Reptile Safari at RSPB Pulborough Brooks

We're clearly still doing something right. When I suggested taking the whole family to a reptile safari at Pulborough Brooks, I knew my wife would be excited. She's a bioscientist, and she just loves things like this. But the girls? Would they be as excited about this as they would, say, small mammals or birds? Or would the lack of obvious “cute” put them off?

Turns out the answer is “yes, they would be excited”, and so, on a rather damp morning, we all trooped off to the RSPB nature reserve, in hunt of reptiles. After a briefing in the school room, we made our way to parts of the reserve normally closed to the public, and started lifting metal sheets.

And what did we find?

Well, ants, mainly. And then, after a number of disappointing lifts, finally we hit the jackpot: slow worms!

And here's where I'm proud of the girls. Rather than just looking from a distance, they were really keen to get up close and intimate with them. They happily let the wee beasties curls around their hands, and were somewhat reluctant to pass them on.

No squealing, no squeamishness, just interest and enthusiasm. Like I said, we're doing something right:

Snakes near the grass

A change of scenery, some more corrugated metal lifted, and what did we find?

A grass snake!

Not my namesake yet (in some online circles, I'm known as adders…), but a snake. Not one for handling, but for both the girls this was their first live snake outside a zoo…

Finally, another shift of location to a field we've walked past and looked over many times, but never been allowed to enter, in the hope of finding an adder.

And we found a rat. He looked positively irritated, and made for the bushes after flashing us a look of the purest irritation. Sorry, mate. Hope you found something to eat.

And then, just as we were about to end the day…

Adders!

Non-reptile finds

Of course, nature doesn't neatly self-sort for our convenience. We came across a rather distressed rabbit — whom the staff assumed had just escaped a predator. Despite my eldest's concern, bordering on anxiety, for the bunny, it eventually calmed down and hopped off in search of lunch.

It was far from the only other interesting creature we encountered. Take, for example, this chap:

Yes, he's a moth but one doing a remarkably good job of looking like a stick. (It's a buff tip, I believe.)

And then there's this swole individual. Look at the thighs on that. Clearly never misses leg day…

A highly enjoyable few hours, and well worth the money.

We'll be back for future events. Why has it take us so long to do this sort of thing?

Other shots of Pulborough Brooks

Look, you can't give me a camera and a day at somewhere as lovely as Pulborough Brooks and not expect me to go somewhat off-piste on the photography…