IN common with many people, I like to spend a few moments at the start of a new year reflecting on the highlights of the previous year.

Last year as a whole is perhaps best categorised as being very mild, albeit a little soggy. With January 2002 being so mild I seemed to venture out more in the evenings. My lasting memory of January is that it was a great month to see owls, particularly a rather splendid tawny owl, which was frequently at large in Hurcott Pools and Wood.

February was also very mild and this encouraged an early mating season for our amphibians. In mid-February, they could be seen in great knots of twisted bodies in many of the nature reserve pools.

Redstone Marsh also turned up a rather rare bird - a water rail, which was unfortunately discovered dead near the boundary fence. The dead bird was so unusual that it was sent to the Natural History Museum, London, for its records. It showed no obvious cause of death and great hopes are now held that live water rails will be seen at Redstone.

Hurcott Pools and Wood were opened to the public and the site attracted around 200,000 visitors.

Spring also saw some non-human visitors using the site. Great crested grebes used the site to breed and raise a brood, much to the delight of bird watchers.

The spring flowers at this site could only be described as truly breathtaking. Meanwhile, at Habberley Valley it was the insect life that was drawing attention with menacing looking hornets and strange terrestrial caddis flies stealing the limelight.

To me, the summer always seems to pass in a blur, probably due to the volume of educational activities run by the Ranger service.

Unfortunately, the thing that sticks in my mind is the mild spring seemed to provide ideal conditions for swarms of biting flies on the reserves of Hurcott, Puxton and the back-wood areas of Habberley.

The autumn months were frost-free with the first proper frost occurring in December and even then it was relatively mild. These conditions led to a long and drawn out fungal season and many of the district's fruit trees producing a good heavy crop.

There were even some remnants of summer flowers and butterflies to be seen until quite late in the year.

December saw a new reserve opened at Vicarage Farm Heath in Kidderminster. Who knows what delights this reserve will bring in the New Year?