Tree Sparrows

After attending the site information meeting this morning, where I was the only attendee, I managed to find out where the local birding sites were, so headed down to Hauxley Nature Reserve. It was quite cold today with a biting wind coming in off the sea, but there were a number of hides to shelter in which was good. 
I didn't manage to see either the kingfisher or the red squirrels which were supposed to be around, but did see a healthy population of what I now know are tree sparrows. At first glance I assumed that they were male reed buntings, but on closer inspection, the chestnut heads and black cheek spots didn't seem quite right. One of the locals told me that they were in fact tree sparrows. 
After I had braved the cold for long enough I headed back to the car and spotted a couple of feeders in the car park which were covered in finches, tits, sparrows, a couple of robins, and a pair of bullfinches. I spent ages watching them from the warmth of my car :))

On the way back to the site, I wanted to see if I could get a nice shot of the sunset, but it wasn't really playing ball. Will try again another day. 

Tomorrow I will join a couple of the other ladies in our party for lunch at the local pub - I feel that they will try and cajole me into having more of a liquid lunch and can drink anyone under the table, but I WILL resist....I think ;)