It was a foggy, damp and miserable morning, just 5C. There was no wind and a light drizzle made being outside feel a little unpleasant. After breakfast I had a free morning so decided to brave the weather and pop over to the Fairburn reserve for a couple of hours. It was 9.45am when I arrived in the visitors centre, my biggest disappointment of the day being that the coffee machine was out of order, but I soldiered on and after a chat with the staff I headed over to the ‘Pick up hide’. There was no one else in the hide when I arrived so settled down, unpacked the camera gear and got all set up. Scanning the lake in front of the hide everything looked quiet, there were three pair of Mallard scattered around the fringes of the lake and on the far bank a Little Egret was busily searching for its breakfast amongst the shallow water. It stayed like that for most of the morning other that three Black headed Gulls flying in and shifting the Little Egret.

Over to the right of the hide and on the feeding station Great Tits and Blue Tits appeared to have a steady relay between them, take the food from the feeders, fly into the bushes to eat it, whilst in the bushes the Great Tits would come in and do the same and so it went on all morning. A Pheasant family was resident under the feeders, waiting for any scraps of food to drop onto the floor. A female Reed Bunting kept flying in for food, the same one as last week, no sign of a male yet. Robins were quite vocal, I counted four of them at one time, they seem to becoming quite tame I suppose with visitors putting bird food in the palm of their hands the little Robins have got wise to this free meal and having selfies with the owner’s hand! Several Dunnock were regular visitors during my stay at the hide, they have a lovely song and seem quite content singing their little hats off between feeding spells. Along with the Dunnock were the Greenfinch, the male birds looking really good at the moment, beautiful green/yellow feathers looking quite vibrant in the dull mornings light. The Willow Tits were a regular visitors too, they do not hang around though, they fly into and onto the feeders get a mouthful of seed and fly off to a secure tree to digest it. It is good to see several Coal Tit this morning, similar markings to the Willow Tit but the distinctive white patch on the back of their neck tells them apart. By mid-morning I could hear the Long Tailed Tits behind the hide with their distinctive high pitched call, a few moments later six of them flew in onto one of the seed feeders, they have beautiful pinkish/purple coloured markings, a short stubby facial features and the distinctive long tail. Within fifteen seconds they had had their fill and were off. I didn’t see them again till just before lunch.

The Grey Squirrels were somewhat of problem this morning domineering the feeders, at least the mess they make is quickly cleared up by the Pheasants who seem to be quite settled patiently waiting under the feeders for all the spoils cast out by the Grey Squirrels.

As brunch time approached and before my finger ends went completely numb I decided to call it a day and head back to the Visitors centre for a bite to eat. I wonder if they will have managed to repair the coffee machine?