Fairburn Ings and St Aidan’s sightings blog - 04 August

It’s been an exciting few weeks in the Aire Valley!

At Fairburn Ings, spotted flycatchers have been delighting some visitors, cattle egrets have been seen with the cattle from the Pickup Hide and we’re still getting plenty of insect sightings! At St Aidan’s the rare spotted crake hung around for quite a while, accompanied by the elusive water rail and a visiting greenshank. A tree sparrow has also been seen on the feeders at the visitor’s centre along with many juvenile goldfinches, and a passing arctic skua flew towards Astley Lake.

The top ten sightings at Fairburn Ings recently have been:

• Black-tailed godwit
• Garden warbler
• Spotted flycatcher
• Little ringed plover
• Water rail
• Hobby
• Ruddy darter
• Painted Lady
• Common gull
• Tree creeper

Our star species this week is the spotted flycatcher, which is a red listed bird. They tend to sit at high perches in trees, and will quickly fly to catch an insect before sitting at its perch again.

Here is a more extensive list of the sightings:

• Great white egret, green sandpiper, cattle egret, spoonbill, common gull, little ringed plover, black-tailed godwit, gadwall, kingfisher, moorhen, snipe, lapwing, curlew and water rail
• Lesser whitethroat, garden warbler, common redstart, blackbird, great spotted woodpecker, chaffinch, goldfinch, blue tit, long-tailed tit, robin, great tit, wren, dunnock, Eurasian jay, greenfinch, treecreeper and spotted flycatcher
• Hobby, marsh harrier, little owl, buzzard, peregrine falcon and hobby
• Roe deer
• Small white, large white, green veined white, speckled wood, common blue, painted lady, migrant hawker, brown hawker, southern hawker, ruddy darter and common darter

The top ten sightings at St Aidan’s recently have been:

• Tree sparrow
• Water rail
• Common redstart
• Spotted crake
• Garganey
• Spotted redshank
• Whinchat
• Bittern
• Green woodpecker
• Arctic skua

Our star species this week is the tree sparrow, which is red-listed as its populations have declined severely in recent decades. Unlike house sparrows, they are quite shy and don’t tend to be found in gardens.

Here is a more extensive list of the sightings:

• Tree sparrow, common redstart, greenfinch, chaffinch, goldfinch, reed bunting, magpie, blackbird, whinchat, green woodpecker, sand martin, common tern and reed warbler
• Spotted crake, spoonbill, water rail, lapwing, spotted redshank, arctic skua, wood sandpiper, greenshank, black-tailed godwit, garganey, grey heron, snipe, kingfisher, bittern, little egret, moorhen, tufted duck, pochard, cormorant, little grebe and great crested grebe
• Little owl, marsh harrier, red kite, hobby, buzzard, sparrowhawk and kestrel
• Common blue, speckled wood and ruddy darter

When you’re out and about at Fairburn Ings and St Aidan’s, do let us know what you spot.

You can do this by writing in the sightings book in the visitor centres, or by letting us know on social media!

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#RSPBFairburnIngs

#RSPBStAidans

Happy spotting!

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Hobby - Ben Andrew (rspb-images.com)

Water rail-  Graham Goodall (rspb-images.com)