Its chilly here at Fairburn today, we had a little flurry of snow earlier, but nothing significant.  Its just a bit grey now, but a few people have been out to see the wildlife on the reserve.

We’ve had siskins on our feeders again, a few visitors have posted photos of them on our Facebook and Twitter pages. As well as the siskins we’ve had all the usual suspects of blue tits, great tits, coal tits, goldfinches, greenfinches…

A wet and grey Sunday here at Fairburn Ings but by no means dreary, the wildlife garden and feeders to the side of the Visitor centre have drawn in a host of birds these last few days including bullfinch, chaffinch, greenfinch and goldfinch, willow tit, blue tit, great tit, coal tit and long-tailed tits, great spotted woodpecker, siskin, brambling, song thrush, blackbird, reed bunting, nuthatch, treecreeper, pheasant…

There are only a few more days to get your entries in for our amateur photo competition; the closing date is midnight on Saturday 16 February. Have you been to Fairburn Ings in the last year and taken a great photo? It can be of anything at all so long as it shows the ‘nature of Fairburn Ings’ and was taken either on or of RSPB Fairburn Ings.

So have you got a picture of a beautiful sunset over the flashes…

Its a pleasant day at Fairburn Ings, I can see the sun poking through the clouds, and it feels fairly mild outside. I have been watching the treesparrows checking out a nest box in the staff car park. So whilst its still winter, the wildlife is preparing for Spring, it feels like there is light at the end of the wintery tunnel.

As usual at this time of year, the feeders are really busy, it’s almost a full time job to…

We have a fantastic promotion starting today in the shop on our 12.75kg sacks of seed (excluding Peanuts and Suffolk Black Sunflowers). If you buy two sacks of bird food you get £10 off!! This offer runs until the 26^th February, so plenty of time to stock up.

The birds in your garden need your help at the moment, with all this confused weather, they need a supply of food that they can rely on as the bugs etc that…

One of our regular visitors sat and watched our visitor centre bird feeders for one hour this morning, much like the Big Garden Birdwatch, and managed to see 23 different species! 

He saw:

blue tit
great tit
coal tit
willow tit
long tailed tit
house sparrow
tree sparrow
chaffinch
goldfinch
bullfinch
greenfinch
siskin
brambling
reed bunting
pheasant
collard dove
blackbird
song thrush
robin
dunnock
great spotted woodpecker
nuthatch
moorhen

You might see a few new faces around Fairburn Ings if you visit the reserve, we have three new people on our team and we thought we’d let them introduce themselves to you.

 Hi I'm Beki Williams, the new Aire Valley Visitor Officer; you might recognise me because I spent 6 months volunteering at Fairburn Ings from May to October 2011.  I had such a good time that I couldn’t resist the opportunity to come back…

Why we want you

St Aidan’s is a brand new site and different from any other RSPB reserve in its design for visitor experience. It will welcome a wide range of visitors including birdwatchers, runners, walkers, cyclists and equestrian enthusiasts! We need confident and enthusiastic people to engage with the public and help them get the most out of their visit. You will do this by telling people all about the fantastic…

Highlights for this week include marsh harrier over the flashes and 5 buzzards and a kestrel over Newfield plantation. Large numbers of curlew and lapwing have been spotted on the flashes with 40+ curlew and 200+ lapwing on Spoonbill flash on Thursday.

Brambling, treecreeper, nuthatch and siskin have all been regular visitors to the feeders around the visitor centre as have reed bunting, great spotted woodpecker and…

Another blog, and another mention of snow! Although as I speak the fresh snow we had last night is quickly melting.  Due to the bad weather we’ve not had as many visitors treading the paths and reporting their sightings, but those who have been out have seen some great wildlife.

The farmer pulled up a crop of sugar beet in the field opposite the reserve on Friday, the fresh earth attracted all sorts of wildlife…

This cold weather and snow covered ground has brought about lots of sightings of raptors. Peregrine, merlin, sparrowhawk, red kite, marsh harrier, kestrel and buzzard have all been seen on various occasions over the last few days along with a sighting of a little owl.

The  weather has also made it easier to see kingfishers due to most of the flowing water where they normally hunt being frozen over, for information on…

The snow continued to fall at Fairburn Ings, I was greeted by a pure white reserve when I arrived this morning after a slightly hairy drive along the A roads of east Leeds.  I am writing this blog from home today though,  we closed early because the snow continued to fall and there weren't any visitors at the reserve.  

Despite the bad weather, we've had plenty of sightings over the weekend, the feeders continue to…

The snow has arrived at Fairburn Ings and the reserve is looking stunning.  A lot of the pools have frozen over, but the wildlife seems to cope quite well.  The smaller birds are pretty much reliant on the bird feeders, which we are keeping topped up on a daily basis here.  Make sure you’re doing the same in your garden.   All the usual suspects are seen on a regular basis at our feeders at the visitor centre including…

The weather has taken a real turn in the last week, going from mild and damp to freezing cold, we’ve had a dusting of snow at the reserve, but nothing which should impact on our wildlife too much. Our feeders have been very busy with lots of tree sparrows, great tits, blue tits, chaffinches, goldfinches, coal tit as well as some bullfinches, nut hatches, reed buntings, willow tits, long tailed tits, brambling and a great…

We’ve got some ‘welly’ exciting activities planned at Fairburn Ings, and we need your help.  We are asking for you to donate your old wellies to us.  We will accept any old wellies, big wellies, little wellies, green wellies, black wellies, pink wellies with purple spots on, old wellies with holes in, even smelly wellies!!!! 

Watch this space for more details of what we’ll be doing at Fairburn Ings with…

The wildlife garden continues to provide visitors with a great chance to view some of our scarcer and more colourful garden visitors. Nuthatch, Willow Tit, Brambling, Long-tailed Tit, Sisikin, Treecreeper and Lesser Redpoll have all been seen today with a pair of Waxwings lingering on the geulder rose berries yesterday. The redhead Smew is still on Spoonbill Flash with around a dozen Goosander and a Little Egret for company…

On Saturday a kestrel was seen near the roadside at Newton farm and later in the day 2 buzzards were also seen flying overhead. 70+ waxwing were seen from Cut lane and a further 11 flying over the pond dipping platforms. On the feeders around the visitor centre were nuthatch, brambling, willow tit, coal tit and bullfinch. Flying over the visitor centre were 70+ pink-footed geese heading west. On Sunday treecreeper and…

Even non-birdwatchers get excited about these distinctive, colourful and famously approachable birds. They usually offer ample opportunity to appreciate their sandy plumage with a full crest, black bib, yellow tips to the tail feathers and white markings in the wings.  Even the little red waxy tips to the secondaries can often be seen very well.

A Waxwing is slightly smaller than a Starling. They do not breed in the…

Both male and female bullfinches were seen visiting the feeders at the visitor centre this week as were great spotted woodpecker, brambling, willow tit, nuthatch, bullfinch, dunnock, tree sparrow and reed bunting and in the wildlife garden were redwing, fieldfare, nuthatch and great spotted woodpecker.

Great spotted woodpeckers were also seen from Pickup hide along with brambling, red legged partridge and a sparrowhawk…

'Tis the season one and all, 

as frost appears and leaves do fall.

Lets not forget our Wildlife friends,

As Christmas comes and school terms end...

Seed and fat-balls, peanuts too

Are all essential to see them through.

The season for giving and spreading the cheer

So do Step Up for Nature this year!

Welcome Winter!

The ground crunching beneath our feet and vibrant berries on the trees, yes its certainly here.

As our gardens turn into wonderful winter wonderlands, its important to remember our wildlife. Create habitat and ensure food and water are always available. Right now garden feeders are extremely important, as food in the wild for our birds is becoming scarce. Be sure to put up high energy foods such as peanuts…

A blog by Joe Seymour, one of our fantastic volunteers and artists taking part in our up coming exhibition.

I had a wander around Fairburn Ings today to try and get some photos of small garden birds whilst the sun was out. I started off with a look under the bird feeders in the wildlife garden to see what was lurking about. To my pleasure I saw: Goldfinch, Bullfinch, Chaffinch, House and Tree Sparrow, Blue, Great, Willow…

Calling all amateur photographers!! We are launching a new photographic competition here at Fairburn Ings and will be accepting entries until 16th February 2013. The competition is titled 'The nature of Fairburn Ings' and all photographs must be taken on or of Fairburn Ings between 1st January 2012 and 16th February 2013.

The theme of this competition is open to individual interpretation but entries must have…

The reserve team of staff and volunteer wardens have been working hard this autumn.  Regular visitors to the reserve will be aware that the Riverbank trail has had a new surface laid, vastly improving access between the Cut and the Kingfisher screen. The new Village Bay Viewpoint is also now in place offering improved views over Main Bay and Village Bay.

The duck and swan feeding area has had an extension added to it…

Now here's a question for you birdy nerdys.  What links?

Great Northern Diver, Gannet, Ring-necked Duck, Ferruginous Duck, Montagu's Harrier, Red-footed Falcon, Spotted Crake, Pectoral Sandpiper, Grey Phalarope, Arctic Skua, Roseate Tern, White-winged Black Tern, Wryneck, Shore Lark, Dipper, Black Redstart, Firecrest, Great Grey Shrike, Lapland Bunting and Snow Bunting?

........The answer. They have all…