Coming Home

We had a really lovely holiday in Cornwall but, after our visits to the beach and to our new friends Izzy and Nancy Bear, it was time to come home.

Luckily for us, our human guardians Polar and Grizzly try to make sure we have small bear adventures to break up long journeys, so we stopped to see a little section of the Grand Western Canal in a town called Tiverton.

There was a super little visitor centre full of interesting things to read about the canal, and a model of a boat horse.  Polar let me sit on it and pretend I was guiding it along the towpath.

 

The next morning, we got up early and went to visit Slimbridge, a huge nature reserve near the River Severn where kind people look after wild water birds and tame ones too.  Polar and Grizzly took us along in our bear bag, so we could meet some of the birds.

'I hope the geese and swans won't peck us,' said little Endon.

'We'll make sure they don't, little bears,' promised Grizzly.  'We'll buy some seed to feed them.' 

Grizzly likes feeding the little Hawaiian Geese, which are very gentle little creatures and certainly not at all fierce towards small bears.  

Polar took us to one of the hides to look for wild birds.  She told us we had to be very quiet and not make a noise, as there were some people with binoculars and big cameras trying to take photographs.

 After lunch, we met lots of very pretty little ducks on our way to another hide.  There are birds from all over the world living on nice ponds and lakes and there are otters too!

We were very lucky at our second hide because we saw some wild cranes. They are very tall, long-legged birds and look quite strange when they fly.  Polar and Grizzly had never seen them before and nor had we.

There were some great big models of insects to see as well, to help educate human cubs about how important they are to our world.  Hanley Bear thought they were real giant insects at first, because they made buzzing noises and moved their wings and legs, and little Endon was quite frightened of them.  We were very lucky and saw a real dragonfly too, perched on the handrail of a little bridge.

Before for left to drive home, Polar and Grizzly carried us up to the top of the viewing tower for a look out over the whole reserve and across the river.  It was a wonderful view and we could see all the birds swimming and flying below us.

We enjoyed such an exciting day that, on the journey home from Slimbridge, we fell asleep in the back of the car and didn't wake up until the following morning, when we found ourselves tucked up in our bear basket by the radiator.  

We are very lucky little bears and have another Small Bear Adventure coming up soon, so I will soon have more writing to do, but now  I am feeling sleepy again as it is bedtime!