Potteric Carr Nature Festival

Yesterday, Sunday the 25th, was the Nature Festival at Potteric Carr nature reserve in Doncaster.Now I love me a good nature festival. Not only was entry to the nature reserve free for the day, but there were plenty of stalls about various things, including herbs, art and crafts, plants for sale and information on how to sign up to be a volunteer.

Black headed gull from Decoy Marsh Hide

I had a quick nosy around several of the stalls before heading off to the bird hides. Some local beekeepers were there with a small selection of honeybees on show. I was fascinated by their lifecycle and they answered many of my questions. I love bees and have read the book A World Without Bees by Alison Benjamin and Brian McCallum, which highlights some worrying facts about our honeybees. I recommend it to anyone else interested in bees and their decline.

Pond with irises

Upon reaching the cafe, I noticed a bird of prey stall. There were several species on display including a gorgeous barn owl, a kestrel and an eagle owl.

Kestrel

Eagle owl

I then carried on walking along the wetland walk, a route that takes you past several large areas of marshland, and bumped into this little guy out with his family:

Canada goose-ling

There were five goslings in total, with their parents watching over them diligently. The young ones were snacking happily on grass shoots while mum and dad goose glowered menacingly at each person walking past. I took a quick photo and left them to it.

There were many nestboxes scattered throughout the reserve, but walking past one of them hanging on a tall oak tree I heard a frantic cheeping coming from inside. Retreating to a safe distance so I wouldn't disturb the parents, I waited and watched while both blue tits went about the business of bringing up their kids.

Lunch, anyone?

Table for one, please

Yet another caterpillar meets its doom

Feed me, Seymour!

Being a parent is a dirty business: Removing a faecal sac

Neverending job

After snapping a few photos I moved away and visited the willow pool hide. This hide seems to be quite popular and usually has some wildlife on view, but today there were only three of us in the hide and a squirrel was scarfing down all the seed on one of the bird tables:

Grey squirrel

Male reed bunting

There was also a reed bunting glaring suspiciously towards the hide, and a great tit making short work of the peanuts in the feeder near the trees.

A kind man told me about the pair of kingfishers in the trees over the Mother Drain, which is basically just a long, straight stretch of water. They appeared to be nesting and weren't going anywhere, so several of us got a good look at them. Unfortunately they were too far away and too obscured by the vegetation to be able to take a half-decent photograph, but at least I got to watch them through my binoculars.

Canada goose family

Goose-lings

I wanted to visit the stalls again and buy some of the wildflower plants that had caught my eye earlier. As I turned the corner though I realised I was going nowhere fast, as the goose family were waddling down the road in front of me. They were having a whale of a time, drinking and paddling in a puddle whilst once again their parents stood over them protectively. I inched past slowly, tucking myself well into the grass verge on the opposite side of the road so I wouldn't startle them. Having eased my way past, I headed straight for the plant stall and bought a large selection of plants. I don't entirely trust my wildflower seeds to grow this year, as for some reason my plant-growing skills are sadly lacking. Hopefully I won't kill this lot of plants off.

I spoke to a couple of the volunteers manning the stalls and got some information on becoming a volunteer myself at the nature reserve. I felt like I actually fitted in here, walking around in my walking trousers, boots and baggy top; in my own eyes, dressed sensibly for whatever the weather may throw at me, but once back in Rotherham amongst the throngs of people in the town centre, dressed rather strangely as I don't dye my hair bright blond, plaster my face with warpaint or wear brightly coloured clothes like most people my own age.

Wildflowers on the grass verge

Poppies nodding in the breeze

The grass verges near the bus stop opposite the nature reserve are full of poppies, oxeye daisies and other wildflowers. I hope my own garden becomes as colourful as that this year. I found I had to reluctantly drag myself away from the reserve and start heading home, even though I had spent five and a half hours there. I need to visit these places more often, they are such a tonic for so many things.