THESE feathered friends were among some of the very special recent visitors to a Worcester park.

Among the 27 species of bird found to have visited Gheluvelt Park last month were the rarely seen mute swan and turtle dove as well as the more common wood pigeon and blackbird.

The star of the show, however, was a rarely seen Kingfisher.

Dave Faultless, aged 69, of Lavender Road, Worcester, has been bird watching in the Barbourne park for two years and reports his findings back to the Worcester parks team.

The kingfisher was among the birds spotted by Mr Faultless in September.

“I go out into the park every Monday morning, but the Kingfisher is only ever seen probably two or three times a year so it was great to see it back,” he said.

“I think it has a nest near the river bank as that’s where I usually see the bird. I would love to see it again soon.”

Mr Faultless has had a long personal interest in birds and is a self-taught bird-watcher.

The Bird Count programme has been running since 2011 by the Worcester parks team, of Worcester City Council. The programme helps to monitor Worcester’s bird population and potential changing behaviour and migration patterns.

Volunteer-contributed programmes like this also help parks maintain their green badge status.

Michelle Newell, community en-gagement team leader at Worcester City Council, said: “This programme is invaluable to the work that we do in our parks but we couldn’t do it without people like David, who consistently share their time and vast knowledge with us.”