Family Volunteering was a great and luckily the rain held off all day. We started with a walk up to the heath land, a place visitors don’t normally get to see! It was such a treat to be up there and we immediately saw a great white egret, it flew over and landed in the top of a tree, in just the right spot for everyone to get a clear view.
Tools in hand, we traipsed through the mud, adding our footprints alongside those of roe deer and sheep, and finally arrived at a clearing of grass, dotted with young birch trees. The Assistant Warden Andy explained what we would be doing for the day and why; we would be cutting down the birch, to allow the area to become open heath land. This was so ground nesting birds can happily nest there, without coverage from the trees for predators such as foxes and larger birds.
With the task explained we got stuck in, and surprisingly for such a small group, we got through quite a lot of birch! We found a frog hiding among the long grass and some of the younger volunteers identified a skylark, fluttering above. We even spotted a marsh harrier and plenty of sheep.
Before lunch we took a walk to the edge of the hill, where we were treated to a unique view of the islands on the main bay. A group of lapwing circled overhead, and once again the younger volunteers impressed us all with their bird ID skills – recognising a crow to be on one of the islands, based on the way it hopped around.
On the way to get some much earned lunch, our eagle eyed volunteers spotted a kingfisher by the screen, as well as a heron and little egret.
After lunch the hard work continued, and so did the sightings. A kestrel and cormorants flew overhead, a group of long tailed tits and bullfinches were seen amongst the mature trees.
Once we’d finished it was a wonderful feeling to look around and to see the amount of work we had done, and to know the benefit it would have to ground nesting birds in the area! Everyone left a lot muddier but certainly feeling like they had really helped the wildlife at Fairburn.
This week the whole of Fairburn has been celebrating what it “loves” about the nature at Fairburn. You can help by coming along to our visitor centre and #showthelove by adding a leaf to our birch tree.