There were plans for three out of the four days of our stay, so a decision had to be made about what to do with the spare day. We are aware that there are parts of the country we’ve never been, so places have to be particularly special for us to be thinking of a return visit. With that in mind, we are unlikely to stay in this area again, so I chose a return visit to the wetlands to see the section we didn’t have the energy for last time. Today we are exploring the Millenium Wetlands, totally different from what we have already seen. This section is almost devoid of people and we pop in and out of various hides to see what we can see. I am making full use of the Merlin app, which tells me what I can hear, so I am counting those on my list. Excited to have very nearly but sadly not quite, been quick enough to photograph a chiffchaff, of which, Merlin tells me there are a great many, chiffing and chaffing away. List below for bird fans as usual.

The café was an obligation of course and then a hunting for something even more elusive than a rare bird, the lesser spotted and endangered species that is a bank of a specific variety. We establish the address and ask Sally the sat nav to take us to the nearest car park. Just a shame this car park is no longer operational. We find on-street parking, for one hour only, the bank, says Google maps on my phone, which has very little battery due to all the bird identifying, is a seven minute walk away and we safely locate it. This branch of this bank is due to close in a couple of months due to ‘nobody using it in the afternoons’. It is afternoon. We spend 40 minutes there during which time two harassed staff try to cope with at least two dozen nobodies, all with less than straightforward queries. In the end we give up waiting and rush back to the car just as our allotted hour expires.

The afternoon is spent using the one bar of wifi to try to uncover the story of a bigamist. Yes I know I said this was, unusually, a no family history trip but I fell over this in the process of solving a totally different query that popped into my inbox.

Birds seen: Goldfinch, Chiffchaff, Blackcap, Egret, Moorhen, Mallard, Blackbird, Jackdaw, Wood Pigeon, Great Tit, Black-backed Gull, Shelduck, Yellow-billed Duck, Re-breasted Goose, White-winged Wood Duck, Bufflehead, Snow Goose, a Puss Moth caterpillar and a Slow Worm (yes, I know the last two aren’t birds).