Main Bay and Village Bay are full of the usual suspects, but look amongst them and you might spot a dunlin or two. There have also been a couple of great black-backed gulls and pink-footed geese in the mix. Pink-footed geese don’t breed in the UK but hundreds of thousands are arriving from their breeding grounds in Iceland and Greenland. From a distance they look very similar to greylag geese, but one of the easiest ways to tell them apart is the bill. While the greylag has an orange bill, the pink-footed is mainly black with a pink section in the middle.
Pink-footed goose, Chris Gomersall (rspb-images.com)
One of the most exciting sightings this week was over the flashes, where a bittern was seen flying across the reserve. We’ve had a few sightings of bitterns at Fairburn in recent years, but they’re incredibly secretive birds and very difficult to spot due to their amazing camouflage. They move silently through reed beds, looking for fish on the water’s edge, but are known for the males’ loud booming calls during mating season. There are relatively few breeding pairs in the UK and are one of our most threatened species.
Bittern, Andy Hay (rspb-images.com)
Once again we’ve had a couple of ravens onsite, they were spotted flying over the trees on the riverbank trail. When there was some excitement over them a couple of weeks ago I wrote on here about my trouble identifying them in flight. Well, this week after spending some time studying their silhouettes in comparison to other corvids, I succeeded. Gleefully yelling, ‘raven’ before it let out a glorious ‘QUORK’ in confirmation.
Redwing, Chris Gomersall (rspb-images.com)
Finally, if there was any remaining doubt about it being autumn (I don’t think there really is), this year’s first redwings have made their way into the recent sightings book. Four of them were seen over the visitor centre this week. Redwings are the UK’s smallest thrush and migrate here to spend the winter out feeding in our hedgerows. They’re distinctive for their red flanks and pale stripe over the eye. Keep your eyes peeled!