Friday 18th January 2019

There had been a bitterly cold overnight frost and it was the winter jacket for the early morning dog walk a little earlier this morning. The ground was well frozen today.

I was long overdue another visit to RSPB Fairburn Ings, as it was just over a fortnight since my last visit, so after breakfast I popped upstairs and put another layer of clothing on, checked my cameras had a full charge and packed the car with all my gear. By the time I arrived at the Visitors Centre at Fairburn it was 9.30am, the air temperature was still -1C and the sun had yet to  rise above the coal tips so it was still quite nippy on the finger ends. 

I popped into the centre for a chat with the wardens and a coffee before heading out along the ‘Discovery Trail’ to the ‘Pick up Hide’ and my base for the morning. I looked to be the first person in the hide today and with the exception of the odd visitor it stayed like that for the rest of the morning. Looking through the hide windows you could see that although the water level in the lake was quite low, what water was in there was well frozen, a pair of Moorhens where walking around the edges of the ice, along with a pair of Black headed Gulls. To the right of the hide a lone Moorhen was scavenging for food under the feeders on the feeding station, a Grey Squirrel was doing its best to extract some nuts out of one of the feeders, the spoils dropping to the floor for the waiting Moorhen. Female Hen Pheasants were a plenty this morning with three of them hovering around the feeders with another two over by the Sand Martin wall. 

As well as the Hen Pheasants there were lots of male Chaffinch about too, either taking food off the fence post or having a nibble at the feeder. Several Coal Tits kept popping in for a feed, one of them with quite a strange colour on its chest and head though it may be a juvenile with its adult feathers coming through. The Willow Tit was more discreet it only showed twice whilst I was at the hide, it doesn’t hang about though, it comes in for food, as soon as it has a seed kernel in its mouth its off back to the safety of the undergrowth. 

I was pleasantly surprised by the amount of Goldfinches about this morning, just hanging around the feeders all morning, what a lovely colourful bird. Another good looking bird that kept popping in was the Reed Bunting, both the male and females were regular visitors to the hide today. Dunnocks were never far away either, scavenging on the floor or occasionally on the fence post, they, like the Robins are quite a feisty bird and don’t like to share their food with anyone else. A pair of male Blackbirds where regular visitors, much darker colour than the females and much bigger than the finches. A  Juvenile Jackdaw flew into the feeding station, a huge bird, probably three times bigger than the Blackbird, but didn’t hang around, no sooner had it found a perch than it was off again.

At one stage I counted four Robins around the hide, they like the Goldfinch and Chaffinch were around all morning. Everything stopped when the Grey Squirrels came onto the feeders, there were three of them on three separate feeders, two of them suspended upside down clinging on with their back legs, their razor sharp tiny claws securely clasping onto the branch as they hung upside down helping themselves to the spoils of the feeders. The third one was contently nibbling away at one of the fat ball feeders, working the fat ball with its front paws and reshaping the ball so it could extract it from the feeder.

The Long Tailed Tits popped in for a three minute stay, helping themselves to the suet pellets, they like the Willow Tits do not hang around to eat the food, as soon as they have a mouthful they are off back into the relative safety of the undergrowth. 

With the exception of one of the wardens who called into the hide to replenish the feeders I didn’t speak to a sole during my stay there, I presume the cold weather kept most of the visitors away. The cold though was beginning to cut into my hands and though I had some very close knit woollen gloves on I was beginning to get pins and needles and cramp in my finger ends, at that point and with the time coming round to 11.30am I decided to call it a day and head back to the centre for a coffee prior to the journey home. A great day, I need to return more often.