Fairburn Ings is springing into life. The leaves are beginning to appear, there are new songs to hear around the trails & we've seen quite a lot of frisky activity from the office window!Lin Dike
On the way top the hide, listen out for the newcomers - we've had the arrival of whitethroats, chiff chaffs and blackcaps.
Chiff chaff - Mick Noble (SIBG1@wordpress.com)
A very diverse mix of species this week, from the hide itself were a couple of Egyptian geese & 30 curlew. Very distinctive and a great spot from our ranger duo Dawn & Liberty at the weekend.
Gorgeous Egyptian goose drawing - Mike Langman (rspb-images.com)
Main Bay & Village Bay (The Riverbank Trail)
We're spoilt for choice when directing people from the visitor centre at the moment. The Riverbank trail has provided views of 6 avocets, a common sandpiper & 9 little gulls. My favourite, the common tern has been seen too - beside sand martins and swallows grabbing a tasty bite mid air. The wardens have cleaned and refilled the sand martin wall with sand this month, hopefully they'll have a good breeding year.
Common terns - Mick Noble (SIBG1.wordpress.com)
From a less acrobatic front, the male scaup is still around on Village Bay, and one black necked grebe has been seen too. (For a pretty certain sighting of the BNG, St. Aidan's is your place.)
Coal Tips
On your way up, listen for the first cuckoos seen and heard this spring. They love to perch on the fenceposts around the Coal Tips. Once common, cuckoos are now a red listed species because of their sudden and severe decline.
Cuckoo - John Bridges (rspb-images.com)
Another fence fan is the green woodpecker - lots of reports of these bouncing across the fields - keep your eyes out for a flash of a green rump!
Up on top, bitterns are booming extremely loudly. We've heard them all the way from the visitor centre this morning - we reckon there's at least two males here now.
The Heronry on the Moat
The cormorants have had around 80 successful nests, the first to hatch.
Cormorants in nest - Ben Andrews (rspb-images.com)
32 heron nests with 2 chicks and 2 parents each... we're talking 128 herons! It's a great sight to see from the top of the Coal Tips (bring your binoculars or hire some from the visitor centre)
Although spoonbills haven't been seen for a good few days, little egrets & a great white egret have been keeping us excited.