Spoonbill at Fairburn

A couple of hours to spare today, so where to go? Blacktoft and Old Moor were too far, so I decided to go to Fairburn,

The car park was full, but the hide was empty, where was everyone?

Not many birds on the water aprt from coots.

Mrs Gadwall

I decided to walk a bit further down the path and see what was on the other stretch of water.
I heard a chiffchaff on the way. but not many other small birds.
Lots of debris still from the recent flood.

A pair of great crested grebes were on the water and doing a lot of head shaking but did not do any more displaying. On the way back to the car park I saw a lot of grey herons hunting in the reeds and a great white heron was also visible.

Further along the reserve the cormorants are nesting

Nearby grey herons are also nesting and a spoonbill was in the area.

I parked in the village and walked down to the hide.
An oystercatcher was fairly close to the hide.

In one of the nearby fields red legged partridges were running about while a few fieldfares were busily feeding as they get ready to cross the North Sea on their way home.