Hi all, I hope you've all had a fantastic few days over Christmas opening your presents and eating your turkey. As for birds you won't be eating, there have been a fair few around in the last couple of days here at RSPB Fairburn Ings! As the visitor centre was closed over Christmas Day and Boxing Day we don't have any reported sightings for those days so if you were about, please let us know what you saw as a comment at the end of this post for our records.
Yesterday there were 2 smews seen in the Main Bay and Spoonbill Flash (the main flash you can see from Lin Dike hide). Have you ever seen such a cool looking bird? I always think they look like they should be in an 80's glam-rock band... There's also been a load of pinkfoot geese flying over the visitor centre and feeding at the new flash. Other geese and ducks include the red-crested pochard on Main Bay and about 10 barnacle geese on the moat.
Around the visitor centre there have been lesser redpoll and brambling seen at the feeders and the wildlife garden, a red kite over the plantation opposite the visitor centre, and a great spotted woodpecker at the feeder screen. There was also a kingfisher showing at the screen today, coming right up close to the screen for some lovely sights of it.
Finally, there were 2 pairs of reed buntings seen at Lin Dike yesterday. Phew! As I say, if you were about on Christmas Day or Boxing Day, it would be great if you could either add a comment here on this page with your sightings, or pop into the visitor centre and let us know what you saw. Thanks and see you soon!