What a week at Fairburn! All the usual suspects are about, the feeders around the visitor centre have been heavy with tree sparrows, goldfinches, long-tailed tits and reed buntings. There is more birdsong in the air, willow tits are singings and woodpeckers are drumming.
The high winds across the country this week have also blown in a variety of interesting birds. Wednesday saw a raft of 30 male common scoter out on Main Bay, these are typically sea ducks but they obviously stopped for a bit of shelter.
Common scoter, Andy Hay (rspb-images.com)
There was also another kittiwake sighting on Main Bay on Thursday, as well as a red-breasted merganser. The male smew and two red-headed smew are also still around on the reserve and can often be seen on Village Bay.
This morning there was a brief pit stop made by 10 whooper swans at Big Hole. They were only around for a short period before they took off again, but a few lucky folk got a good look.
Goldcrest, Mike Langman (rspb-images.com)
Firecrest, Mike Langman (rspb-images.com)
Finally, this morning up on the Coal Tips trail two very lucky visitors spotted a firecrest! Firecrests can be distinguished from the much more common goldcrest by their brighter colours. Their upperparts are much greener with darker, more defined stripes on the top of their head, and very obvious black and white stripes around the eyes.
Male Smew seen under the Osprey platform, around 1230.
Green Woodpecker heard several times in the area of the Bob Dickins hide. Seemed to be in the trees on the same side as the hide.