Aire Valley sightings blog- May 2023

Who else has been enjoying the beautiful weather these past few weeks? It now certainly feels like spring is here and Summer is also right around the corner! However, this glorious sunshine isn’t the only good thing that May has to offer. A wonderful array of wildlife has been sighted around the Aire Valley. As well as our year-round species, plenty of summer visitors have now returned to the UK to enjoy our less intense temperatures.

The top ten sightings at RSPB St Aidan’s recently have been: 

• Osprey (fly over)
• common crane (fly over)
• black-winged stilt
• cuckoo
• grasshopper warbler
• linnet
• hobby
• little owl
• grey partridge
• roe deer
• green woodpecker

Our star species this week is the common crane. This huge, beautiful bird has been absent from the UK for hundreds of years however they’ve recently began to re-establish themselves in small areas across the country. There is a small breeding population in Norfolk and a re-introduced population in Somerset. However, each Spring and Autumn, small numbers pass through Britain as they migrate. This is likely why a common crane was spotted flying over the Aire Valley.

Here is a more extensive list of the sightings:

• Common crane, black-winged stilt, bittern, spoonbill, grey heron, cormorant, mute swan, barnacle goose, canada goose, greylag goose, great crested grebe, black-necked grebe, little grebe, snipe, tufted duck, gadwall, pochard, mallard, teal, black-headed gull, coot, shoveler, moorhen, herring gull, common tern, sandwich tern, sedge warbler, lapwing, oystercatcher, turnstone, dunlin, common sandpiper, redshank, grey plover, kingfisher
• Green woodpecker, cuckoo, beaded tit, reed bunting, whitethroat, blackcap, willow warbler, reed warbler, grasshopper warbler, cetti’s warbler, sedge warbler, swallow, swift, sand martin, house martin, linnet, skylark, starling, robin, wren, chiffchaff, goldfinch, greenfinch, bullfinch, blue tit, blackbird, thrush, magpie, crow, jackdaw, wood pigeon, stock dove, grey partridge
• Osprey, red kite, buzzard, sparrowhawk, kestrel, hobby, little owl
• Roe deer, rabbit
• Orange tip butterfly, common blue butterfly, small copper butterfly, pied shield bug, large red damselfly

The top ten sightings recently at RSPB Fairburn Ings have been:

• Peregrine falcon
• Avocet
• Hobby
• Cuckoo
• Great spotted woodpecker
• Kingfisher
• Swift
• Marsh harrier
• Sand martin
• Comma butterfly

Our star species this month is the comma butterfly. This medium sized orange and brown butterfly has characteristically ragged wing edges which helps it to camouflage as a dead leaf. Throughout the month of May, Plantlife’s ‘no mow may’ campaign has urged garden and green space owners to ditch the lawnmower and let grass and wildflowers thrive. Leaving wild areas of your garden/green space provides food and shelter for pollinators including the comma butterfly. Long grass and wildflowers also helps to tackle pollution and lock carbon away below the ground. If you took part this year, you will have hopefully seen a massive biodiversity increase within your wild garden.

Here is a more extensive list of the sightings:

• Bittern, spoonbill, grey heron, great white egret, little egret, greylag goose, cormorant, great crested grebe, little egret, black headed gull, oystercatcher, lapwing, common tern, avocet, shelduck, gadwall, pink footed goose, kingfisher, coot, shoveler, garganey, little ringed plover, pochard
• Great spotted woodpecker, green woodpecker, cuckoo, willow warbler, sedge warbler, reed warbler, song thrush, reed bunting, sand martin, swift, jay, chiffchaff, willow tit, bearded tit, long tailed tit, nuthatch, goldfinch, robin, skylark, great tit
• Red kite, marsh harrier, buzzard, peregrine falcon, kestrel, hobby
• Roe deer
• Comma butterfly, brimstone butterfly, holly blue butterfly, small copper butterfly, red admiral butterfly, large white butterfly, speckled wood butterfly, azure damselfly

Next time that you’re out and about around the Aire Valley, make sure to record your sightings within the visitor centre sighting books or by letting us know on social media!

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