Monday afternoon at Staveley.

I arrived at 1245 and parked in the last space in the car park at Staveley.

As I walked along the path to the reserve I was talking to a couple from Doncaster, who were on their way to Harrogate and had stopped for a walk. It was their first visit to the reserve and I was able to tell them a few things about the place.

This was my view from the first hide.

A few Canada geese and mallards were having a snooze on the bank.

As I walked to the next hide I noticed that there is still a bit of colour in the vegetation and food for the birds.

A small party of goldfinches and bullfinches were feeding on the thistle seeds. They flew into the bushes and I managed a quick shot of a young male bullfinch.

From the next hide I could see lapwings and cormorant on the far side of the water. The bird feeders had been filled and I was able to watch various birds come for food.

The greenfinches were happy to sit on the perches on the feeders and eat the seeds.

The other birds then had to wait for a chance to fly in and take a beakfull of seeds and then fly away.

Mr and Mrs Chaffinch did not stay too long.

A coal tit could not get onto the feeders at all.

great tits managed to sneak in every now and then.

I think that this could be a female as the black band on its stomach is not very broad.

On the way to the next hide I came across these dragonflies. One was on the path and another was on a plant.

The feeders outside the next hide had also been filled and I was able to watch birds coming to feed.

This male chaffinch perched on the edge of this feeder, while the tree sparrows were inside feeding.

I then walked to thefurthest hide from where I could see lots of canada and greylag geese and a single barnacle goose.

On my way back to the car park, a red kite drifted over. A pleasant afternoon with a list of 31 birds.