There was a light mist in the air earlier today, it was a cold dry start to the day, quite pleasant really and no cold easterly wind which we have had several mornings this week. 

I was back home by 8.00am after our dog walk, it is beginning to get light now around 6.30am which makes the walk more interesting and of course you can see more. I have only heard the Tawny owls once this week which is unusual though as the days start to lengthen they probably stop hunting as the mornings get brighter much earlier. It has been nice to hear the Nuthatches calling though, Spring is certainly on the way.

After breakfast I headed over to the reserve at Fairburn Ings for the morning. The mist was quite slow to clear but as I parked the car in the car park at the visitors centre the sun was just beginning to break through. 

It was a pleasant 8C as I made my way to the centre for a coffee and chat with the wardens. I had my full winter gear on just to give me some protection from the prevailing wind should it pick up during the day, but by the time I walked around to the ‘Pick up hide’ the sun was shining and the lake in front of the hide was flat calm.

There was more activity on the lake than I have seen for some time, several pairs of Teal were feeding around the shoreline as were the Coot and several pairs of Mallard. During the morning a noisy flock of six juvenile Black Headed Gulls flew in and spent an hour or so squabbling with the Mallard and Teal before flying off towards the Main Bay. 

Closer to the hide the feeding station to the right was quite busy too, several Great Tits were busily feeding on the remnants of the seed in the bottom of the bird feeders, they took it in turn with the Grey Squirrels!

It was good to see the Reed Buntings again this morning, I saw at least two pair feeding during my stay. Three Hen Pheasants were round and about all morning as were a pair of Cock Pheasants. Chaffinch and Goldfinch were the most frequent visitors during my stay, no matter where I looked I could see them both, closely followed by Tree Sparrows and Greenfinch.

The Highland Cattle were out and busily grazing in the fields to the right of the hide, two or three made their way to the water’s edge for a few minutes before heading back to join the main herd.

Another pair of regular visitors were the Robins and Dunnocks, both beautiful song birds, the morning sunlight and no breeze appeared to calm the birds down, with the exception of the Long Tailed Tits that is, a small flock of four birds flew in for a matter of minutes, have a quick feed before flying off into the undergrowth round the back of the hide. The first group arrived just as I set the camera gear up at around 9.45am, the returning birds showed up again just after 11.00am. 

Back over on the lake, a pair of Mute Swans flew over, circled and landed on the water, closely followed by a noisy pair of Greylag Geese. No sooner had they landed than a huge Grey Heron did a very low fly past flying no more than a metre above the water, I am certain had the Mute Swans not been there it would have landed, instead it continued its flight and banked round to the right, heading off into the direction of the ‘Lindyke hide’.

By mid-morning the hide was becoming quite popular, on several occasions I was showing visitors and youngsters some of the birds that visited the hide, it always surprises me at what I tend to take for granted as a regular garden bird visitor i.e. a Tree Sparrow’s they are still quite a rare species for many members of the public. It is always good to see parents and grandparents bringing their children and grandchildren around the reserve, introducing them to the reserve at such a young age can only do good for the future.

One of the highlights of the morning was a visit from a Greater Spotted Woodpecker, it had been hovering around in the background for most of the morning, then it suddenly flew round the back of one of the trees holding the bird feeders, it carefully made its way around the tree and posed in between two of the feeders, contently pecking into the tree trunk for grubs rather than raiding the feeders, a great sight.

As the time was approaching 11.30am I decided to pack up and head back to the visitors centre for a coffee before the journey home.