Fairburn Ings is teaming with great wildlife sightings at the moment! Yesterday and this morning we had a pair of spoonbills over at Pickup hide; they have been lingering around Pickup this morning and have been spotted flying over towards the Moat and Lyn Dyke. This is the second sighting of this heavily conserved bird here at Fairburn this year, and is definitely worth a look for their classic spoon bill! Pickup hide…

Its been a beautiful week at Fairburn Ings, with glorious sunny weather pretty much every day. Its meant the reserve has been alive with insects, and the wildflowers are looking stunning, the orchids in particular have been putting on a great show. Head past the Kingfisher Screen and up Red Shale Road, on the left are several southern marsh orchids.  Although we are of course in The North, the southern marsh orchid is…

What a weekend we’ve had for sightings at Fairburn! From bee orchids to bitterns it’s been a great time to visit us here in sunny West Yorkshire. Southern marsh, pyramidal and bee orchids have been spotted around the reserve looking beautifully delicate contrasting against the lush greenery. Bee orchids are so named for their bee-like-look which they have evolved to attract certain types of bees, unfortunately we…

It’s a great sunny day at Fairburn Ings so prepare for another sightings blog! The reserves invertebrate collection is looking really healthy at the minute with loads of common blue and azure damselflies fluttering amongst the reeds and four spotted chasers hovering over the ponds. A gatekeeper was spotted last Wednesday afternoon along the Riverbank trail. These butterflies have a very distinguishable black spot on the…

It’s set for another lovely warm week here at Fairburn Ings and the wildlife is certainly reflecting the weather! We’ve had such a great selection of moths the past week with loads of species such as popular hawkmoths, elephant hawkmoths and pebble hooktips. It still amazes me the range of moth species that we find here on the reserve. The variations in colours and patterns are just incredible so it’s definitely worth…

I was delighted that the rain had stayed away long enough for me to have a wander around and talk to visitors on the reserve. As far as people were concerned the rain had made it a quiet day but bird song was everywhere, enough to lift my soul! I sat in Pickup Hide listening to the cheeky chatter of our beautiful tree sparrows and I watched the aerobatic display of sand martins as they soared overhead catching insects…

It’s a beautiful morning at Fairburn Ings with plenty of young chirping to be heard! Juvenile tree sparrows and blue tits can be seen fluttering in the trees whilst young cygnus are plentiful on the water. It’s great to watch all the tentative parents busy with their broods. Don’t you just love spring? After the heavy rains this week our butterfly counts have been slightly lower but still we were still treated with 6…