It was a pleasant morning today, the overnight rain had blown over and the weather forecast looked quite promising. I didn’t need any persuading so headed off to Fairburn for the rest of the morning.  I was a good one hour later than normal arriving at the reserve just after 10.00am, I felt as though I was trying to catch up the hour I had lost with being late up. I had been to a business meeting the night previous and I think it must have been that that had disrupted my sleeping pattern. Anyway it was a quick chat with the wardens and a coffee before I headed over to the ‘Pick up Hide’, the little froglets were still all over the place as they hop across the footpath on the way to the hide, barely one centimetre long, they look like little blue bottle flies as you catch sight of them through the corner of your eye, you have to be careful where you place your feet. 

It was quite a muggy morning when I unpacked the camera gear at the hide, 18C with a strong North Westerly wind which blew straight through the window openings, fortunately it was nice and bright and the heat from the sun took some of the cold blast of the wind. 

Everything looked quite colourful this morning, the light was good which accentuated the colours of the reeds, bulrushes, Himalayan Balsam and Purple Loosestrife set against the blue sky, it looked very picturesque as my eyes scanned the lake looking to see what wildlife was about on the water and around the fringes of the lake.

A lone little Egret was on the far bank of the lake, patrolling the mudflats, the Green Woodpecker was quite vocal behind me and proved quite a distraction at times, needless to say I never found it! A pair of Common Terns flew over the water and did some fishing, I always think they look a classy bird with their black head and forked tail, they always look clean and tidy and white. They hover for a few seconds over the water, selecting their prey before diving straight down into the water, sometimes from a height of over thirty feet, great to watch. I scanned the wooden fence posts several times during my visit looking for the Buzzard but to no avail today, it must have been resting elsewhere on the reserve. The Coot chicks are getting bigger by the day and losing their fluffy down coats, they still stay close to their parents who busily go about their business providing food for them. The Moorhens were doing well too with several youngsters dotted around the lake. Several pair of Mallard were seen around the water’s edge, their youngsters/juveniles nearly the same size as their mother.

Over on the feeders to the right of the hide were lots of visitors, Male and female Blackbirds were busy hoovering up the seed spilt on the woodland floor. There were lots of Greenfinch, Great Tit, Blue Tit and Chaffinch today. Several Robins dropped in, all feeding on the floor, the juveniles are beginning to lose their speckled chest and the red breast is beginning to show through nicely. It was good to see the Coal Tit, their distinctive white patch on the back of their neck being quite visible and also several Willow Tits, without the white patch feeding on some of the loose seed placed on one of the fence posts. 

The mornings visit wouldn’t be complete without the Grey Squirrels and Wood Pigeons, both frequent visitors to the feeders.