It was a cold and frosty start to the day this morning. An overnight frost had coated the grass with a white sheen which was just beginning to melt as the sun rose slowly over the trees to the East.

After breakfast I headed over to the reserve at Fairburn Ings for an hour or so. The time was approaching 9.15am as I arrived at the visitor’s centre, unfortunately for me the centre does not open till 9.30am so I was unable to get my early morning cup of coffee. I continued my walk the short distance along the ‘discovery trail’ to the ‘Pick up hide’. It was quiet when I arrived at the hide, there were no other visitors so I was by myself. The temperature had risen to a barmy 5C and the sun was shining nicely across the far side of the lake, it will be mid-morning before the sun comes over the ‘coal tips trail’ and warms up the hide. 

On the lake where a pair of Mute Swans, both enjoying the peace and serenity without the nuisance of diving Black backed gulls or noisy Greylag geese etc. Several pairs of Coots and Mallards were busily scampering around the water’s edge but all left the swans well alone.

The Sand martins were in and out of the Sand martin wall like bullets this morning, circling above the wall and suddenly choosing their moment to take a low fast dive sweeping across the front of the hide, straight into their nesting holes in the wall.

Over in the far field to the right of the hide were several pairs of Canada Geese, their heads popping up out of the long grass like a submarine’s periscope as it comes up from a dive. On the ‘Cormorant tree’ were at least eight birds, some in their nest whilst others stood perched on the tree branches with their wings stretched wide open, drying them in the cold morning sunlight.

Closer to the hide and the feeders to the right, several noisy Tree Sparrows were making quite a noise in their quest for food. Hen and Cock Pheasants were around under the feeders, scavenging for remnants of food dropped from the feeders directly above their heads. 

A male Reed Bunting popped in for a feed this morning, I like the male birds, their colours and markings are more defined that the female birds and the male birds always have that distinctive white moustache marking around their faces which always makes me smile. Three Long Tailed Tits popped in to feed on the fat ball feeder for a while, though they never seem to loiter or hang around, once they have their intake of food, they are off back into the deep undergrowth.

It was good to see a Coal Tit on one of the feeders, in fact a pair of them kept visiting one of the feeders during my stay at the hide, the white patch on the back of their head differentiating them from the Great Tit. Chaffinch, Great Tits, Greenfinches and Blue Tits were all regular visitors too. 

One of the highlights of my morning’s visit to the hide was watching a pair of Cock Pheasants square up to each other, lots of noise, wing flapping, the occasional peck at each other followed by a period of calm, then, when one came a little to close to the other it would all start again, lots of noise, wing flapping etc. 

As the morning progressed a party of around a dozen or so Primary School children visited the hide along with their teacher for a look at the wildlife. I do admire the teachers taking the children out on field trips, I just wish I was given that opportunity at that age.

Grey Squirrels were regular visitors to the feeders along with Dunnocks and Woodpigeon, all in all a lovely morning at the hide. As the time was approaching 11.00am I decided to call it a day and head back to the centre for a late morning cup of coffee.