Early Sunday we headed over to the Wetlands for a walk in the freezing windy winter sun! I think it got colder too as the morning went on!

Still we had a good walk and parts of the reserve where chock full of birds! At the feeders we saw Tree and House Sparrows, Chaffinch, Goldfinch, Blue, Great and Long-tailed Tits, Robins, Dunnocks, Blackbirds, Reed Buntings and Moorhen!










On the water I saw the some of the largest flocks of ducks i've ever seen - Shelduck, Pochard, Wigeon, Tufted Duck, Mallard, Shoveler, Gadwall, Teal, plus Greylag Geese, Herons, Little Grebes, Black-headed and Herring Gulls, Redshank and a large flock of Lapwings.






Overhead a Marsh Harrier was flying about, we also saw a couple of Fieldfare and Cormorants fly over.

We were looking out over the many ducks on the lake when I saw some birds in the tree nearby - bright yellow - Siskins - there were both male and female, around 8 birds hanging from various branches. It's not a bird I see often so quite a treat to see so many at once.




Don't let the sunny photos deceive, it was bitter and even I'd had enough by the time we'd walked round! It's always worth getting out though, regardless of the weather.

I saw on twitter recently about a Whooper Swan on the lake at Roundhay Park, it had been injured last year and once released had stayed with the Mute Swans there. So Saturday morning my daughter and I jumped on the bus and headed over there.

It was freezing but so beautifully sunny it didn't really matter about the cold. There was a park run happening when we arrived with the finish line not far from the top lake where we usually walk first so we bypassed that and went straight to the main lake.







There were a lot of corvids all over the park - Jackdaw, Rook and Crows, they were not in the least bit bothered by the people around, in fact one strutted it's way down the path towards us like we weren't even there.






At the lake straight away we were honked at by a farmyard Goose that was with all the Canada Geese along side the fence. We had bought some food from home (not bread), my daughter was in charge of that......do you ever grow out of feeding the ducks?!

As soon as we got past the fence the swans and ducks headed straight for us and you really couldn't miss the Whooper, the bright yellow beak a stand out against the others but then the noise it made was quite unique and to be honest had my daughter in hysterics. It was quite a fiesty little thing and held it's own amongst the Mute Swans, they were all a bit nippy with their beaks. A few Mallards and Moorhens made a bit of a half-hearted effort at going for the food but they didn't stand a chance - too many long necks






I must admit I took an awful lot of photos of the Swans and the noisy Black-headed Gulls that descended, they looked quite beautiful in the sunlight.



We walked around part of the lake and saw Cormorant, Tufted Ducks, Coots, Moorhen and one Teal hidden in the overhanging branches.


On to the top lake were more Swans, Mallards, Tufted ducks, Black-headed gulls, also a pair each of Gadwall, Goosander, a single Herring Gull and overhead a Sparrowhawk.





Waiting for the bus outside the park entrance a Sparrowhawk dashed across the road in front of us and a Red Kite was flying above the trees. Perfect way to end our visit.

This is from a visit last Thursday, which I didn't get chance to post till now. It was a gorgeous sunny day despite the icy nip in the air and it made for some lovely views around the reserve.