Well it’s been a heck of a week as far as sightings go on the reserve. On Thursday we were paid a visit by a Great White Egret, which hung around for an hour or two, even putting in an appearance over the visitor centre before moving on! This huge white heron can have a wingspan of up to 1.7 metres, and expanding populations in Europe mean that they are being seen more frequently in the UK. They can turn up in almost any part of the country, and favour all kinds of wetland habitats, including farmland ditches!
Recurring visitors of late have been ravens passing over the reserve. These large black birds are highly intelligent, and have a very unusual-sounding croaking call. You can tell them apart from other crows by their noticeably larger size, a larger and heavier shaped beak, and a wedge-shaped tail.
Golden Plover have started to appear across the reserve recently – these beautiful golden birds gather in large flocks after their summer breeding season, often in the company of Lapwings. Reserves like Old Moor, which have large stretches of bare ground, are great places to see large gatherings during the winter. Large flocks of Lapwing are starting to gather around big hole here at Fairburn – their swooping, erratic flights and bizarre calls are one of my favourite sights here at the reserve.
A fair few butterflies have been seen in the past few days, including, commas, speckled woods and red admirals along the discovery trail, so the insects at least are still clinging to the last of the summer!
After seeing my first ever fly agaric toadstool last week, the numbers of them along the riverbank trail have positively exploded! There is a particularly good patch of mature ones to the right of Bob Dickens hide at the moment – not many toadstools can be considered beautiful, so do take the chance to see them if you’re out and about on the reserve.
Mature fly agaric toadstool by Bob Dickens hide