Fairburn Ings and St Aidan's sightings blog - 18 August

As temperatures begin to drop and the days become shorter, signs of Autumn are becoming more and more obvious.

At Fairburn Ings, prepare for the thousands of waders passing back down this Autumn including Green Sandpiper and Black-Tailed Godwits. Cattle Egret sightings are still being reported as well as of course Great White Egrets and Spoonbills. Despite the cooler weather, there are still plenty of Insects, so make sure to keep an eye out! Over at St Aidan’s, a Greenshank is still making an appearance. We’ve also had sightings of Whinchat!

The top ten sightings at Fairburn Ings recently have been:

• Peregrine falcon 
• Hobby
• Greenshank
• Pintail
• Curlew
• Spoonbill
• Cattle egret
• Marsh harrier
• Black-tailed godwit
• Kingfisher

Our star species this week is the Black-Tailed Godwit! These large wading birds are a schedule 1 species and there are only around 50 breeding pairs of the Eurasian subspecies in the UK. They migrate to west Africa for winter however birds from Iceland spend the winter in the UK.

Here is a more extensive list of the sightings:

• Black tailed godwit, green sandpiper, wood sandpiper, grey wagtail, yellow wagtail, spoonbill, great little egret, white egret, cattle egret, ringed plover, stonechat, spotted redshank, greenshank, snipe, dunlin, ruff, pintail, garganey, wigeon, curlew, water rail, common gull
• Swallow, house martin, sand martin, swift, raven, whinchats, blackbird, great spotted woodpecker, chaffinch, goldfinch, blue tit, long-tailed tit, robin, great tit, wren, dunnock, eurasian jay, greenfinch, treecreeper
• Marsh harrier, red kite, sparrowhawk, kestrel, peregrine falcon, buzzard
• Roe deer, stoat
• Speckled wood, common blue, painted lady, brown hawker, small white, large white

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

1. Spotted flycatcher
2. Black necked grebe
3. Garganey
4. Kingfisher
5. Bittern
6. Goldcrest
7. Greenshank
8. Spoonbill
9. Whinchat
10. Little owl

Our star species this week is the whinchat, which is a red listed bird. The whinchat is a summer visitor and passage migrant.

Here is a more extensive list of the sightings:

• Spoonbill, pintail, garganey, goosander, ruff, dunlin, common sandpiper, golden plover, ringed plover, common tern, black-necked grebe, stonechat, whinchat, snipe, pink footed geese, kingfisher, greenshank, redshank, bittern
• Meadow pipit, grey wagtail, pied wagtail, chiffchaff, house martin, sand martin, swift, swallow, green woodpecker, magpie, coal tit, goldcrest, wood pigeon, blackbird, robin, blue tit, chaffinch, spotted flycatcher, willow tit, mediterranean gull
• Marsh harrier, hobby, kestrel, sparrowhawk, buzzard, red kite, little owl
• Roe deer
• Common blue and speckled wood

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When you’re out and about at Fairburn Ings and St Aidan’s, do let us know what you spot. You can do this by writing in the sightings book in the visitor centres, or by letting us know on social media!

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Happy spotting!