We meet on the 2^nd Monday of the month.

The next outing is scheduled for Monday June 8th.

The group’s June outing was planned to be at the Countess of Chester Nature Park.  However, when we arrived at the car park, there were no available spaces so it was decided that we would return to RSPB Burton Mere Wetlands.  We suspect that most of the cars parked there were people visiting the hospital as it is only £1 for two hours.

On arrival at Burton Mere, we made our way to the visitor centre where we could observe many different species with their fledgling families: Avocets, Black Headed Gulls and Mallards to name just a few.  After a short time, we experienced quite a heavy rain shower.  Thankfully, we were in the shelter of the visitor centre.  On leaving the centre, we made our way to the Reedbed Screen; not much to see here as the vegetation has grown considerably since our previous visit.  However, we could hear Reed Warblers and Cetti's Warbler calling.  As we made our way to the Bridge Screen we continued to hear the warblers plus Chiffchaff and Blackcap calling.  It was noticeable that the vegetation had increased there, with many wild flowers now bursting into bloom.  Our wild flower expert wasn't able to join us on this outing but we did manage to identify a few.  Margaret spotted what we first thought was a small butterfly low down amongst the vegetation, but it turned out to be a moth that flies during daylight hours.  Later, at home, it was identified as a Scarlet Tiger Moth.  The total bird species count was 23, with 5 heard, plus 1 moth.

The next outing will be on Monday 13th July.  Location to be decided.