We were looking forward to welcoming new members David Simpson and Vicki & George Baxter to a HBW walk today and duly did so about an hour later than expected. I had forgotten to clarify that we were leaving Henfield at 10.00 rather than meeting at the appointed hour in Warnham!

For myself, Debbie, Eddie, Hugh, Pauline and Roger the visit started with coffee and a cake in the warm and cosy café (a cake AND biscuits in Hugh’s case!). Debbie and I then made the others do all the ID work on the lake from the shelter of the visitor centre. They passed with flying colours. Mallard, Tufted Duck, Moorhen, Coot, Little Grebe, Cormorant, Black Headed Gull and Herring Gull. Despite Eddie’s determined effort later in the walk we drew a blank on Kingfisher which was a shame as one is reasonably often seen here.

This was more than made up for as we trundled off to the first bird feeder hide accompanied by the plaintive notes of a Robin. A small, very mobile bird flitting around the upper branches of a birch tree eventually settled long enough for an ID to be made – Lesser Spotted Woodpecker. A real wow bird these days. It was the first one I had ever seen in Britain. It gave some decent views before moving further into the woods. We reported it to the warden who told us it had turned up in early November and seemed happy to hang around the same area.

We moved on to the bird feeder hide where we made our belated rendezvous with David, Vicki and George.  Vicki & George graciously said they had enjoyed a nice walk and as they left for home they promised we had not put them off Henfield Birdwatch! David did a second tour with us and I discovered this was his local patch as he lived just 5 minutes’ drive away. No wonder meeting at Henfield was a non starter! Roger found a Bullfinch on the sunflower hearts as soon as we started looking and there was lots of other bird activity with Blue and Great Tits most numerous along with fleeting visits from Nuthatch, Coal Tit, Goldfinch and as a bonus, Siskin (a bird Hugh and Pauline used to regularly get in their garden when they lived in Twickenham!). Chaffinches foraged in the leaf litter with Blackbird, Dunnock and an industrious Grey Squirrel.

Eventually we moved on to a lakeside hide which looks out on a specially placed Kingfisher post. Lovely post but today no Kingfisher. Actually there were no photographers in the hide so the bird probably thought it wasn’t worth the effort of crossing the lake. We did add Grey Heron to the days list though. At the end of the morning Eddie made a determined last visit to the hide but still no Kingfisher.

The second bird feeder hide did have photographers and another bird working out how to give some competition to the Blue and Great Tits. I think in a few generations time we will see Pheasants feeding comfortably from the feeders. They were certainly avidly studying technique. There was also a little group of Brown Rats which had a somewhat mixed reception but at least they were out in the countryside and not up my drainpipe. The usual suspects were tucking in happily without any really exciting additions so we decided to go and search for Tree Creepers in the woods.

No luck on Tree Creepers but Debbie found us Long Tailed Tits and between us we located a Marsh Tit at which point Eddie informed me that I had failed to notify the group of an overflying Woodpigeon!

Time was getting on and the chilly dampness of the day was beginning to compromise our extremities so we decided to head for home. As the car containing myself, Debbie, Eddie and Roger sped off up the A24 Debbie announced that she had left her binoculars in the Ladies loo so we turned round and headed back to Warnham. Debbie nipped back to the centre but returned to the car empty handed. Disaster? No. Her bins were down by her feet in the car all the time!