It has been several years since I visited Barnwell CP and a friend suggested that we returned to see if is had changed. It has, but not for the better unfortunately but that is a common story these days.

We took food and went to the first hide - rather a mess - with odd perches screwed together and no clean background - not set up by a photographer!!! Anyway, we put out the food and waited.

We recalled that the last time we visited, the visitations were non-stop. This time the number of bird and species had noticeably declined but we persevered. Surprisingly, I had not photographed common woodland birds for some time co here are some. Great Tit

Blackbird

Reed Bunting

and Robin.

Of course, the usual Brown Rat put in an appearence.

But the star of the show was a drake Mandarin Duck that just posed before helping itself to the food.

By lunchtime little was happening so we moved to the other hide in the park.

A Nuthatch made a couple of fleeting visits

a Moorhen showed well on the lake.

and a pair of Mandarin Ducks also showed with the female posing nicely.

These were not the only species visiting but nothing more of note. What really surprised us was that on previous visits, Nuthatch were very prevalent, not just one, and Marsh Tits were common but we did not see or even hear one.

As I said, compared with what the site offered on previous visits some years ago, it was disappointing.