View Towards The MonumentA nearly full minibus arrived at Thorp Perrow in overcast but mercifully dry conditions for this week's outing. It remained dry throughout our time at the arboretum allowing the group to divide up and explore as they wished. Many trees had completely shed their leaves but many were still displaying fabulous autumn colours. Some of our group were looking for the "Geoffrey Appleyard" trees and Stuart was eager to learn from Amanda's extensive tree knowledge. 
Honey Fungus
A fair few fungi were seen including honey fungus, trooping funnel, silver leaf fungus, smoky bracket and bleeding broad leaf crust. There were few birds but highlights included nuthatch, little grebe and a sighting of flocks of redwing and fieldfare.
Most of the group viewed the early afternoon birds of prey flying display in the wildlife park, when three birds of prey were on show: 
Colinthe Jackal Buzzard, the Turkmenistan eagle owl and the Saker Falcon. Colin, the Turkmenistan eagle owl had the unfortunate reputation of being the laziest of the captive birds. This was demonstrated by his quite comical ungainly walk when released from his enclosure. He certainly seemed relucant to take to the wing. The buzzard and the falcon gave impressive flying displays which were uncomfortably close to some viewers heads!
The tea rooms provided welcome refreshment at the end of the day before we headed back to Bradford via the scenic route. Thanks to Joan for leading today's trip and Robert and Sue for sharing the driving. Sue