With all this Sahara dust, it seems like a while since we have all seen the sky! However here at Fairburn there is still plenty to see. Down by the visitor centre our wildflower patch is showing its first visitor – cowslips. I love our native wildflowers so I always feel particularly excited when I notice the hedgerows and fields filling up with their delicate petals and splashes of colour amongst all the greenery. Cowslips are one of those understated flowers but are very beautiful with their lovely yellow bells and velvety leaves. Another sadly understated scrub always seen flowering is common gorse, which always reminds me of being on a long mountainous walk in the middle of no-where! Such a hardy plant and really important for bugs and birds, it has that kind of rugged beauty which I love and can be seen with its small yellow buds flowering here at Fairburn.
Common gorse – David Tipling (rspb-images)
I have been very confused this week, with all the calls of ‘have you seen the great white?’ ‘There’s a great white in the sightings book!’ ‘What time was the great white seen?’ If you’re like me and thought immediately of a great white shark at Fairburn then don’t fear there isn’t! A great white egret was sighted yesterday and again earlier today, much to the excitement of our visitors. Almost like our common grey heron, in stance and fishing pattern but with the same white feathers as a little egret. In case you are lacking a little egret nearby for comparison you can also look out for the great whites yellow instead of black beak. We mentioned the arrival of sand martins a few weeks ago, well now they have been seen using the nesting wall near pick up hide which is also very exciting news! Sand martins always nest in groups or ‘colonies’ in banks or gaps in walls usually close to water so our nesting walls are the perfect place for these birds to nest.
Sand martin and nest – Ben Hall (rspb-images)
One regular visitor to our sightings book this week has been the wheatear. I have yet to see this little bird as it skips and run’s along the ground, apparently its looks quite close to a nuthatch but with a very different posture. A wheatear is much more ‘laid back’ than a nuthatch which crawls forward with a hunched over kind of back usually perched on a tree. Wheatears are also a spring migrant unlike nuthatches which can be seen here nearly all year round.
Nuthatch – David Bridges (rspb-images)
Going for a stroll round Village bay hide the other day I managed to glance across and spot a small bird swooping down to the base of a birch tree to slowly work its way up. I eventually managed to focus to discover it was my first sighting of a little tree creeper! They can be identified by their curved beak, speckled brown back and white front, and most uniquely the fact that they can only crawl up a tree and not back down! There have been a few other sightings of this active little bird as it searches endlessly for beetles, bugs and woodlice to pull out of the bark. Now I know where to find them I am determined to find another! I am also eager to see one of the avocets which have been sighted this past week. As one of the RSPBs most iconic birds I feel that to not see one whilst here would be a crime... maybe you will be luckier than me!
Avocet – Chris Gomersall (rspb-images)
Thank you Gary i must have got my researched crossed! So both great white's and little egrets have black bills as adult birds! Heather W
The Great White Egret was first spotted on the 2nd April.
It was an adult bird as it had a black bill and not yellow which would indicate an immature bird!!