It’s been a rather busy week here at Fairburn Ings, so there are lots of lovely wildlife sightings to catch you up on! Possibly the star of the week is the Marsh Harrier which has been seen daily from Pickup hide since Sunday. Although these beautiful birds are seen with reasonable regularity, daily sightings are certainly worth comment!
Marsh Harriers are the largest of the Harriers, and can be recognised even from a distance by their slow and distinctive flight style. They are often seen gliding low over grasslands, wetlands and reedbeds in search of prey, with their wings held in a shallow V. They are migratory birds, visiting England to breed in the summer, and many also overwinter in our mild climate.
Female Marsh Harrier image by Chris Gomersall (rspb-images.com)
Both male and female are very striking birds, and as with other harriers, the two sexes have their own distinct plumages. Both have dark, smoky wing tips, and what I like to think of as creamy ‘shoulder’ patches, along the leading edge of their wings. The male’s head, tail and under parts are a streaky brownish-grey, except for a chestnut belly, whilst the female is overall darker in appearance, with an almost entirely chocolate-brown body. Probably the easiest way to tell them apart (at least the way I use!) is that the female also has a pale cream-coloured crown, which stands out beautifully against her ruddy back and breast.
Another spectacle that’s been causing rather a stir is the gull roost on Main Bay. If you’re around later in the day, it really is worth taking a stroll alongside the water to see thousands of gulls of all sorts come in to roost – lately, this has included such rarities as a Caspian gull and an Iceland gull! The latter seems to have been knocking about for a few weeks now, and can be distinguished from the others by its smaller size and pale plumage, with distinctly white wing tips (it’s sometimes referred to as the ‘white-winged gull). They are scarce winter visitors, coming down from the Arctic where they breed in the summer. The Caspian gull was spotted on Saturday – these birds look very similar to our regular herring and lesser black-backed gulls, to which they are closely related, but breed around the Black and Caspian seas, migrating into Western Europe for the winter.
Adult Iceland gull image by Mike Langman (rspb-images.com)
If you feel up to the challenge of a where’s Wally-style gull-spotting extravaganza to look for these rarities, Main Bay is the place to be! However, if, like me, you don’t happen to be so knowledgeable about gulls, it’s still a breathtaking sight to see – Small groups repeatedly break off from the main gathering, rising up in a flurry of white feathers for mere moments before coming to settle on the water again. Who knew gulls could be so captivating? (At this polite it's worth putting in a polite reminder - please don't park on the road! We've had a couple of near misses lately, resulting in the police being called out, so let's keep our gull-watching safe - thanks).
We’re having lovely weather lately, so come down to Fairburn and see what wildlife you can spot in the winter sunshine!