It was another early start this morning. I’d had a good long dog walk earlier which is much nicer now that it is getting quite light at 6.00am. The head torch and illuminated dog collars can go back in the cupboard for another year, thank goodness.

It was a cold start to the day, an overnight frost had left its mark on the grass and the water’s edge of the bird bath was lightly frozen. After breakfast I headed over to the RSPB reserve at Fairburn Ings for the morning. It was just after 9.00am as I parked up in the visitors centre car park. The temperature gauge was showing 1C and although there was a light breeze as long as you were well wrapped up it was quite pleasant. 

After my customary coffee and chat with the wardens I headed along ‘the Discovery trail’, it was nice to see the Daffodils in full flower along the fringes of the footpath as I made my way to the ‘Pick up Hide’.

I was pleased I had my winter clothing on this morning, although there was very little wind in the car park by the time I reached the hide there was a bitterly cold North Westerly wind blowing straight through the windows.

The lake was still partially frozen after the overnight frost, a pair of Mute swans were busily preening in the centre of the lake, a small flock of noisy Black headed Gulls were being a nuisance around the water’s edge, like a group of unruly teenagers, they were flying low over the Teal which were minding their own business, as well as a couple of Mallard and Coots and just generally being a nuisance. By mid-morning the whole group flew off towards the ‘Lin Dyke hide’ and things returned to normal on the lake. 

By mid-morning the wind had picked up significantly and was howling through the open hide windows which resulted in very few members of the public visiting the hide.

To the right of the hide were two pair of Mallard ducks busily hoovering up under the feeders, occasionally having a bit of a tussle with the Hen Pheasants after the same food. Of the smaller birds visiting this morning the Great Tit was the most frequent, followed by the Dunnock and Chaffinch. Several Greenfinch popped in for a feed, along with the Goldfinch who this morning preferred to feed off the floor, they certainly looked unsteady as they tried several times to land on the swinging feeders. 

Over in the field to the right of the hide was a huge flock of about fifty Wood Pigeon, all busily grazing amongst the long grass and in the relative safety of the reed beds were a pair of Canada Geese who every now and then would pop their head above the reeds for a look around before dropping down again.

One of the most frequent visitors this morning was the Grey Squirrel, for most of the morning three of them were busily raiding the bird feeders.

It was good to see the Reed Buntings back again today, either taking seed from the top of the fence post or hoovering up on the woodland floor. I do not know where the Robins were today, they are usually frequent visitors but during the morning I only noticed a couple.

By 11.15am the wind was starting to make it quite unpleasant in the hide so I decided to call it a day and head back for a coffee and the relative comfort of the visitors centre.