It’s been a strange day here weather wise, beautiful sunshine one minute then rain and hail the next! Luckily there were blue skies this afternoon so people on the photography workshop could get some good shots.

There are lots and lots of birds about at the moment; I don’t know where to start! If you came to take a walk around the reserve, here’s some of the fantastic wildlife you could see along the way.…

Warblers have been returning to the reserve in good numbers over the last few days with chiffchaff, blackcap, whitethroat, lesser whitethroat, willow warbler, reed warbler and sedge warbler all being seen and heard at various spots around the reserve.

The better weather has also brought out butterflies such as comma, brimstone, small tortoiseshell and peacock along with a number of Queen Bees searching for new homes…

After a harsh and extremely long winter, spring has finally sprung in the wildlife garden down at RSPB Fairburn Ings!

This was confirmed by the welcome sound of the chiff chaff. Planting has been taking place with a vengeance. Including  shrubs that will not only provide shelter but also food in the form of nectar and/or berries. We’ve chosen Viburnum, Escallonia, Berberis and Hebe – all of which are widely available…

Lots of sightings to report from the last few days, thanks to all our visitors for filling up the recent sightings book! Make sure you tell us what you’ve seen on your trip to Fairburn, we love hearing about it. I hope you’ve all enjoyed the sunshine, we definitely have and so has the wildlife!

On Sunday, the warm weather spurred our toads and frogs into mating action and we had lots of them around the visitor…

It’s definitely feeling more like Spring here on the reserve; the sun is shining and the reserve team sat outside to eat their lunch today!! We’ve also had our first sightings of swallows over the last couple of days, always a great moment of spring.

We continue to welcome our new spring visitors including chiffchaffs and sand martins but we are yet to say goodbye to all our winter migrants with siskins and…

The votes have been counted and we can now reveal the winners from the Fairburn Ings photo competition!

In the under 16s cateogry, Louise Claughton won with this fantastic picture of a robin.

In the over 16s category, Jeff Fahey won with this great picture of a nuthatch.

Well done guys and thanks to everyone for taking part!

Firstly some exciting news, our assistant warden Karen was very pleased to have caught a picture of a badger on the reserve the other night! It has been a good while since a badger has been seen around Fairburn so it’s great to know.

We’ve also had quite a few sightings of hares towards Newfield Plantation and a fox was spotted down at Lin Dike.

There have been up to 9 avocets seen at Hickson’s, along…

It's not just the wildlife making a noise this spring; check out the musical instruments in our play area. They've been a big hit so far, and even the staff and volunteers can't resist having a go! Here's Bryony rocking out on the drums and me having a bash on the hanging xylophone. Great fun!

We’ve had a great Easter weekend with the sun finally shining, although it still feels pretty chilly and our visitors had to wrap up warm.

There have been further sightings of chiffchaffs and also song thrushes on the reserve, making it feel more like spring, and a sighting of a butterfly possibly a small heath on Sunday. We still have some winter visitors about though such as flocks of brambling and siskins.