WALKING in the outdoors is always an enjoyable experience, but it becomes even better when you are shown around by an expert.

The Hampshire and Isle of Wight Wildlife Trust organises a wide variety of guided walks, each one aimed to be informative, interesting and helping you to learn something as well.

In the Trust’s events diary there is something for everyone – toddlers, youngsters, families and those at a more seasoned stage!

They don’t take up too much time, usually the walk is a couple of hours, and they don’t cost much either, most suggest a small donation that goes directly to wildlife conservation.

This time of year is great for looking at all sorts of birds in the region particularly waders and wildfowl and I decided to go to the Blashford Bird Walk event at the Blashford Lakes Wildlife Reserve.

A group of 20 of us met at the Education Centre and were led by Jim Day, education officer at Hampshire Wildlife Trust.We knew it was going to be a good session when we immediately heard the loud drumming of a greater spotted woodpecker as it drilled into the tree from its favourite perching spot. Seeing it in action, and watching through binoculars borrowed from the centre, was a first for me and really interesting.

As we moved to Ivy Lake, one of several that make up the site, we were told that the lakes attract large numbers of wildfowl during the winter, up to 5,000 including gadwall, wigeon, pintail, shoveler, teal, tufted duck, pochard, goldeneye, goosander and coot.

There is a large gull roost on Ibsley Water in the late afternoons, gadwall can number more than 900 and there is a roost of up to 65 goosander each evening.

These are internationally important numbers and is one of the reasons for the reserve’s SSSI status. Herons, including little egret and in recent years great white egret are regular along with the bittern in some winters.

Kingfishers are present all year round.

From the bird hide we saw a wide range of the winter visitors and our good luck continued as we saw a bittern, pictured left, in the reedbeds.

It’s a very secretive bird, difficult to see, as it moves silently through reeds at water’s edge, looking for fish. It is a Red List species – one of the most threatened in the UK.

It has buff-brown plumage covered with dark streaks and bars.

Although we didn’t hear it, the male makes a remarkable far-carrying, booming sound in spring.

As we left the hide, we saw a flash of brilliant blue as a kingfisher plunged into the water. They are notoriously difficult to photograph because of their speed, which can reach up to 60mph when diving. Again we were fortunate when the kingfisher returned to a favourite perch to eat its catch.

Towards the end of our walk, we visited the woodland hide. This has proved to be one of the most popular as the bird feeders attract large numbers of garden birds such as tits, chaffinches, and blackbirds that people can see at close quarters and identify with, as well as less usual ones like siskins, redpoll, goldfinches, nuthatches and woodpeckers.

The one-way glass gives close-up views of the birds and also a range of animals such as foxes, deer, rabbits and squirrels.We were lucky enough to see a bank vole and as the hide overlooks a badger sett, you never know!

The whole feel is rather like that of a magical Disney film.

By taking the opportunity to have a guided walk you really do enhance your chances of seeing the unusual. Nature never fully cooperates but it certainly tilts the odds in your favour.

Taking part in one of the regular guided walks or events is a great way to learn more about wildlife.

There is a Wildlife Reserve near you, see hwt.org.uk for a full list, but Blashford, Swanwick, Testwood and Farlington are good starting points.