As an enthusiastic (albeit inexpert) member of the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds, I look forward every year to taking part in the society's annual Big Garden Bird Watch, where members of the public are invited to spend an hour over a particular weekend observing and recording the various species of birds which land in their garden, or, for example, a local park.

 This year, instead of spending our usual hour at an upstairs window with notebook and binoculars, my children and I decided to repair to the churchyard and glebe field, and what a rewarding experience it turned out to be.  Despite being regular visitors to the glebe field to play football on a weekend afternoon, we had never seriously looked at the church precincts as a wildlife habitat.

 The field and churchyard are managed to provide an outstanding habitat for a wide variety of plant and animal life - not only for the birds which were our particular interest that day.  A number of nesting boxes encourage bird life.  The provision of feeders would help, but this has the disadvantage that someone would have to commit to filling them, as the birds come to depend on them during the winter months.

 It will surprise no-one that the most prolific species were crows, feral pigeons and the apparently now ubiquitous magpie, but we were fascinated and pleasantly surprised at the variety of small bird life which presented itself.     Starlings, blackbird and the now increasingly rare house sparrow were plentiful, but so were a range of other species, including blue tits, great tits, chaffinches, greenfinches and white wagtail.  It was especially rewarding to watch a wren hopping around in a bush at a distance of about four feet, and we were even able to spend at least five minutes observing a glorious male goldfinch singing his heart out as he perched in a tree immediately above us.  A woodpecker could be heard but not seen, as could the song of several other species which I regretfully lack the knowledge to identify.

 I could happily have spent the whole day there, but an hour was long enough for the attention span of my accompanying six year old and four year old.  However, I can heartily recommend it as a hugely enjoyable and entertaining place to observe at least a small part of God's creation, and the glebe working party is to be congratulated for managing this delightful and largely unknown corner of Merton Park in such a sympathetic manner.

 It always surprises me that the field is not used more, especially by those of us with young children.  Then again, it's comparative quietness is part of it's charm - perhaps we should keep quiet about it, after all. 

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