It was a bright and sunny start to the day this morning. I managed to get out with Meg & Gracie for 6.45am, no overnight frost today just a bitterly cold North Westerly wind. 

After breakfast I loaded the camera gear into the car and headed over to the reserve at RSPB Fairburn Ings for the morning, a couple of weeks have past since my last visit so it would be interesting to see what was about. 

It was just after 9.00am as I drove into the car park, the temperature gauge in the car was showing 4C though with the morning sunshine it felt a little warmer. After a coffee and chat to the staff in the visitors centre I headed over to the ‘Pick up hide’ for the morning. The reserve was quiet with very few visitors about though visitor numbers tend to pick up from mid-morning so it was still relatively early. There was nobody in the hide when I arrived and set up the gear, and as it happened stayed like that for most of the morning. Within a few minutes I felt the full force of the North Easterly breeze as it blew straight through the hide windows, fortunately I had my big winter jacket on so that protected me from the worse of it. Looking out over the lake were several families of Mallard dotted around the water’s edge, a pair of Coots were in the middle of the lake along with four or five juvenile Black headed Gulls. Over on the feeders it was quiet, although all the feeders were empty so I wasn’t surprised. I had a small bag of sunflower hearts I keep in my camera bag so I popped out of the hide and supplemented the empty feeders with some of ‘my’ food, within seconds I had eight Hen Pheasants at my feet along with one male Pheasant, by the time I returned to the hide the food I put on the floor was virtually gone and to crown it all the small pile I put on one of the fence posts was being devoured by a Grey Squirrel!

Within a few minutes I went round and replenished the food again, this time several Chaffinches had arrived and by the time I returned to my camera were busily munching away at it before the bigger birds took over. This burst of activity brought more Finches and TIts to the area, at one point I counted four Robin feeding together with one of them brazen enough to come and sit on the window shelf next to me. It was nice to see both the male and female Reed Buntings about this morning too. The Willow Tit was a frequent visitor and stayed around a lot longer than usual. Coal Tits were popping in and out during the morning too. The Male Greenfinch looked really nice this morning, especially once the sun had reached the hide, their colours looking really crisp and vibrant.

Over the fields to the right of the hide the dead Cormorant tree was a hive of activity. I counted at least six birds sitting on nests, occasionally one would fly overhead taking more twigs and small branches back to replenish their nests. The Herons alongside the Cormorants were busy this morning too, they would circle above the lake before coming in to land, do some fishing before heading back to the Heronry with their catch. 

Back on the feeders and the Long Tailed Tits popped in a couple of times during the morning, I counted five of them at any one time, they seem quite business like though, I usually hear them congregating in the bushes behind me before they come to the fat ball feeder, no sooner have they had a feed then they are off, on mass, they don’t hang around like the other members of the Tit family. 

It was fascinating watching the Blue Tits this morning, several of them were showing considerable interest in the Sand Martin wall, whether they are entering the wall in search of food or prospecting for a suitable nest sight only time will tell, no signs of the Sand Martins yet though.

Dunnocks were regular visitors this morning, they are a lovely little bird, very much underrated I think and have the most beautiful song, they were with me all morning either hoovering up the seed of the floor or the fence post. 

Needless to say by late morning the cold wind began to take its toll and although I had some gloves on I was beginning to get cramp in my fingers which, when this starts to happen is time for me to call it a day, so I disconnected all the camera gear, packed in back into my rucksack and headed back to the warmth and comfort of the visitors centre for a coffee.