Fairburn Ings

Having a little time on Saturday morning in an otherwise busy weekend we decided to spend a couple of hours at Fairburn. It was quiet early doors and we had the Pickup hide to ourselves though the view wasn't particularly enticing, the wind was blowing straight into the hide which made it difficult to look out for any length of time. As it happened there wasn't very much on the water anyway. A few Mallard and Coots. Even the feeders at the side quiet apart from a Great Tit and a couple of female Pheasants.

Moving on to the next feeding area we were followed by noisy Goldfinch, Greenfinch and Long-tailed Tits. In fact there were more Goldfinch surrounding us than i've ever seen there before. Goldfinch numbers seem to be up everywhere, my local patch has numerous flocks and it's a joy to hear them as you walk about town.

The feeders were busy with birds - Great/Blue Tits, Chaffinch, Reed Bunting, Dunnock, Robins, Mallard, every tree or bush nearby was filled with them and a couple of Squirrels too.

On to the kingfisher screen and all is quiet there and it looks like the fish piled up in the water have dispersed somewhat or possibly been eaten by the Water Rail and Little Egret that made the area their home for a while!

As we walked away a large white bird flew over, I couldn't get a good enough view to be 100% but I think it was the Great White Egret. It actually flew off down the river and out of sight so i'll never be sure. Lots of Gulls and Lapwings down in the Big Hole.

Making the decision to walk around Coal Tips probably wasn't the best one with the strong winds and the rain just starting, it certainly stings your face! But we started so we carried on. Spotting a couple of Skylarks coasting on the wind. Lots more Gulls, mostly Black Headed, Coots, Mute Swans, Tufted Ducks were on the water. Getting around to the far side the rain eased off and we spotted a flock of Goldeneye across the water, also Little Grebes and a Great Crested too.

Windy!

Looking down onto the reserve there were Herons, Cormorants, Canada/Greylag Geese, Woodpigeons, Shelduck and Swans.

Heading back to the centre we detoured around the feeders just to enjoy the birdsong again, it wasn't quite as busy now but there were more people about so possibly the reason why.

As usual at the moment lots of fungus was spotted everywhere we walked. I really do need to make more of an effort with IDs on these, that's a goal for this year, learning more about what i'm seeing.

Around the Patch

Things are a little quiet around the patch at the moment, i've only managed to add a couple of birds to the list.

The garden has been quite deserted during the day but one of the birds I added to the list was a Sparrowhawk flying over the house so that may be partly to blame. There is often one around but it's the first time i've seen it since last year. The birds are about mostly early morning and late afternoon but there always seems to be Starlings flitting from tree to tree.

There are a lot of Sparrows roosting in the trees behind the gardens and they hop up just after the sun rises most mornings.

I had to trim back the Buddleia finally due to the winds this week, a shame as the birds loved to sit in it in the back garden. Luckily I didn't have to take too much off the one by the front window, it proves popular with the Sparrows and it's great for those visiting the window feeder.

We have big plans for the garden this year to make it more wildlife friendly and i'm looking forward to starting (well instructing my husband as my back won't be up to any digging and such for a while yet!).

A walk in the park a few days ago produced plenty of birds and birdsong, which is increasing by the day. There are still quite a few Redwings about still and as I was scanning them to make sure I wasn't missing any Fieldfare (I wasn't) a lady stopped to ask what I was looking at. This rarely happens and it was nice to chat and be able to point out a few birds.

I'm back at work part time for now and i'm managing to walk through one of the local parks on the way there most mornings. It's a good way to start the day!

Churwell Urban Woodlands

Making the most of the good weather we took a walk around the woodlands including going over (and under) the motorway to make it a round trip and a good couple of hours walking even if we did end up doubling back on ourselves!

A frog was in the pond area and we saw a rat by the edge of it.

Unfortunately a shadow sat right across the frog which somehow I didn't notice at the time!

There was plenty of birds about, Woodpigeon, Dunnock, Sparrows, Blackbirds, Chaffinch, Great/Blue/LT Tits, Wren, Goldcrest, Song Thrush, Goldfinch, Starlings, Magpie - we saw a couple building a nest, Robins and overhead 7 Pink Footed Geese, Gulls and a Kestrel (unfortunately the latter 3 were just off the patch so I couldn't add anything to my list for that!).

My daughter pointed out that Robins look like they've dipped themselves into a bowl of tomato soup!

A lovely moment spotting this squirrel taking a drink.

Throughout the walk we spotted quite a bit of fungus, some lovely ones too. 

Lots of signs of spring around too, there were Snowdrops all over.

It's a joy to have somewhere like this to walk around so close to home and it's really well looked after by the volunteers, not a bit of litter in sight, which is a rare thing!  

This is the view from walk at the other side of the M621, which for the most part you don't notice and you can almost forget that you're this close to Leeds.

Farnley Balancing Reservoir

I've been past here on the ring road so many times over the years and never stopped but I have done a couple of times recently, just out of curiosity as there are always a lot of birds on the water.

The water is quite low at the moment and unfortunately it is not in the greatest of shape, the things that have been dumped in here, the mind boggles as to why people would do so?! It's also awash with bread packets and soggy bread and even a slice of toast was stuck in a tree!

Despite that the reservoir is teeming with birds -

Black Headed Gull
Canada Geese
Coot
Farmyard Ducks
Grey Heron
Greylag Geese
Herring Gull
Lesser Black-Backed Gull
Mallard
Moorhen
Mute Swan
Teal
Tufted Ducks

This Swan had some pink on it's wing feathers, it looked a little like blood, you can't really tell from the photo but I couldn't see any injuries. There was also a Mallard with a damaged wing.

I haven't walked around to the other side so of course there could be plenty I missed.

The banking near where you can park on Butt Lane often has Geese and Gulls on it and many pigeons too.

This one I think is a hybrid?

After a little bit of digging online I found out the reservoir was built in 1973 to help prevent flooding in the area, Farnley Beck runs in (and out) of it. It looks like it had a tidy up back in 2002 but I can't find anything since.

It's definitely a place i'll be stopping at more often, maybe I can figure out who to contact about cleaning it up - though i'm not holding my breath on that one!