It was a cold, misty and quiet morning, very little wind, the temperature gauge was reading just 4C at 9.00am today. I don’t usually visit the reserve at Fairburn on a Tuesday but today I had a free morning so I headed over there for a couple of hours. I popped in for an hour or so last Thursday but only stayed till 10.30am, other than a pair of Widgeon, three pair of Tufted duck and a pair of noisy Greylag geese that was it on the lake, The feeding station to the right of the hide was quiet too with just a Cock Pheasant, Chaffinch and Great tits showing during my brief stay. 

This morning like last Thursday was relatively quiet especially around the feeding station. On the lake though where four pair of Tufted duck, a pair of Widgeon, a pair of Greylag Geese and for a short time a pair of Mute swans.

Behind where I was sat I could clearly hear a Cuckoo calling, but was too far away for me to see it. In front of the hide and to the right, Sand martins were busily flying into and out of their new homes in the Sand martin wall, one or two of the bigger chicks were coming to the nest hole entrance which was a bit of a concern as both Magpie and Jackdaw were hovering about on top of the wall, waiting for an opportune moment to snatch the young chick from their nest site. 

Further over to the right of the hide heavy dew still laid on the long grass, several pairs of Canada Geese and Wood Pigeon were busily going about their business in their quest for food. The Spoonbills have returned just recently to the reserve which is great news. From my position in the hide I could quite clearly see the Cormorants nesting along with one or two Grey Heron and Little Egrets too but I couldn’t make out the Spoonbills today.

The relative peace of the hide was broken when a Curlew flew into the reed beds on the left hand side of the lake, it was well out of site though and well tucked in behind the reeds.

Close to the front of the hide were two pairs of Mallard busily feeding, it was quite comical to watch as they dived and bobbed in the water in their quest for food. With very little bird activity around the feeding station I kept being distracted by the antics of three Grey Squirrels that were being extremely active in front of the hide, one of them was quite content on pinching fat balls out of the squirrel proof feeders all morning, it would sit on top of the feeder and with its front paws reach through and grab hold of the fat ball inside the feeder, rotating it in its paws, nibbling it at the same time, after a few minutes of frantic nibbling the fat ball is small enough to pull through the feeder,  with the fat ball now secure in the squirrels front paws it clambers onto a tree branch away from the feeders and sits contently devouring the remainder of its ill-gotten gains, the other two content on looking for discarded sun flower seeds from the other feeders. 

As the morning progressed and with very little activity close to the hide and with the temperature still in single figures I decided to call it a day and head back to the visitors centre for a coffee before the journey home.