Hello all,
I think it's certainly time for a long overdue update from me! After spending 4 months at Bempton Cliffs, coming to Fairburn Ings was a big change, but at the same time felt quite familiar. I originally hail from Huddersfield, so moving to Fairburn and getting to see that familiar landscape once again certainly felt like coming home. Moving to a new place is always a test of my navigational skills though, and my first couple of days off were spent getting lost on the way to the supermarket, one time ending up on the M62 half way to Leeds. Still not sure how I managed that one.
The first couple of months of my internship have been spent learning the ropes and trying to remember lots of new names and faces. Meeting new people has been one of my favourite parts of the internship so far, and I’ve learned so much from just chatting to volunteers about the reserves and the wildlife there. My bird ID skills were almost non-existent when I first started, but now I feel I have a pretty good grasp on identifying common garden birds and waders. I've been manning the social media accounts, reading all your lovely tweets and comments and being amazed at all the talented photographers out there! I also spent most of October organising our Halloween event, which was a fantastic success with some really amazing costumes from our visitors.
Some of my favourite wildlife moments so far have been seeing the willow tits and nuthatches visiting the feeders, and keeping an ear out for flocks of long tailed tits twittering by. Being able to get out on the reserve at lunchtime is one of my favourite things to do, and I can quite happily while away half an hour sitting at Pickup or wandering up to Big Hole and seeing what passes by.
In the coming months, I have lots of exciting projects and activities to work on, including coming up with a Christmas themed discovery trail. How has this time of year come around so quickly! I'm really looking forward to getting stuck in to everything that's coming up and learning lots of new skills. But I think the one thing I'm really looking forward to the most is getting to seeing Fairburn in the snow.
Evening stroll along the Coal Tips trail
Until next time!
- Laura