We are serious actually... (Just a little topical reference in there for anyone who's a tennis fan). Over the past few weeks there have been several sightings of a redwing, a close relation of the song thrush, on our reserve. These were confirmed beyond question when our site manager, Ian Kendall, spotted it up at the feeding station on Friday. What is so unusual about this is that redwings tend to be winter visitors to the UK rather than summer residents. They usually arrive around the beginning of October and have left for their summer holidays in Scandinavia by April. We're not complaining at this little bird's change of plan though, as it has caused quite a stir amongst staff and visitors alike.
Another bird causing a stir on our reserve last week was the ubiquitous gannet. Jim Ward, a local seabird rescue volunteer, delivered back a rehabilitated, healthy young gannet that had been rescued after being found at a seriously low weight a few months ago. Now most gannets are a little feisty, but this fellow seemed to be extra keen to fly free from its carrying cage. Nikki Thurston, one of the information assistants at the visitor centre, went to help Jim carry the cage to the cliff edge and came back with sore hands after a rather vicious pecking!
Just in case you're counting, we have another two types of orchid to add to the list in the previous post; the bee orchid and the common spotted orchid. Thank goodness we have the odd botanist visiting our reserve. Personally I've been getting my pyramidal and my northern marsh mixed up all week!
Rachael Tulloch (Warden Intern, RSPB Fairburn Ings)