Burrs country park

I took the kids and the dog to Burrs country park for a little adventure. As a young lad, I used to knock about there quite a lot with my mates, swimming in the river and what not. It is also a great place, full of Wildlife day and night. 

Here they are playing on the river bank..
 

Great scenery if I may say so. 

There are plenty of things to do here such as a park for the kids, activities include canoeing, abseiling, orienteering and the place has the East Lancs Railway running through it. You can fish in the River Irwell or there is a lodge for coarse fishing. 

Louis has an affection for Bats and this is one of the best local places near Radcliffe where we live as Burrs is situated just outside of Bury. We have a bat detector and as amateur bat hunters, we can definitely identify at least three Bat species.

On our little adventure yesterday Rowan ran through a small nettle bush so he was upset as you can imagine. So I then thought a little bit of education wouldn't go a miss,(even if he is only three) :).

He helped me look for a doc leaf and I Showed the kids what one looked like, the best place to find one and how to use it to take away the sting from the nettles. To which they were both surprised at how quick Rowan's stings vanished and stopped itching his legs. 'Result!'.

I noticed a kingfisher was opposite us on the riverbank and saw that it was darting into a hole back and forth, back and forth. We then investigated and found a nice little but long hole dug into the raised part of the riverbank. As I neared the nest, the parent was looking toward us from high up in a tree on the opposite side of the river. There was an obvious alarm sounding call from the chick(s) coming from inside the nest. 
 

Here it is..
 

The keen eye will make it out but see how camouflaged the chick actually is.

The kids loved hearing the baby(s) in the nest. 

I would recommend Burrs country park to anybody, there is a great pub and a caravan site that overlooks the Steam Railway. Young and old can get real fulfilment from this local haven for fun and above all for me, the abundant thriving wildlife.