We’ve had a good weekend here at Fairburn Ings (even with the heavy rain) with a mixture of wildlife. I’ve picked out a couple of species to chat about; you can find a sum up of the wildlife recorded in our sighting book towards the end of the blog.

The Comma is one of my favourite butterfly’s, this bright yellowy orange to tawny red butterfly is surprisingly well camouflage when it’s wings are closed; looking…

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…

Well the sun has stopped shining but that doesn’t mean the wildlife here at Fairburn Ings has! We’ve had a spectacular morning for moths again this morning after last nights warm evening, perfect for our ‘meet the moths’ session. We could barely catch them there were so many! One of our favourite moths we caught today was a swallowtail moth which has such an awesome shape, amazingly very similar to a swallow with its…

The glossy ibis stuck around at Fairburn until mid-week, the last sighting on Wednesday afternoon. It was great that it stayed for a few days, plenty of visitors got some great views of the bird feeding very close to the path at Lin Dike. Alongside the glossy ibis, there were plenty of other birds keeping it company, including a number of little egrets.  During the week there were ringed plovers plus little ringed plovers…

The past few weeks have been great for splashes of wildflower colour all over the reserve. Switch off for a few days and everything changes so quickly! We’ve got plenty of common ragwort sprouting along Redshale road with its yellow clump of daisy-like flowerheads. There are loads of clusters of ribbed melilot, a tall yellow vetch-like plant and self-heal, a small purple circular plant, both further along Redshale road…

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…

Fairburn Ings is teaming with great wildlife sightings at the moment! Yesterday and this morning we had a pair of spoonbills over at Pickup hide; they have been lingering around Pickup this morning and have been spotted flying over towards the Moat and Lyn Dyke. This is the second sighting of this heavily conserved bird here at Fairburn this year, and is definitely worth a look for their classic spoon bill! Pickup hide…

Its been a beautiful week at Fairburn Ings, with glorious sunny weather pretty much every day. Its meant the reserve has been alive with insects, and the wildflowers are looking stunning, the orchids in particular have been putting on a great show. Head past the Kingfisher Screen and up Red Shale Road, on the left are several southern marsh orchids.  Although we are of course in The North, the southern marsh orchid is…

What a weekend we’ve had for sightings at Fairburn! From bee orchids to bitterns it’s been a great time to visit us here in sunny West Yorkshire. Southern marsh, pyramidal and bee orchids have been spotted around the reserve looking beautifully delicate contrasting against the lush greenery. Bee orchids are so named for their bee-like-look which they have evolved to attract certain types of bees, unfortunately we…

It’s a great sunny day at Fairburn Ings so prepare for another sightings blog! The reserves invertebrate collection is looking really healthy at the minute with loads of common blue and azure damselflies fluttering amongst the reeds and four spotted chasers hovering over the ponds. A gatekeeper was spotted last Wednesday afternoon along the Riverbank trail. These butterflies have a very distinguishable black spot on the…

It’s set for another lovely warm week here at Fairburn Ings and the wildlife is certainly reflecting the weather! We’ve had such a great selection of moths the past week with loads of species such as popular hawkmoths, elephant hawkmoths and pebble hooktips. It still amazes me the range of moth species that we find here on the reserve. The variations in colours and patterns are just incredible so it’s definitely worth…

I was delighted that the rain had stayed away long enough for me to have a wander around and talk to visitors on the reserve. As far as people were concerned the rain had made it a quiet day but bird song was everywhere, enough to lift my soul! I sat in Pickup Hide listening to the cheeky chatter of our beautiful tree sparrows and I watched the aerobatic display of sand martins as they soared overhead catching insects…

It’s a beautiful morning at Fairburn Ings with plenty of young chirping to be heard! Juvenile tree sparrows and blue tits can be seen fluttering in the trees whilst young cygnus are plentiful on the water. It’s great to watch all the tentative parents busy with their broods. Don’t you just love spring? After the heavy rains this week our butterfly counts have been slightly lower but still we were still treated with 6…

Firstly sorry for the delay since our last sightings blog! Although on a plus it’s great to come back to Fairburn Ings and notice all the new things about. Everything’s just looking greener and greener here on the reserve, with lush green hedgerows still teaming with new wildflowers and the trees swiftly filling up with leaves even if they are all sadly covered in rain droplets! The silver birch trees are drooping with…

Fairburn Ings is definitely at its best when the suns shining! We’ve had ample sightings of ice creams, shorts, sandals, sun hats, shades... and if that’s not enough to prove that the May sunshine has joined us then maybe this weeks wildlife sightings will! Red campion is definitely in full bloom and there’s an impressive patch of greater stitchwort still blossoming just before the kissing gate by Bob Dickens hide. Bluebells…

The last few mornings here at Fairburn have been beautiful, with lots of fresh wildlife sightings to report! There have loads of damselflies emerging lately, with large reds being the first to appear a few weeks ago. Some of our newest editions are the blue-tailed damselfly and azure damselfly, with the azure having a blue and black striped abdomen and the blue-tailed with the striking blue tip on the end of its abdomen…

Wildflowers are looking more and more beautiful this time of year with forget-me-nots, cow parsley, herb robert, daisies and buttercups popping up all over the reserve. Hawthorn is now everywhere, if you were unsure of whether it was hawthorn before, now you’ll definitely be certain with their lovely snowy blossoms giving them all away! Horse chestnut or ‘conker trees’ are now also holding their distinctive white candy…

I thought I’d get a sightings blog in today before the weather totally changes and the rain and wind takes over! Firstly I have seen loads of speckled wood butterflies fluttering about this week whilst walking amongst the birch trees! These butterflies feed on honeydew in tree tops and are only rarely seen feeding on flowers, hence why they are named speckled ‘wood’ butterfly as they favour woodlands. I was shown how…

So it’s been a lovely week here at Fairburn with plenty of exciting sightings to report once again! With wildflowers now emerging even more rapidly and counts of orange-tip butterflies reaching over 63 in one day the reserve really is becoming more and more like a spring wonderland. Cuckoo flowers, garlic mustard and bluebells are still becoming more and more frequent, and an arrival of another understated wildflower…

It has turned into a lovely day here at Fairburn and with the sun shining we’ve nearly all forgotten about the rain of yesterday! Our sightings book has been overloaded with common and arctic terns once again as they use our numerous supply of fish for feeding up! I was surprised the other morning as I dropped in on Charlie’s hide to see a large gang of godwits! I was a bit confused as to what type of godwits these were…

After a hectic Easter week here at Fairburn Ings I think its time for a sightings blog! Butterflies are once again in full flow this week with plenty of orange-tips as more and more wildflowers are brightening up our hedges. The big green leaves of the garlic mustard are definitely taking over hedgerows with their petite white cluster of flowers on the top, looking very disproportionate! When you crush the leaves apparently…

It’s been a beautiful week here at Fairburn Ings with plenty of new sightings to talk about! I having been lucky this week to attend our first ‘meet the moths’ and ‘mini-beast safari’ session and despite the wind we still managed to see loads. You’ve all probably noticed the mass surge of butterflies on the reserve since the suns started shining; with peacocks, small tortoiseshells, orange-tips, green-veined whites, speckled…

It’s a beautiful day here at Fairburn! I have just been enjoying my sandwiches outside basking in the warm sunshine watching two mallards search for grubs with ‘the friendly robin’ sitting on the seat next to me whilst listening to great tits and chiffchaffs chirp happily away in the trees. I definitely had one of those ‘this is what it’s all about’ feelings! I now feel perfectly inspired to write this week’s blog! So…

Here's the latest blog from Louise, our wildlife garden volunteer

The birds are singing, the first flowers are out and you're thinking of putting that winter coat away. Yes spring is here and isn't it marvellous! I've been busy in the wildlife garden planting some new plants that will hopefully attract all those wonderful pollinators. If you're doing the same, try to make sure you plant things that provide pollen…

With all this Sahara dust, it seems like a while since we have all seen the sky! However here at Fairburn there is still plenty to see. Down by the visitor centre our wildflower patch is showing its first visitor – cowslips. I love our native wildflowers so I always feel particularly excited when I notice the hedgerows and fields filling up with their delicate petals and splashes of colour amongst all the greenery. Cowslips…