Sunrise Trip

Early mornings have been loud from bird song the past few weeks. We were regularly woken by this wonderful chorus during our recent camping trips. This has prompted us to take on a new adventure: we wanted to see the birds, not just to hear them!

There are several Nature Reserves in our area. They are all magnificent but as we didn’t want to travel far, we chose the closest one: Chester Zoo’s Nature Reserve.

We got ready the night before: loaded two thermoses with hot drinks, prepared breakfast and warm clothing.

On the day of our trip the sun was due to rise at 4:48 so we set the alarm to just before that to be able to make the most of the early hours.

By the time we’ve arrived at the Nature Reserve, around 5:15 the sun was visible above the horizon. It was a magnificent sight! The marshes and the canals were evaporating water in the cold air while we were walking to our destination: the bird hide.

On our way we’ve encountered the most populous species in the area: rabbits. We saw hundreds of them grazing, ever so vigilantly, ears moving, ready to run! We’ve seen so many white tufts running into the hedges as soon as they caught sight of us.

The bird hide was deserted, it was ours only for a couple of hours. The hot chocolate was a godsend and made the children last longer than they would have done without it.

We saw species that we would normally be able to see at a much more humane hour... marsh and coal tits, gold and green finches, robins, blackbirds, crows and moorhens. But the view of the sunrise above the marshes was absolutely worth this dawn trip!

Previously, at the same place we were lucky enough to see a kingfisher which we didn’t this time, neither did we get to see the bats that a sign promised so perhaps next time it will be a 3am rise…