Garden bird photography - Big Garden Birdwatch in the Aire Valley - Aire Valley - Fairburn Ings and St Aidan's - Aire Valley - Fairburn Ings and St Aidan's

28 Jan 2023

Garden bird photography - Big Garden Birdwatch in the Aire Valley

Winter is a perfect time for bird photography with crisp mornings and golden light from the low sun. The garden birds you may be familiar with seeing at home or at one of our Aire Valley sites are perfect examples to try and capture. With them being more reliable to the feeding stations for the extra food source coupled with the bareness of trees and bushes, smaller birds seem to be everywhere! As the days are growing longer some species are also becoming a bit more vocal.

A bird's plumage can look different during all seasons. During early spring they’re bright and quite dapper in the search or territories and looking for partners, then into late spring, they start to become a bit tatty as they have families to look after. Moving into summer most birds begin to moult and the new growth of feathers occasionally through into autumn, and then back to their best in winter.

As this weekend marks Big Garden Birdwatch 2023 let’s have a quick recap on last year’s top 3 species. The number one bird for 2022 and for the 19^th year running is the humble House Sparrow. These noisy chattering birds are often found in small groups called Hosts or Tribe. In occasional winters you can find them at RSPB Fairburn Ings in the hedgerow between the car park and the Visitor Centre or along Cut Lane. House Sparrows are a UK red-listed species due to a severe decline in the breeding population. Feeding mainly on seeds, shoots, berries and insects these sparrows look different between sexes. The males have a grey crown and nape with a black bib and chestnut brown sides to their head. Whereas, females and juvenile birds are less colourful and typically have a sandy brown colour.

Retaining number two position: the sharp, bright and overall smart Blue Tit - a firm favourite to most. These plump-looking tits are easy to identify: they have blue/green backs, blue wings and zesty lemon yellow undersides. They have bright white cheeks with a dark blue eye stripe and a blue cap. Feeding on fruit, seeds and insects, blue tits can be found all across the Aire Valley, foraging for food between the reeds or darting between the branches in the woodland.

The dazzling and super handsome Starling is also a non-mover retaining third position in 2022. But like the House Sparrow Starlings are also a red-listed species in the UK due to declining breeding populations. These are also unmistakable to identify, they appear quite dull and are a similar size to a Blackbird but on closer inspection, they shimmer with iridescent purples and greens that shine especially in the sun. Over the past few winters at RSPB Fairburn Ings, we’ve been lucky to get flocks of thousands coming into roost on an evening showing off their superb murmuration skills that they’re well known for. When they aren’t flocking on an evening you’ll find starlings in smaller groups in towns, cities and around farmland feeding on insects, fruits and seeds.

Although winter is a vital time for helping birds by providing feeding stations it's also vital to keep such areas clean and tidy to maintain good hygiene. You may have already seen the feeding stations at RSPB Fairburn Ings have a routine and one station will have feeders missing. Don’t worry they’ve not gone away for good! This is to help stop any diseases from spreading and to help the ground recover from dropped seeds. Most diseases are transmitted by droppings. If contaminated droppings mix with food, the birds run a risk of picking up an infection. Since the contamination can originate either from other birds or from animals (such as rats), it's important to guard against infection from both sources in your garden.