We’ve had a lovely warm week here at Fairburn Ings. I’ve got to start this sightings blog with the wonderful flying spectacle we had this morning as me and my fellow volunteers walked along the road path into the reserve. The insects were out in force this morning which originally wasn’t great, but looking up and seeing the sheer amount of swifts above our heads made it all the more bearable! There have been loads swooping above Main Bay this morning and after lunch. I still find it amazing how swifts manage to stay on the wing without ever stopping to perch. It’s been a record year for our sand martins this year as well with the wall looking very full with nearly-ready to fledge chicks. If you look carefully you can make out their little heads just poking out of the wall holes!
Sand martin – Jenny Thorne (Residential volunteer)
The glossy ibis is back! Its attracted loads of attention once again from all, especially whilst it was over at Pickup hide on Thursday. A group of us spent the day running back and forward from the hide in the attempt to catch a glimpse, it wasn’t until 5 o’clock when we were supposed to be closing up when we actually managed to see the ibis... and boy what a show. We had the two protective avocets with their chicks, little egret, lapwing, a suspicious looking heron and glossy ibis all grouped at Pickup hide. If only the spoonbills had come to join in too! We’ve had sightings of the two spoonbills again this morning over at Lin Dike hide but they have also been seen this week at Pickup. Our lovely avocets have been perhaps a little over-protective of their chicks scaring away all the other birds!
Two spoonbills – Darren Starkey
Ringlet and meadow brown butterflies have been plentiful this week, with counts reaching over a hundred throughout the reserve. Red admirals have also been starting to show this week with their striking red bands. Red admirals are one of our migrant butterflies originating from central Europe; they are just starting to emerge now and will stick around until the beginning of October. We’ve also had our first sightings of the impressive emperor dragonfly on the reserve this week. This is one of the UKs biggest, most colourful dragonflies so is probably one of the most obvious to spot - despite the fact that they rarely settle for you to have a good look at it!
Emperor dragonfly – British dragonfly society
We have had a surprising amount of little egrets this year on the reserve with 14 counted at once over on the flashes earlier in the week and with 13 counted at Lin Dike yesterday. There are also a fair few juvenile little egrets within these groups as well. A snipe has been seen this week over at the Moat and also at Pickup with water rails also still about. Last night we also had two green sandpipers at the Moat these look very similar to other sandpipers but with almost black upperparts and slightly smaller. Our female mandarin has still been about at the duck feeding platform this week, she is quite easy to spot by her thick neck and white-eye stripe. Especially amongst all the numerous juvenile mallards and swans with their cygnets bombarding people with their duck seed at the platform!
Snipe – Chris Gomersall (RSPB-images)