With blue skies and sunshine what better way to spend a Sunday morning than with a spot o’ bird watching. We were there to help build the census of bird life in Charlton Park and contribute to the national RSPB Big Birdwatch.

We met at 11am prompt at the Old Cottage Cafe and were briefed by the lovely Annie Drewry from Friends of Charlton Park. We were split into teams of three to four and assigned an area of the park to record the bird life there. Armed with our trusty binoculars and our bird spotting printout myself and my fellow GoodGymers Marta Campos and Jenny Penn headed to our position at the back of the park.

Here we started our bird watching in earnest hearing the chirps and the squawks from the skies up above. At first it was difficult to spot where the sounds were coming from but we soon grew accustomed to finding the birds. We looked up and saw a parakeets, blue tits, pigeons all hidden in the trees up above. We also saw some gulls flying over head. They looked beautiful against the blue sky.

After this we began to get adventurous and we crossed the road to Charlton Cemetery. Here it was so quiet and peaceful we felt it would be a bird paradise and we weren’t disappointed. We saw more blue tits, robins, magpies, swallows, black birds and a very spooky looking crow.

After an hour was up we headed back to the coffee shop to hand in our bird reports. En route we saw more pigeons, gulls and a few starlings too! At the end there was time for a quick debrief about who spotted the most interesting birds and a group photo was taken. We all thanked Annie for organising the event, and agreed that it was a great task for GoodGym and a lovely way to spend a Sunday morning.

Title credit: Marta Campos/Jenny Penn