Today is the launch of the Big Garden Birdwatch. It's our most important weekend of the year when we ask you to spend just one hour of your time recording what birds you see in your garden or park and sending in the results to us so we can find out which species are doing well and which need our help.

The best time to do the Big Garden Birdwatch is first thing in the morning as this is when the birds are most active…

Thank you to everyone who's contributed to the sightings book today; it's looking jam-packed and we can only let others know what's been seen if you come and tell us about it.

Just outside the Visitor Centre, we've seen a male Bullfinch, a Coal Tit, a group of Red-legged Partridge, and Long-tailed Tits. Heading out a bit further, on the way to Pickup Hide, we've had two Brambling.

Going along…

Big Garden Birdwatch has had a brilliant boost, thanks to our friends at Welcome to Yorkshire.

Gary Verity, who's the boss of the tourism body, has called on every tourism business in Yorkshire to join in Big Garden Birdwatch this coming weekend.

Gary said: “Yorkshire has amazing wildlife, which every year attracts huge numbers of people to visit the county. Garden birds are an important part of that mix and the…

I am not mentioning the weather – I am not mentioning the weather – I am not mentioning the weather.

At least, not until I feel relatively safe to do so!

For the first time in a long while, I managed to go out onto the reserve with my camera, on a lunch break, and record some of the fantastic wildlife within just a few minutes’ walk of the visitor centre. Last week, on Friday 13th of all days, I managed…

As of late we've had a Taiga Bean Goose causing quite a stir and it's still around by all accounts. One of our Main Bay Black Swans has been making its self known at the feeding platform in recent days and we still continue to see lots of fieldfare and redwing.

Other birds around are,

Coal tit, willow tit, bullfinch, red legged partridge, redpoll, mealy redpoll, goldeneye, little egret, tree creepers, pinta…