I don’t know about you but I am getting fed up with all this damp wet weather, our back garden is absolutely sodden at the moment and the Barff is waterlogged too, we need some good Spring frosts to dry up all the surface water.

I have been busy this last twenty four hours in the fish pond, yesterday afternoon I noticed a slight drip from under the UV unit and on further investigation found that the glass tube that the light fits into had fractured, It could have happened as a result of the spell of cold weather we had from last week or it is more lightly that the dogs have crashed into it whilst playing in the garden! Anyway, after doing some adjustments to the pipework I have temporarily bypassed the water flow until I can get a new tube and uv lamp at the weekend.

This morning was a typical cold, damp and wet start to the day which meant another muddy dog walk, Meg and Gracie aren’t bothered though they just get on with it, sniffing out new smells, meeting and greeting people and having a good run around  they don’t seem to get upset about the weather at all. We were on the Barff just before 7.00am this morning and made our way up the gentle slope towards the pumping station, it was nice to hear the Green Woodpecker again, one of these days I will get a really good view of one, for some reason or other they always seem to avoid me. The Tawny Owl was active too as it flew over our heads heading for the plantation on the other side of the bypass. The Nuthatches numbers seem to increase week on week at the moment, I heard at least five this morning around the woodland. The Grey Squirrels were quite active too this morning, I should think they were busily re assessing their winter supply of food after the cold snap of last week. We had our usual chaperones of Robin and Chaffinch as we continued our walk popping up at every opportunity just in front of us, they all seem to have survived the worst of the winter. After a good walk we headed for home and breakfast. I had nothing planned for the rest of the morning so after breakfast and with the dogs sound asleep I packed the camera gear into the car and headed over to Fairburn Ings for the remainder of the morning. By the time I had picked up a coffee and had a chat with the visitor centre staff it was 10.00am as I was setting up the camera gear at the ‘Pick up Hide’. It was still a cold morning, the temperature had risen to a barmy 3C with some sunny spells and only a very light westerly breeze coming through the hide windows. Looking over the lake in front of the hide I noticed six Widgeon sleeping on one of the small ‘islands’ along with several Moorhen and Mallard. Closer to the hide and around the empty feeders were several Robins, Hen Pheasants and Dunnocks, I popped out of the hide and scattered some bird seed on the fence post and floor and within seconds the Hen Pheasants, Grey Squirrels and a Rabbit had devoured the lot, although the Rabbit got quite a beating from a Cock Pheasant who was having none of it and promptly nipped the Rabbits ears before disappearing under the wire fence and relative safety away from the big birds.

Looking over towards the Heronry were at least five Herons sitting on nests in the tree, a similar number of Cormorants were also sitting on nests on an adjoining tree. I was scanning the far fence posts with my bino’s checking to see if the Buzzard was in its usual place when out from the woodland at the far side of the lake popped three ‘Jacob’ sheep. I hadn’t seen them here before so presume the local farmer had brought them in to assist the Highland cattle with grazing the fields adjacent to the lakes.

Back on the feeders, I could hear the Long Tailed Tits congregating in the bushes behind me, I had put another batch of food out hoping the smaller birds would come in first before the Squirrels and Pheasants get to it first and fortunately the Chaffinch, Greenfinch and Dunnocks came in straight away and by the time I had returned to the hide a pair of Chaffinch were busily squabbling over who had the right to eat the food on the fence post first, needless to say a male Reed Bunting duly barged in past the quarrelling Chaffinch and helped itself to the seed. 

Over on the lake a Little Egret had just flown in and landed on the far side, it stayed for about thirty minutes, working its way around the water’s edge, even venturing up to the front of the hide, which is quite unusual as they tend to stay well away from the hide. It was interesting watching it as prowled along the water’s edge, head down scanning the water and disturbing the mud with its huge feet hoping to disturb the fish underneath, suddenly its head and long beak would shoot into the water returning seconds later with its prey in its mouth.

Returning to the feeders and the Long Tailed Tits finally made an appearance landing on the fat ball feeder, after a couple of minutes they disappeared again to the safety of the undergrowth, fortunately they returned after about thirty minutes for another feed. The Willow Tit made a brief appearance during the morning, they, like the Long Tailed Tits do not mess around, they just fly onto the feeder, pick up the food and return to the deep undergrowth to digest the food before returning some time later. It was nice to see some Coal Tits this morning, their distinctive white patch quite noticeable on the back of their heads as they flit from branch to branch. I don’t think in all the years I have been visiting the reserve have I seen as many Robins as I have this year, there are quite often four or five at any one time around the hide, this morning as I was setting up the camera gear, unzipping the camera bag a Robin came and landed on the hide window, certainly within an arm’s length of where I was sitting, so the population of little Robins at Fairburn is looking very good this year. With lunch time approaching and a strengthening Westerly wind I decided to call it a day and head back to the centre for a coffee before the journey home. Another very pleasant morning at the Ings.