Rodley Nature Reserve

A visit to the Manager's Garden at Rodley Nature Reserve on Saturday gave us our first Brambling sighting of the year, the bare branches of nearby shrubs allowed for clearer views of the Brambling than at Fairburn Ings in November last year.

Around the feeding stations, and in adjacent hedgerows I counted 12 Reed Bunting at one point.  Chaffinch, Blue Tit, Great Tit, Long Tail Tit, Bullfinch, Blackbird, Greenfinch, Reed Bunting, Jay, Magpie, Wood Pigeon appeared the garden during our visit.

The shrubs to the left of the hide provide good cover for the birds as they wait their turn to visit the feeding stations and it was here I managed to get a few pics of Reed Bunting, Chaffinch and Bullfinch.

Fairburn Ings Sunday stroll

At Fairburn Ings, the majority of leaves have now fallen and the birches take their turn to provide pointillist splashes of colour, less saturated than those of beech and maple that glowed brightly earlier in the month.  

As the surrounding vegetation dies back, the more sombre tones serve to enhance the papery white birch trunks and their dark, thin lateral branches that still retain the small serrated yellow leaves. 

There was plenty of bird activity, at one point over forty Goldfinch flew into view and alighted in the treetops (left and centre), a minute or so later a similar number of Redwing circled the area, coming to rest in the uppermost branches of the tree to the right.

Another pleasing sighting were 4 Brambling feeding on the topmost branches of a Birch, although sadly I only managed this record shot. Plenty more sightings included a male and female Bullfinch, a Fieldfare, Kingfisher, Blue Tit, Coal Tit, Marsh Tit, Long Tail Tit, Blackbird, Robin, Mute Swan, Cormorant, Moor Hen, and two Red Kites near Garforth.