My Sit-spot and the Treecreeper

A Sit-spot is a place where you can sit in silence and allow your senses to take in your surroundings. Sitting still and being quiet is very relaxing, but perhaps not the easiest skill for some to master. With children I usually start with a five minute sit-spot and building it up to a maximum of fifteen minutes, this all depends on how much time I have with the group.

For adults they can spend anything up to an hour in a sit-spot but for their first time I normally get them to do a twenty minute sit-spot. I try to get the children to become aware of how insects behave around them; of how their presence sets of alarm calls from nearby birds which, in turn, alert other animals.

This is known as a ‘concentric ring.’ The longer you stay in a Sit-spot the more the animals will become aware that you mean them no harm and the more they will visit you, and the more you will become aware of your surroundings and the events that take place within it.

By staying still and quiet and by changing how you are feeling the you will find that wildlife will no longer recognise you. As your energy settles down, animals will begin to come closer to you, thus presenting you with an opportunity for some amazing close encounters with nature.

On one occasion I had a treecreeper fly straight towards me and land in the tree directly above my head where I was sitting for my sit-spot at the Tracker school in the US, in all my years of birdwatching I have never experienced such an event with such an elusive bird.

At the same time a Red Squirrel was calmly eating a nut with a feww feet of me, and only when I changed by getting back into my head thinking I need to get back, did the squirrel rlaise I was there and alarmed and then moved off slowly so as not to draw attenstion to its self.