I have had some great early morning walks this past week, the weather has been fine and dry but bitterly cold with occasional light snow flurries, the morning temperatures have been around -3C most days warming up to 4C to 5C during the daytime although yesterday the temperature stayed below freezing all day.  Along with the cold mornings we have had some foggy mornings too and some amazing hore frosts which transform the trees on the Barff into a winter wonderland. The beam of light from my headlamp has made the frost glisten and sparkle as the light catches the frost on the tree branches as I walked amongst the trees, it felt quite magical and surreal.

After a good walk earlier this morning and breakfast, I hurriedly packed the camera gear into the car and headed off to Fairburn Ings to photograph some birds on frosty tree branches, that was the plan anyway.

I arrived at the reserve for 9.30am, the temperature had warmed up slightly and the car temperature gauge was reading -1C. I popped into the visitors centre for a coffee and chat with the wardens before I headed off to the ‘Pick up hide’. It was still bitterly cold but quiet at the hide, I was the only one there for most of the morning. The lake in front of the hide was frozen solid with no bird life to be seen either on the ice or around the fringes. Like home there had been a light overnight dusting of snow on the ground coupled with an overnight frost so the ground was frozen solid. Closer to the hide and around the feeders three Hen Pheasants were busily scratching the hard ground searching for food, fortunately I carry a bag of bird seed in my camera bag so I popped out and scattered a couple of handfuls on the ground. Within a few seconds I was joined by two more Hen Pheasants and Two Cock Pheasants, shortly followed by Coot, Great Tits and Blue Tits. Once the feeding frenzy settled down I put some more food down and returned back to behind the camera. Several Robins kept popping over for a snack, along with Greenfinch and Chaffinch, at one stage a Greater Spotted Woodpecker flew into the trees behind the feeders but no sooner had it arrived than it flew off into the deeper undergrowth. Dunnock and Blackbirds were regular visitors too during the morning. I watched a beautifully coloured male Bullfinch in the bushes for a few moments before three Grey Squirrels disturbed it. The area was temporarily cleared when a Jackdaw landed on one of the hawthorn bushes close by, I think it had flown in to get a bit of respite from the snow flurries that we were having during the morning. Tree Sparrows, like the Chaffinch were constant visitors to the feeders as were the Greenfinch too, the male birds of both species looking extremely colourful at the moment, unfortunately one or two of the Chaffinch appear to contracted the Fringilla Papillomavirus and have lightly scabby feet which looks a little unsightly but doesn’t appear to cause the bird any discomfort at this early stage. Both male and female Blackbirds kept popping in for a snack, scavenging on the woodland floor and occasionally feeding on one of the fence posts.

It was fascinating watching the grey Squirrels this morning, one was much smaller than the other two so I am presuming an offspring of the two bigger ones. They spent a lot of time around the side of the Sand Martin wall, and appear to have made some inroads into digging out a chamber under the rocks on the side of the wall, I’ll keep an eye out on my next visit.

As the morning passed and although I was dressed in my full winter gear I was getting colder and colder so as the time was approaching 11.30am I decided to call it a day and head back to the centre for a coffee and cake before the drive home.