It has been an exciting few days on the reserve with the female smew being present at the kingfisher screen each day. I have never seen a smew before and to have one so close is amazing. It has been fustrating some visitors by swiming out of sight up stream but with a little bit of patience most people have been rewarded by cracking views. The smew has remained in this one place for so long because it is still one of the only bits of open water about as the majority of the reserve remains ice bound!
Female Smew (Copyright Ben Hall rspb images.com)
The big freeze at Fairburn Ings was filmed by BBC Look North on Wednesday at is due to be screened tonight at 6.30pm. It focuses on how the weather is affecting water birds and the importance of feeding garden birds and is a great bit of coverage for the reserve!
A great grey shrike was seen briefly at Lin dyke on Monday and other highlights on the reserve included a bittern that has been seen on a couple of occasions at Lin Dyke on the pylon pool and the water rail that keeps visiting the visitor centre feeders.