After a pleasant early morning walk with Meg and Gracie I headed off to the RSPB reserve at Fairburn Ings. It was 9.30am which is quite late for me when I pulled into the car park and unloaded the camera gear. It was a lovely morning 11C with a light westerly wind and the sun was shining nicely. 

I collected my coffee from the visitors centre after exchanging some pleasantries with the staff in the shop, I am not normally able to get to the reserve on a Thursday so today was quite a change with different faces around the reserve. 

I headed off along the ‘Discovery Trail’ towards the ‘Pickup Hide’, one of the first things I noticed was how the grass and bushes have suddenly  greened up, the young leaves have turned and blossom is now in full bloom on the Hawthorn bushes which makes a sight in the morning sunlight. 

The hide was busy this morning as I settled down behind the window to the left of the hide. There was lots happening on the water though with 2 Mute Swans landing in front of the hide and staying for about 30 minutes, feeding and preening, their long necks forming all sorts of contorted shapes as they cleaned their glossy white feathers. A little further away from the hide three Greylag Geese flew over before turning and landing on the water. Several pairs of Mallard were dotted around the lake along with one coot and its chick. Several Grey Heron and Cormorants flew over the lake this morning but none chose to land. 

Jackdaws seemed to be all over the place this morning, they scattered the finches which were on the feeders.. 

It was nice to see the Yellow Iris’s beginning to flower, especially those on the left hand side of the lake.