With Spring just around the corner and the migrants booking their flights, we have seen some strangely familiar sights here at Fairburn Ings this week..
The tree sparrows have been hard at work gathering nesting materials for renovating their new homes. This wonderful work is being captured by our live nest box cameras in the visitor centre. We hope to have some hungry chicks settled in before too long. It’s always lovely to see them hatch and mature into fledglings.
Another exciting mark of springtime was seen along Lin Dyke this week, with a brimstone butterfly making its first appearance.
The snipe are active down at Big hole and Charlie’s hide, they were amazingly well hidden. Luckily I had the help of our eagle eyed volunteer ranger to help spot them!
The great crested grebe have been courting along the riverbank trail and along cut lane, look out for their ‘bowing’ motion. This is a particularly lovely spot to visit in the evenings when the sun is setting over the water. Very romantic lighting!
Pond dipping season is now back in full swing. The team at Fairburn are looking forward to the return of our expert fishers! We have lots of frogs and frogspawn forming down there so it’s always worth a visit no matter how old you are. Make sure you watch your step on the paths and be careful not to fish out the spawn!