I decided to visit Fairburn Ings and St. Aidans. It was just after 9am when I arrived at Lindyke car park, or more aptly called Lindyke pot holes. Leeds City Council needs to put some effort into maintaining this area.
I walked along the path, which in parts is in a worse state than the car park. The hide is still not open! So I like other birders had to resort to peering over the top of the hedge, some birders have resorted to cutting the hedge to allow them to see the birds on the scrape. There are a couple of viewing screens along the path but they require attention.
I could see a little egret and a great white egret at the far end of the water. Great crested grebe, shoveler and teal were also present but not in large numbers. I decided to drive a bit closer to the reserve and park near the moat. Nothing to be seen over the fence oppositewhere I parked my car, so I walked up the hill.
this is the area that the cormorants are nesting in. On the other side grey herons are nesting
and next door to them a single spoonbill.
There is the entrance to a public footpath here but it is closed so as not to cause any disturbance to the nesting birds, so I hid behind a bush to take my photo. The bird did not move. The visitor centre was my next stop. As I was geting my parking ticket from the machine I noticed that the walkway to the swan and duck feeding station is still closed!
The visitor centre was not open as I walked past and stopped to look at the birds on the feeders. 2 goldfinches and a dunnock.
Not a lot of activity at the next feeder. One great tit and a blue tit.
I walked further along the path towards the kingfisher screen. Lots of signs of the recent flooding.
Two other birders were already at the screen and they had been there a while without a sighting of a kingfisher so I decided to go to St. Aidans.
Lots of vehicles in the car park and the toilets were open, but not the visitor centre or the usual list of what has been seen!
I strolled down the hill, appreciating the warmth of the spring sunshine. The noise from a colony of black headed gulls soon filled the air, but as I got further away the noise was replaced by the song of a skylark. I clould not see the bird but enjoyed listening to it song. A grey heron flew across my path.
Lots of ducks on the water and lapwings on the drier bits of land. I reached a junction in the path network where one option is to walk across the causeway
Not today, it is still flooded. I turned right and continued to walk along the path with water on both sides, Lots of coots, black headed gulls and tufted ducks. A great crested grebe was diving for food.
this black headed gull was stood on the path and showed no sign of moving no matter how close I got.
It only moved when I was about 2 feet from it.
Lots of coltsfoot and celandines in flower.
I then saw a black necked grebe swimming along on the water on my left but it was in between the sun and myself. A smart bird to see and my third year tick of the day. A little further along the path I came across two black necked grebes swimming on the water on my right. The only problem was that the reeds were quite high so I was back to "peering" again to try to see the birds through odd gaps in the reeds.
I met Brian a little bit further along the path and told him where the grebes were so he walked on to try to see them while I walked back to the car park. Lots of greylag and canada gees on the fields on my left but no sign of any other birds. Just before I left for home I did my last "peering" of the day.
A little owl asleep in the wooden pillars. Not a brilliant shot but good enough for my 4th tick of the day.
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