrate our day and the variety of things we saw.