I knew that the sun was not due out till the afternoon, and that I might well have my desk clear by then, so I followed up on my emails and telephoning and by half past two I was able to grab my cameras and lenses and pay a visit to the Stockwood Discovery Centre. I had spoken to one of the gardeners, Jan, and she had mentioned that the hellebore were out. I spotted some other attractive leaved plants, and later walked through to the lawn and was amazed at how many squirrels were gambolling around on the ground and over the several park benches.
I decided that I would put out some small piles of peanuts on the stones in the centre, but managed to catch my hand and sprayed almost the entire contents of my container into the air! Any animals or birds were due a bonanza, and completely unintentionally. I then walked away to see whether my beneficence was to be rewarded by attracting the squirrels, however only one came to the feast, and there was no way that one was going to broadcast the news to others, and for a long while it was alone. I took a few shots then strolled off and in flew a pair of magpies, and also a couple of crows, so I turned my lens on them, before retreating again.
Later I wandered slowly to the exit, and managed to find a couple of smaller birds before spotting the magpies again in the central area, and one was now scavenging amongst the bark paths for suitable nest-building material. Altogether a very satisfactory afternoon in cool spring sunshine.
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