Happy Place.....

As many of you are probably aware it was the RSPB's big garden birdwatch last weekend. I've never actually done it but really wanted to and not having a garden didn't help. So on Sunday afternoon I went down the park, all by myself  and went bird spotting. To be honest it was totally the wrong time of day and I hardly saw anything but I did thoroughly enjoy the peace and quiet and the blue skies.

The snowdrops were starting to come through and the snow had all but gone , it was hard to imagine that just days before everywhere was white and freezing cold.

Anyway, because I knew that the park is normally full of birds it made me all the more determined to go back and just see for myself what I had missed on the Sunday .

 This morning armed with feed and fat balls I set off, I knew roughly which area of the park I wanted to be in but when I got there it was too quiet , all the birds were singing but in other places and this was when I found it.

In the photo below if you look passed the odd shaped plant with lots of seed heads you can see a patch of what looks like old trees and undergrowth.  I somehow managed to get myself in amongst it all and found a clearing . In all my years of coming here , hundreds and hundreds of visits I have never ever been in this particular place and I can't believe I never took any photo's either.

I hung up my bits and pieces and took a few steps back standing perfectly still against an old tree trunk. Within minutes there were birds everywhere, so close , first to come were the great and blue tits closely followed by a pair of nuthatch and a treecreeper, a dunnock was hopping around my feet and a little Jenny wren kept flitting back and forth then came the robin and a pair of squirrels chasing each other up and down the tree trunks. It was funny to see the treecreepers chasing the tits away from the hangers and hanging upside down, I didn't know where to look or which bird to watch.

I was in the middle of two paths but it seemed as though I was perfectly hidden as none of the dog walkers even looked in my direction and I think that when the leaves are back it will be a perfect hiding place, which is probably why I've never found it before. I stood for about 45 minutes or so and could have stayed much longer if it weren't for the fact that my feet were starting to go numb.
Next time and there will most definitely be a next time I'll be taking some form of seat so I can stay much longer ......... I think I've found my happy place.