The year has started with some great showings across the Fairburn Ings. Most notably a visit from a pair of white fronted geese at the New flash, who were joined soon after by pair of pink footed geese. They didn't hang around long en route, but it was a nice treat. If you are on the lookout for these visitors, be sure to have some binoculars handy. As getting a closer look at them is essential, due to the difficulty differentiating them from other “grey geese” unless seen well.
Smew - male and female Mike Langman (rspb-images.com)
With his black “bandit” mask, the male smew has been showing down at the Spoonbill Flash all week, sometimes popping over to Main Bay. If you’re wanting to get a good shot of him feeding, you’ll need to bring your telephoto lens as he is feeding quite far out from the Lin Dike hide. Today saw some sightings of a male smew at St Aidan's too - could he be the same? We're waiting to confirm although no-one has reported the smew at Fairburn today.
The scaup is now on the lagoons due to the ice, but often spotted on Main Bay. Not to be confused with tufted ducks, these are a pretty rare red listed species.
Great white egret (admittedly at St Aidan's but the same bird!) Mick Noble, Swillington Ings Bird Group sibg1.wordpress.com
Whether you’re visiting Fairburn Ings or St Aidan’s you may be luck and get a glimpse of a great white egret, who has been spotted at both sites over the past week. Looking akin to a little egret but a similar size to a grey heron, they can be easily identified. (Best seen from Lin Dike hide)
While walking round Fairburn Ings make sure that you check out the feeders, with the siskin, redpoll and lesser redpoll all making appearances.
Lesser redpoll under feeders, Ben Andrew (rspb-images.com)
Looking forward to the next few weeks, we are keeping an eye on the gulls, as a number were coming in to roost, including Iceland, black headed, herring and lesser black backed gulls.
Lastly - bittern and bearded tits have been seen on the reedbed this weekend - soon they'll be booming!
Let’s look forward to seeing what visitors we will see as 2018 continues.