It has been a cold dry week so far, with a couple of early morning frosts at the start of the week, eventually getting slightly warmer the closer we got to the weekend. This morning was no exception, it was a dull, cloudy and overcast morning with a light westerly breeze as I arrived in the visitors car park at Fairburn Ings. After the customary coffee in the visitors centre and chat with the wardens, I headed along the Discovery Trail, stopping for a few moments to watch a Great Tit as it took nesting material into box 61 which is situated in the trees on the left hand side of the path, I watched it do three visits to the box, on each trip it had quite a beak full of material, if it continued at this rate for the remainder of the morning it will have built quite a cosy nest by lunch time. I continued along the path to the ‘Pick up Hide’ and stayed there for the remainder of the morning. I had somehow managed a quite early start today, I don’t know how, I had walked the dogs earlier, had breakfast and managed to get to the hide for 9.15am. 

It was nice to hear the drumming of a Greater Spotter Woodpecker in the trees behind me, it was quite high up in one of the Silver Birch trees, I occasionally caught a glimpse of its bright red under feathers as it made its way around the tree, but its position and early morning sunlight made it quite difficult to photograph. Fortunately the same bird decided a little later in the morning to have a break from drumming and set about tackling some of the suet pellets in one of the bird feeders to the side of the hide. 

Looking across the lake, it was good to see two pair of Teal, bobbing about in front of the reed beds, with Coot and Moorhen close by. A pair of Mute Swans flew over the lake, circled and came into land on the water, they spent at least one hour busily preening, before flying off towards the lakes around the Coal Tip trail.

On the feeders at the side of the hide were all the usual birds, male and female Pheasants were around all morning, busily keeping the woodland floor clean, Robins were plentiful for some reason, I often counted three in the area at the same time, they are gaining celebrity status at the moment, I often when retuning  to the centre, watch visitors standing with their hand outstretched, full of meal worms or sunflower seeds etc. tempting and encouraging the birds to come and land on the palm of their hands, needless to say they have a mobile phone in the other, hoping to take a quick picture of it when it lands. 

The Blue tits seemed more photogenic this morning, they have been quite skittish and timid of late but today they appeared more settled, probably due to the lighter wind today than on my previous visits.

There were lots of Blackbirds, Chaffinch and Great Tits about too, the Blackbirds content to scavenge off the floor whilst the others fed on the feeders.

Nothing happening yet on the Sand Martin wall, other than a lone Rabbit, busily going about its business feeding amongst the bramble bushes.

Looking over on to the Cormorant tree I counted at least six Cormorant, four of them stood with their wings outstretched drying their feathers in the morning sunlight. A Grey Heron flew over carrying a huge twig in its beak, the length being as long as the bird itself, but they too are busily nesting and preparing their nests in readiness for this year’s offspring’s. 

It was nice to see the Goldfinch and Reed Bunting this morning, the Goldfinch happily feeding on the feeders whereas the Reed Bunting fed contently on the top of the fence post or the woodland floor. Occasionally a pair of Woodpigeons would fly into the feeding station, although they do not feed out of the bird feeders, they can make short work of any food left out on the fence post. 

It was late on in the morning when a flock of four Long Tailed Tits popped in, as usual I could hear them congregating around the back of the hide, it was only a few seconds after that that they arrived at the feeders, no sooner did they arrive though than they were off again, deep into the undergrowth, only appearing the once whilst I was there.

Another more frequent visitor though were the Dunnocks and Tree Sparrows, one or the other were always to be seen around the hide and feeders, I love the song the Dunnocks sing, so crisp and tuneful. 

I have yet to see any House Sparrows at the hide, at home we have plenty of them but no Tree Sparrows and here on the reserve it appears the other way round, I am sure they will be here somewhere.

As lunch time neared I decided to head back to the visitors centre, have a quick coffee before the short journey home. A lovely peaceful morning on the reserve.