I retired from teaching in December 2009 after a career that spanned 34 years.  However I had a cunning plan…. Catch up on jobs, pick up old hobbies, catch up with friends, have a project, enjoy days out, volunteer and learn something new (photography!).

The plan to volunteer led me to Fairburn Ings for a chat and before I knew it I was signed up and in uniform!  I love it, and have now been volunteering for 7 years…

Evidence of spoonbill breeding at Fairburn Ings – a first for Yorkshire and a first for an RSPB reserve.

This rare bird, usually found in southern and eastern Europe, has hatched chicks for the first time in Northern England, at Fairburn!

Spoonbill on the Moat by Andy Francis

Spoonbills had not nested regularly in the UK since the 1700s, however recent years have seen them slowly expanding their range north…

Our warden intern Andy is fantastic with birdsong, here he discusses a bit of the science behind the song:

I have no doubt that the meliflous warblings of our finer song birds share mathematical relationships with the palette of tones in our own music.  Our appreciation of music probably evolved as a means of empathising with the tones found in speech, psychologists refer to this as “prosidy”. These signal our emotional…

Our Schools on Reserves season is now in full swing and everything is going really well. The hard work put in with training over the winter months has really paid off as the programmes are being delivered smoothly with plenty of attention being paid to learning objectives and of course having fun!  Feedback has been very positive and it seems everyone (including teachers) have enjoyed their days on reserve with us.  We…

Growing up loving nature, one of my earliest memories was collecting minibeasts in bug pots in my grandma’s garden.  It was fascinating to see how many creatures you could find in such a small area of grass or shrub.  Those connections with nature shaped many of my life choices and without them I probably wouldn’t be doing what I am today.  For this reason I feel it is really important to connect kids with nature…

Here at RSPB St Aidan's we are very lucky to have a fabulous relationship with our tenant grazier who helps us manage important habitats for wildlife. Our current grazier is Jo Cartwright who is the proud owner of the amazing one hundred and sixty acre Swillington Organic farm adjacent to St Aidan's.

As our grazier we use Jo’s cattle and sheep to keep the grass height of the ridge and furrow area of the reserve…

My name’s Abbie and I’m the new Visitor Experience Officer for the Aire Valley – Fairburn Ings and St Aidan’s.  I’m responsible for making sure visitors get the most out of their visit, hold lots of events, plus get the message out about what amazing wildlife we have on the reserves and what we, the RSPB, are doing to help it thrive.

St Aidan's, David Botham

My first lone walk took…

It’s an exciting time at Fairburn.  The air is filled with the sound of birds singing, and soon we’ll also be hearing the sound of excited school children coming to do their habitat investigations, pond dip and bug hunt. We have a range of programmes for school groups to choose from and the learning team has been working hard over the colder months making sure everything is ready for spring and summer.

I took at walk around the Lowther Loop walk at St Aidan’s this week.  It’s one of the shorter walks, but it’s a little bit harder to access because the footpaths are quite uneven and not surfaced, but if you’ve got good footwear and are a hardy walker then it’s a lovely route to take.

I started off from the visitor centre and took in the view down to Bowers Lake with the dragline and the…

Fairburn has been alive with the arrival of spring over the last couple of weeks which means we have amped up our work surveying the local wildlife. A couple of weeks ago were welcomed two of the RSPB’s ecologists to survey the fish population on the Coal Tips using a technique called Electrofishing

Electrofishing is commonly used by scientists to sample fish population in bodies of freshwater. As well as sampling…

It is with great sadness that we share the news of the passing of Charlie Winn. Charlie was the first RSPB warden for Fairburn Ings when it was taken on by the organisation more than 40 years ago, he is one of the locals who made this beautiful reserve and helped turned it into the wildlife haven it is today.

One of our volunteers who knew Charlie and learned a great deal from him has written a tribute to share on these…

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…

Hello! I have just started as a volunteer intern warden at Fairburn Ings where I shall be until early September. I am very happy to learn from knowledgeable folks here and to live in a house overlooking the reserve, brilliantly placed to enjoy the great wildlife and the social aspect of working with other nature enthusiasts.

I expect that I shall be writing more over the coming weeks but it is customary on a welcome…

Singing skylarks, dancing grebes, daffodils, snowdrops, hogweed shoots, bumblebees and even the odd butterfly. Could it be nearly spring? The anticipation is building! It may have been windy and the water is very high across the reserve – it’s all the way up to Pickup hide – but the sun is starting to have some heat in it and at least one person in the office has cracked their shorts out.

This week…

Time has flown by – cliché I know, but I cannot believe it’s already time for me to say farewell to Fairburn. It’s been a joy to be surrounded by so many unique and inspiring people, each totally different but completely dedicated to the same cause and for their love of Fairburn.

The enthusiasm of everyone here is hardly contained and it’s completely contagious. There is always a buzz of excitement…

Family Volunteering was a great and luckily the rain held off all day. We started with a walk up to the heath land, a place visitors don’t normally get to see! It was such a treat to be up there and we immediately saw a great white egret, it flew over and landed in the top of a tree, in just the right spot for everyone to get a clear view.

Tools in hand, we traipsed through the mud, adding our footprints alongside…

(Snow Drops, Andy Hay rspb-images)

As January draws to a close there are the very first signs of Spring in the air. Snowdrops are popping up amongst the undergrowth, skylarks have been heard singing on the Coal Tips Trail and I even heard a great spotted woodpecker drumming as I walked along the Discovery Trail, also hazel catkins.

(Great Spotted Woodpecker, Tom Marshall rspb-images)

A group of long tailed tits…

If you pay our Visitor Centre a visit right now, you can make yourself at home in our Big Garden Birdwatch Lounge and take a moment to enjoy the variety of birds at close range on the feeders, whilst you munch on your sandwiches. Feeders have been placed up on the balcony, giving the best views of vibrant bullfinches, cheeky blackbirds, reed bunting, long tailed tits, greenfinches, robins and tree sparrows (and so, so…

Despite the biting cold and the fact that it is very much winter here at Fairburn Ings, wildlife sightings have not failed to disappoint

Andy Hay (rspb-images)

There have been a few sightings of vagrant birds, including a white fronted goose.

Ben Hall (rspb-images)

If you’re not so sure what a vagrant bird is (don't worry, I had no idea 'til yesterday morning), it’s a bird that strays far outside…

Fairburn is quite lucky to have a wonderful variety of garden birds feasting on its bird feeders, and this week has been no different - I saw a nuthatch for the first time ever  and it’s such a lovely, streamline little bird. He seemed perfectly at home alongside robins, greenfinches, goldfinches, tree sparrows, chaffinches, great, blue and coal tits. Other visitors have seen a siskin, 2 willow tits, a lesser redpoll,…

It was a grey and rainy start this week at Fairburn Ings, as a result a small flood made Lin Dike Hide and Arrow Lane inaccessible. However wildlife proved not to be put off by the rain, as 50+ curlews have turned up on New Flash and can be heard making their calls.


Curlew, Andy Hay (rspb-images.com)

 The mini flood has now receded, so the Arrow Lane Trail and Link Dike hide can once again be enjoyed, where you can look…

Watching for starlings, Eleanor Bentall (rspb-images.com)

And the third pair were just right...

There is no ‘one size fits all’ when it comes to binoculars and telescopes. You need to look through them, feel the weight and understand how they work to find the right pair for you.

Whether you’re after your first pair of binoculars or looking to replace your well worn ‘old faithfuls’, the RSPB is here…

You may have watched Countryfile this weekend and seen Matt Baker in the pond at Fairburn, digging in fresh pond plants. He was lending the warden team a hand and kicking off the exciting habitat improvements that are happening on the Discovery Trail at the moment.

Matt and the pond dippers, Pete Carr

What do the improvements involve?

Pond dipping runs from roughly March to October each year, depending on the weather…

The Kingfisher Screen has been alive with activity this week as the kingfishers are proving not to be easily deterred by the habitat improvement works. They can still be seen frequently throughout the day, attracted by the dense amounts of fish within the stream. During my short time at Fairburn I’ve been lucky enough to see the kingfishers at least once a week, and each time I am surprised by just how vibrant they really…

I’m almost a month into my internship here at Fairburn already, and how quickly the scenery has turned since I first arrived. The temperature has dropped and each morning, frost covers surrounding fields, but the early mornings are worth it for the sight of mist lifting over the main lake. The first of this season’s snowfall has given us a taste of winter, whilst the warden team begin to make preparations for exciting…