a busy week here again at Fairburn Ings! With the start of the summer holidays the reserve is looking on top form as ever with beautiful purple loosestrife growing around the discovery trail next to lots of rosebay willowherb and hedge woundwort. It amazes me how far reaching rosebay willowherb always seem to spread. Apparently ground clearing as a result of the world wars provided perfect conditions for this plant to spread from being a scarce woodland plant to ‘bombweed’ as it’s sometimes referred to! There is also plenty of honeysuckle to be found (and smelt!) along the riverbank. Also keep an eye out for great willowherb along cut lane and the Lin Dike route. Great willowherb does look very similar to rosebay willowherb but without the ring of flowers and with just a single flower-head. Black medick has been living up to it’s name recently also with its black seed pods coiled and ready to plant themselves in the ground to appear next year. Wild carrot is also quite established around the entrance to the playground by the centre. This looks very similar to cow parsley but with a larger head and with long green spindly bracts underneath as an identifying feature. If you notice any new wildflowers, why not pop them in the sightings book?
Rosebay willowherb – Andy Hay (RSPB-images)
I was amazed this week whilst walking around the visitor centre in the hot afternoon I came across a whole swarm of peacock butterflies! After getting used to seeing so many small gatekeepers this week it was a shock to 4 or 5 of these large butterflies fluttering round! The markings on the peacock I always think are very stereotypical for a butterfly with four large red and blue eye-like patterns on the wing ends. There are still loads of different dragonflies and damselflies to spot around the reserve. From ruddy darters to large emperor dragonflies you’re sure to see plenty especially by the riverpath on the way to Lin Dike. Brown and southern hawkers which are some of the larger dragonflies and are in fact the fastest flying dragonflies found in the UK giving them the ability to catch their prey in mid-air.
Male southern hawker dragonfly – Dragonfly days
There were a host of waders to been seen from Pickup hide yesterday with greenshank, common sandpipers, little ringed plovers, snipe, water rail and fifteen green sandpipers! These green sandpipers have spent the week around Pickup hide with their characteristic head-bobbing when standing still. Oystercatchers can also be heard with their playful calls around Big hole and four spotted by Pickup hide on Monday. A tawny owl was seen close to the kingfisher screen this week, bobbing along the path before taking flight! The tawny owls large white framed eyes is the most defining feature for me, giving them a soft look. One of our volunteers has brought some little owl pellets in to put on the nature shelves in the visitor centre so if you’d like a closer look at owl pellets come and have a look!
Tawny owl – Hootsowls.co.uk
Lovely lapwings are everywhere on the reserve this time of year after a very successful year of breeding. There were roughly 270 counted at Big Hole last Wednesday and there are still loads to be seen elsewhere on the reserve, especially from Lin Dike hide. A marsh harrier was also spotted over by Spoonbill flash last Wednesday, females are quite easily recognised by their yellow heads and darker brown plumage compared to the lighter plumage of the males. These are such impressive birds and the largest of the harrier family... always a treat to spot! Garganey can still be sighted at New Flash alongside black-tailed godwits which are now quite commonly seen over towards the flashes. It is also worth noticing the large amounts of small rodents around the reserve at the moment with lots of little legs scurrying across paths around the discovery trail in the evenings. With their large litters there are lots of shrews and wood mice scampering around looking to find seeds and berries to eat, and lots of birds keeping an eye out for them too...
Female marsh harrier – Ben Hall (RSPB-images)