Booming skies and booming bitterns

Spring is rapidly getting into full swing at Fairburn. I saw my first swallows of the year today 5 of them on the wires outside the Three Horseshoes, probably needed a pint after all that flying over the Sahara! Lots of sand martins in Fairburn village and there seems to be a chiff chaff, chiff chaffing in every tree on the reserve! It was lovely and quiet today partly due to the road closure and partly the weather forecast but that meant many more bird sightings. A cracking red kite and a curlew flew over the coal tips around lunch time followed by a lovely marsh harrier after the thunder downpour around 2pm. The best thing about today was the low penetrating "boom" of the male bittern who was calling when I went via the coal tips down to Linn Dyke and was still at it when I returned 2 hours later. We are so lucky to have birds like this here, so if you are a dog who brings their owner please make sure they read and take notice of the signs at the entrance to the coal tips! It was thrilling to see and hear so many skylarks today cascading their beautiful song into the air. Again Fairburn is very privileged to have so many of these delightful but ever declining little birds. I observed two sky larks doing a courtship dance today , strutting and displaying on the floor, something I've never seen before. There is still a gorgeous golden eye up on the tips and the green woodpeckers were in evidence too, looking stunning in their breeding colours. Avocets on main bay,little egrets, cormorants and herons all over the moat. Kingfishers, showing brilliantly at the Kingfisher screen and a frogspawn factory -yep Spring is HERE! Though nobody told the weather today!