We are still very much novice birders.  A simple walk in the park, Golden Acre Park in Leeds, brought us to Adel Dam nature reserve.  Despite having lived in Leeds for many years, we hadn’t been before.  We wandered in and tiptoed into the first hide, The Marsh Hide.  This overlooks a selection of feeders.  We were mesmerised.  As well as the expected great and blue tits, there was a nuthatch, a greater spotted woodpecker and in the water below a group of the exotic looking Mandarin ducks.

What a delight.  This simple encounter started us on a pursuit that so far we’ve enjoyed for over 2 years.  We don’t go for the rare and exotic and are definitley not twitchers who go racing across the country to get the latest ‘tick’ for a bird sighting.