Friday 16th June 2017
Friday 16th June 2017
It has been a month since I last visited the reserve at Fairburn, so I packed the camera gear and after breakfast headed off to the reserve. It was a lovely morning, 16C with a light westerly wind which just kept the temperature down a little, it was very pleasant though when the sun came out.
I was curious to know it the Sand martins had returned to the wall at the Pick up hide again this year. Looking over the lake from the hide I could see several pairs of Mallard around the water’s edge along with Moorhen and their young chicks. A Grey Heron flew over, did a circle of the lake but never looked likely to return, probably due to the fact that there were several pairs of Common Tern fishing in the area and they would have pestered the Heron had it landed.
I had a good look at the Sand Martin wall and seventy five per cent of the nesting holes hadn’t yet been hollowed out, I saw one or two birds flitting in and out but that was it.
Over on the feeders it was relatively quiet too. A Grey Squirrel was busily helping itself to the food, a male chaffinch kept its distance until the Squirrel disappeared for a few moments. A juvenile Dunnock was singing its head off completely oblivious with what was happening around it, namely another Grey Squirrel had appeared on the scene, both squirrels then caused mayhem chasing each other, sending the feeders flying through the air in their attempt to get at each other. Things only settled down when a Jackdaw flew in and settled on one of the fence posts. A female Pheasant popped in and started to scavenge under the feeders, closely followed by three of its juvenile chicks, all looking fit and healthy.
I was surprised by the number of Wood Pigeons about today as well as a flock of Jackdaws. A Great Tit kept popping in and out visiting the feeders along with several young Blue Tits.
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