I’ve had some early starts this week and was on the Barff with Meg and Gracie for around 6.30am this morning. It was a cold start to the day with the temperature just hovering above freezing point. It was nice to hear the Tawny Owls calling to each other as we walked around the Barff, I have actually heard them most mornings this week, anyway,  as I was approaching the top of Tap Hill one of them was high up in the trees to my left calling to its  mate which sounded as though it was somewhere near the ‘old farm shop’,  I think the one on the top of the Barff was probably getting stressed by me encroaching into its territory, we gave it a wide berth and continued on our walk. We had a good walk though and by the time we arrived home it was just after 8.00am. 

After breakfast I had a free day so decided to have a couple of hours at Fairburn Ings again, it is just over a fortnight since my last visit. I had put my camera batteries on charge before I went out earlier this morning, with the cold weather if you are not careful they can drain quite quickly. I re loaded the batteries into my cameras, all fully charged, packed the camera gear into my rucksack and with winter clothing headed off to the reserve for the morning.

It was just after 9.15am as I arrived at Fairburn Ings visitors centre, the car temperature gauge was still reading 2C. It was a dull, grey and cloudy morning, the weather forecast in this morning’s paper was for a cold and dry day. I was pleased that I had packed my big winter jacket and gloves. It is only a short walk to the visitors centre from the car park and was looking forward to a warming cup of coffee. After exchanging a few pleasantries with the staff and paying for my coffee I followed the ‘Discovery Trail’ to the ‘Pick up Hide’. There was a young family in the hide when I arrived, which is always nice to see, I actually followed a couple of families with young children when I left the car park on route to the visitors centre, it is a great place for families, with plenty of trails and paths to follow for the youngsters to run and let off steam and burn of some of that excess energy which youngsters have, as well as learning about nature and wildlife. 

I unpacked the camera gear and scanned the lake for activity, I counted four Moorhen skirting the mudflats along the water’s edge, a pair of Juvenile Black headed gulls landed noisily on the water, each spending a couple of minutes preening before flying off. Six Cormorants flew over the lake heading in a Southerly direction. Closer to the hide were three Grey Squirrels busily gorging themselves with some food the wardens must have left out when they filled the feeders before my arrival.  It was busy around the feeding station this morning, regular visitors were Robin, male and female Chaffinch, Blue and Great Tits and Dunnocks, the Dunnocks were busily hoovering up the spoils from the feeders. A pair of Hen Pheasant were also hoovering up around the feeders, it was fascinating watching them, at one stage they ventured off under the fence and onto the ‘Sand martin wall’, within minutes of them arriving on top of the wall a beautifully coloured male Pheasant came from out of the undergrowth, rounded both of them up and ushered them both back to the feeding station.  I noticed some activity on the bottom of the Sand Martin wall today, Blue tits looked to be taking nesting material into the wall, several of them had been feeding on the seed from the Bulrush’s at the water’s edge and at the same time were peeling off strands of grass and taking it as nesting material into the wall.  It will be interesting to see what happens when the Sand Martins return?

The Willow Tit only showed a couple of times this morning, it doesn’t hang about though, and no sooner had it collected some food than it was back into the safety of the undergrowth. It was the same with the Long Tailed Tits too, I counted six of them at one stage, all feeding on the fat ball feeder, and at that, all of a sudden they had all gone on mass, later in the morning they returned and had a quick feed and were off again, which makes it difficult to get a photograph of them, fortunately I know their call and could hear them congregating behind me before they flew in for a feed. They are lovely delicate looking birds that prefer to feed in small groups, I don’t often see a lone Long Tailed Tit.

It was nice to see some male and female Greenfinch today, I never saw any on my last visit to the hide, they can be quite feisty characters at times and think nothing of taking a peck at a rival after the same food source. It was the same with the Reed Buntings too, I have seen them many a time dispatch a Blue Tit and Great Tit. Tree Sparrows were regular visitors to the hide this morning along with a male Blackbird. 

Towards the back of the feeders several Magpies were flying about, they would rest on the bushes to the right of the hide before flying off and landing on one of the small islands on the lake in front of the hide. I haven’t seen them come into the feeding station yet.

As the morning past the hide was seeing more and more visitors so as the time was approaching noon I decided to call it a day and head back to the centre for a coffee before my journey home.