Staveley

 Driving to Cambridge and back tomorrow, so did not want to either drive or walk far today, so went to Staveley.

Some blue sky and sunshine when I arrived. Not much to see from the first hide.

A family of mute swans preening. Goldeneye, tufted duck and shoveler at one end of the lagoon, nothing closer, possibly because a birder was standing at the gate rather than using the hide.

Nothing at all to be seen from the next hide.

 This is a view of the feeders from the third hide. There was a lot of activity as the birds flew into feed and then returned to trees etc on a very regular basis.

Moorhen, mallard, pheasant, dunnock and blackbirds were picking up the seed that had come out of the feeders.

when 2 jackdaws arrived a lot of the birds flew into the nearest bushes.

They  had just returned when this sparrowhawk flew in and landed in a tree,

I don't know where the birds flew off to but they had all gone so I left and walked to the hide on the other side of the reserve. Catkins were a reminder that spring is not far away.

The last time that I visited the reserve I saw lots of geese, greylag, canada and pink feet, but there were none today.

Cormorants and lapwings standing on a small mudbank

a male goldeneye was busy feeding, but he did not get too close to the hide.

On my way back to the car park I saw this grey wagtail in a small stream.

A pleasant couple of hours on a warm December day.