George, one of our very first blogging volunteers in the Aire Valley, visited St Aidan's this week. An eager self-proclaimed 'newbie' to bird watching, here's her experience:
Bundled up from head to toe, with a new set of binoculars and enough enthusiasm to warm me on this very icy day, I set out on my first exploration of St Aidan's.
This time of year is a great opportunity to see many species gearing up for the beginning of spring, and sightings from the area this week prove that winter is an exciting time for birding.
Despite the icy temperatures the sky was clear and sun shining, some black-headed gulls relaxing in the background
I was immediately staggered by the size, scale and variety of wildlife on site. As someone with no more in-depth bird knowledge than the visitors on her garden feeder, it didn't take a long time before I was spotting wigeons and shovelers relaxing on the banks from across Main Lake and peering through scrub to get a better look at the winter residents on the trails.
With two of the St Aidan's rangers as my guides we made our way past Bowers Lake and on to the east side of Main Lake. Here, many of the winter residents had moved from the ice to take advantage of the sunshine in the area. A pair of gadwalls were displaying a mirroring courtship dance on Main Lake and were closely followed by a goldeneye pair frequently diving in turns close to the bank. Ducks begin pairing like this in December and the goldeneye in particular show an elaborate display for the females, throwing their head back to show off their white chests. This will continue over winter and into March when they breed.
Goldeneye displaying - Ben Hall (rspb-images.com)
Main Lake was also host to some rather skittish lapwing who at the sight of a lone crow took flight over the islands. Tufted duck, shelduck and teal were also relaxing and taking a nap in the short period of winter sunshine.
Teal (Mick Noble sibg1.wordpress.com)
Further along, a few minutes rest near the Warren feeder table provided a reward for venturing out in the cold, with a sighting a female greater spotted woodpecker that stopped shortly to have some lunch. Not alone on her venture, she was joined by a group of reed bunting and dunnock, a bird usually spotted underneath a feeder table rather than on top.
Greater Spotted Woodpecker Nigel Blake (rspb-images.com)
Throughout the day exploring i was able to hear some fantastic stories about St Aidan's and the wildlife that inhabits the area. All the staff and visitors were willing to spend some time educating a newbie and giving me a greater knowledge of the RSPB and wildlife as a whole. I hope this small sampling of the experience i had there there will inspire you to lace up your boots and spend an hour in the cold to see some truly amazing sights within the Aire Valley reserves.
Both reserves and visitor centres are open throughout the festive period, every day apart from Christmas day. Other sightings in the book this week include: kingfishers almost daily, marsh harriers, water pipit (Lemonroyd), merlin, at least 4 water rails, redhsnk, dunlin, curlew and a few others! The friendly team in the visitor centre or out on site will point you in the right direction.