Today’s blog is a little sad, as we say goodbye to Karen, Fairburn Ings’ assistant warden. Karen is taking a year off for her maternity leave, so congratulations will be in order soon! It’s been a heck of a day for her to go out on though, as no sooner than we all got into the office this morning, we got the alert for a red-necked phalarope over on new flash!
Everyone promptly rushed out of the office in a convoy of cars and we sped up the road to set eyes on this tiny little wader. Red-necked phalaropes are very rare in the UK, and hence are on the UK red list, with only small breeding populations found in the western and northern isles of Scotland.
To give an idea of how rare a sight they are on this reserve, it’s only the third EVER recorded sighting, with one being seen on the river Aire in 1957, and another spotted on the reserve in 1976! Ironically enough, the small pool directly opposite where the bird has been all day is named ‘phalarope pool’, after a Wilson’s phalarope was seen there in 1972.
Red-necked phlarope in winter pluage
As it was in its winter plumage (or a juvenile), it didn’t have a red neck, but it was still a lovely sight, bobbing about in circles on the water, all the while pecking at flies. Unlike other waders, phalaropes have lobed toes which enable them to swim strongly in the water, which is where they spend most of their time. Unusually, the duller coloured male looks after the eggs and young after laying – quite a charismatic and interesting little bird!
After the excitement of the morning, we didn’t imagine that we’d have another fantastic sighting of a great white egret at Pickup pool straight after lunch! One of these large and beautiful white herons was here last week, so we’ve been really lucky to see it twice.
All in all, it’s been a very eventful day – now we just need to wait and see what Karen’s baby will be called – the general consensus is Phalaropus for a boy or Egretta for a girl! So long Karen, all the best and goodbye for a little while from everyone at Fairburn!