It's been a while since our last blog, but in the new year we'll be welcoming three new volunteers to the Aire Valley. Our social media and blogging volunteers, Gael, Georgina and Phil will be out on site collecting stories and information to share with our visitors and readers. 

The ducks of St Aidan's may have had their own blog last week but they're showing up in great numbers at Fairburn too! We've had hundreds…

Winter is definitely here. In addition to the ice and snow, more goosanders are on Lemonroyd lake and the river. And winter, is the trigger for ducks to start their quest to find their breeding partner by exhibiting display behaviours until spring, when they nest.

Female goosander; a sawbill has a hooked bill and teeth-like lamellae to grip fish

In most duck species, it is the female incites the males into courtship…

Fieldfares - Rob Hunton (Swillington Ings Bird Group - sibg1.wordpress.com)

Many sightings are very similar to last week - marsh harriers are sighted daily (and at close quarters!) around the ridge and furrow/reedbed, joined by regular sparrowhawks, red kites and peregrine.

Winter thrushes are on the up - redwing and fieldfare are being spotted regularly around the hillside.

Marsh harrier - Rob Parsons (Swillington…

Winter is bringing in the migrants at St Aidan’s now, and the Hillside has proved a good spot to see them. Monday brought in some great sighting of fieldfare this week. These are very social birds, spending the winter in flocks of anything from a dozen or two, to several hundred strong.

This sighting was shortly followed by a flock of the UK’s smallest true thrush - the redwing. It’s creamy strip above the…

As autumn marches towards winter, there are weather benefits for the wildlife seeker despite the cold. The magic of iridescence reveals usually invisible colours if sunlight falls on a subject in the right way. These colours are visible in a summer sun but now the sun is lower and softer, it brightens anyone’s day. Even the visible colours are more vibrant and shiny.

This is especially noticeable among the current…

It’s a busy busy Saturday here at Fairburn today – so here’s a speedy low-down on the wildlife we’ve been treated to this week!


On the Riverbank Trail end of the reserve (Main Bay and beyond) we have lots of wildfowl, such as shoveller (with their ridiculous bills!) in numbers reaching 250+, shelduck, pintail (with their ridiculous tails!), goosander every day, about 10 goldeneye, and an immature…

You may have heard or seen on our social media pages - we had quite a surprise visitor over the weekend! Rob Hunton (Swillington Ings Bird Group) spotted a Dartford warbler on the hillside on Saturday morning. I had to have stroll up and catch a glimpse - I spent hours over summer scanning every gorse bush in Dunwich Heath but without any luck!

- Why are they so exciting? Well, Dartford warblers' numbers crashed to about…

It has been a busy summer and it looks set be an even busier winter for the warden team at St Aidan’s nature park. With just under 1000 acres of habitat and 12 kilometres of paths to maintain the work never stops!

So what has happened this summer?

With a big reserve like St Aidan’s comes a lot of habitat management and maintenance of paths and utilities. This means a lot of tools and equipment which need a space…

A quick guide to what’s about at Fairburn Ings this week! A very diverse bunch but well worth exploring the coal tips and flashes. What better on a sunny and crisp autumn day?

The Flashes

Whooper swans started the week on a high of 8 individuals which have lessened a little down to 5 on New Flash. They’ve been joined by my favourite – 12 curlews. The RSPB’s Curlew Recovery Programme is a great read for those…

Although the clocks were only turned back just over a week ago, those long summer evenings seem a distant memory. At St Aidan’s winter is really beginning to show its face. The first frost of the year made an appearance yesterday and the numbers of birds don’t seem to slow.  This morning we've had sightings of woodcock and water pipits! 

Although not as frequent, St Aidan’s Nature Park is still a pit stop…

Earlier in the week I got one of the best jobs at Fairburn - usually reserved for volunteer rangers but on Saturday morning it was down to me to get my layers on and fill the feeders. 

Perhaps it was the blue fleece and three buckets of suet, seed and fatballs - but the Discovery Trail came alive! Huge flocks of long tailed tits passed over in waves, robins were demanding their fill and chaffinches were flitting above…

After the weekend's successful litter pick, Gavin - St. Aidan's Community Engagament Officer has shared a blog with us!

This was our second Community Litter pick at St. Aidan’s and once again we were well supported by local folk. It’s fantastic to meet so many people who care about the site. It is this support that helps keep St. Aidan’s looking wonderful. It’s also vital work to help protect the habitats for…

For some weeks now, visitors have heard calls from the ‘scarlet pimpernel’ that is the water rail around the eastern reedbed. Its repertoire called ‘sharming’ is varied and includes a piglet-in-pain squeal and a weary-I-am-totally-past-it choking moan. So, charming it isn’t.

On Monday several were heard calling from the path that dissects the reedbeds and are probably declaring their territories…

Over the past couple of weeks, the wardens at Fairburn have been making wildlife rafts! Here’s an update from warden Karen:

The rafts are a great way of increasing wetland features on lakes and ponds quickly – creating a great habitat for birds, fish, invertebrates, amphibians or even small mammals.  Creating fish refuge is really important, obviously for the fish themselves, but also as lots of fish means…

A bit of wind, a bit of drizzle and lots of colours...I cracked out the bobble hat this weekend, which makes me very happy. Autumn is here!

Redwing numbers are building and more than 500 migrated over Fairburn yesterday, plus 40 fieldfare. Redwings are one of my favourite birds and I saw my first of the autumn when I was setting out the Halloween props in the Discovery trail this weekend, I disturbed a flock in the bushes…

We left the last blog with a promise of short eared owls arriving soon - and now is that time! They have been spotted most days this week patrolling the hillside and causing quite a stir with the already-here crows and marsh harriers. Well worth coming down after 3pm to catch these beautiful owls.

Short-eared owl

Stonechats are still everywhere! A great place to spot them is the long path from the visitor centre to…

Since the 10^th, the Kingfisher Screen has been providing daily sightings. We have multiple kingfishers on the reserve, and when the water is clear enough the screen is a brilliant place to linger. You may need to be patient though – there’s plenty of fishing territory for them to have a go at.

Up on the Tips, we’ve had many of the usual/long-term sightings such as little grebes, bearded tits (although less…

By our definition it definitely is autumn. For wildlife the start varies but for those that migrate, the start signals the time to follow food sources and warmer climes. We, believe it or not, offer warmer climes for those further north and east.

October so far has brought drop bys of golden plover, about 90 pink-footed geese landed, with more flying over and 11 whooper swans were on Astley lake on the 7^th. Also being seen…

It feels quite quiet here this week, like the hush before autumn really gets into the swing of things, but there are definitely exciting things to be seen.

Summer isn't quite over yet it seems, an osprey was spotted flying over the visitor centre Sunday 1 October, one of the lasted records ever. Plus over the weekend there have been sightings of up to 25 house martins and even a couple of swallows straggling behind…

The first week of autumn is here, and the added wind seems to be pulling the leaves off at at alarming rate!  

After a week of buzzards and hobbies left right and centre, autumn officially started for us in the Aire Valley yesterday, 250 pink feet were spotted over the visitor centre heading west. They come from their breeding grounds in Spitsbergen, Iceland and Greenland and are one of our most iconic migrants in such huge…

After a relatively quiet August, it’s all ‘kicking off.’ For the humans, six benches have been installed around St Aidan’s and four more will follow soon. However, be prepared to share …

Kestrels, red kites, buzzards, hobbies, peregrines, sparrowhawks and marsh harriers have all regularly been hunting across the site. Since the recent grass cutting on the hillside it has exposed resident…

It’s a fantastic sight to watch our young wild explorers run with eagerness onto our sites, parents walking behind them with picnic in hand. With this time of year teeming with beautiful sights, smells, and sounds it’s a perfect day out for the whole family.

David Broadbent (rspb-images.com)

Our wonderful wildflowers are still in bloom at Fairburn Ings; Chicory, with its delicate blue petals is a favourite…

One of my favourite jobs as a warden intern here is light-trapping and identifying our moths.  We have thousands of species of moth here in the UK, and many are found in the Aire Valley reserves.

Moths are mysteriously drawn to light, particularly light that is rich in ultraviolet and at times when the moon’s light is weaker.  

This is called “positive phototaxis,” and means moths are drawn to traps and once there…

Memory sharing is underway at Fairburn Ings to celebrate the reserve's 60th Anniversary. Here are some of long time visitor and volunteer- Joe Seymour's memories and own photos to prove them!

My love for the natural world began as a young boy when my grandma signed me up to the Wildlife Explorers Club at Fairburn Ings. It’s fair to say that I have seen Fairburn change quite a lot since I first started coming…

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…