It was a cool start to the day as I arrived at the Fairburn Ings reserve, we had had a touch of frost earlier in the morning but at 9.30am as I drove into the car park the temperature had risen to a barmy 4C but the cold north westerly wind took a couple of degrees off that. Winter jacket on, hat and gloves close at hand so I was well wrapped up for a couple of hours at the ‘Pick up hide’. 

I popped into the visitors centre for a coffee and an update from the wardens as to what has been going on since last week and then headed over to the ‘Pick up hide’. 

The cold north westerly wind blew straight through the hide but within a few minutes the sun came out and took some of the cold out of the breeze. With the exception of several pairs of Coots and a handful of Black headed Gulls there didn’t appear to be anything else on the main lake in front of the hide, no signs of any waders yet, a Grey Heron flew over the top of the hide but showed no interest in landing and headed of towards Lyn Dyke. Shortly after three mute swans flew over behind the Heron making an awful lot more noise, they to continued their journey towards the other hide.

Closer to home though and the ‘Pick up hide’, there was plenty of activity on and around the feeders. I saw my first male Brambling this morning, it was sat feeding on the fence post in front of the hide, such beautiful colours, it stayed around for several minutes before flying off into the undergrowth where it stayed for the rest of the morning. A male Bullfinch was showing well at the hide today and stayed round and about for the morning. Fellow photographers also in the hide said a Nuthatch had been showing well earlier before I arrived, needless to say by the time I got my camera gear set up it had gone. Another regular visitor this morning was the Willow Tit, they have been quite frequent visitors of late but this morning they stayed around till lunchtime when I left. Other visitors included Dunnock, Great Tits and Blue Tits, Goldfinch and Robin. The male Chaffinch like the Brambling were looking quite vibrant and colourful even the male Greenfinch another regular visitor looked good too. It was good to see the Coal Tit and Tree Sparrow around the hide. As lunch time approached the cold was beginning to bite a bit so it was time to pack up and head back to the centre for a warming cup of coffee before the drive home.