St Aidan's & Fairburn

Last Sunday we spent the day in the at St Aidan's and then Fairburn. Another good day weather wise though the rain had left things muddy and still flooded in places. But we're used to that!

At St Aidan's there'd been Whimbrels spotted but we dipped on those however my husband did find a Black-tailed Godwit hiding behind a couple of Mallards, my first one in a while.

We could hear Bitterns booming all around, some seemed really close but of course we didn't see any sign of any. We did see lots of Reed Bunting, Gadwall, Gulls, Pochard, Lapwing, Little & Great Crested Grebe amongst others.

Chiffchaff where calling too. Overhead we saw Buzzard and Kestrel and up in the trees on the hillside a Green Woodpecker. A Hare ran up the hill and there were quite a few geese on it. Around the paths lots of Meadow Pipit plus Skylarks and a Wheatear.

At Fairburn the sight from the Kingfisher screen.......a Heron in a tree!

Instead of going around the coal tips we walked down the lake trail instead, only as far as the Bob Dickens hide though. We spotted a pair of Blackcaps in the trees and again could hear Chiffchaff all around.

From the hide we saw several Great Crested Grebe, Gulls, Gadwall and a few Mallard.

The sun was out by now and off to the side of the hide a couple of Brimstone butterflies were flying around.  They were too quick for the camera though, so was this Ladybird that was disappearing round the back of the stem.

This Chiffchaff was singing at the very top of the tree by the visitors centre.

It was t-shirt weather by the time we were leaving.....finally a hint of spring, maybe even summer!

Fairburn Ings

Back in June we spent almost a full day at Fairburn Ings, we picked a superb day weather wise, which prompted us to set off early so we could check out Lin Dike and the whole of the lake walk too as we haven't been down to the Village Bay end in quite a while.

Chiffchaff were calling all over as we walked down the path towards the hide at Lin Dike.

Looking out from the hide we could see an Avocet with a chick in the distance and some noisy Black Headed Gulls, apart from those it was fairly quiet there. There was plenty going on as we walked though, lots of damselflies and butterflies along the path.

Meadow Brown, Red Admiral and Speckled Wood  

A Female Banded Demoiselle (stunning!), Common Blue Damselfly and Blue Tailed Damselfly

Green Shieldbug 

Linnets

Common Blue

There were plenty of flowers around and we could hear grasshoppers/crickets in the grass but only caught a brief glimpse of them, they were too quick for the camera!

I had a bit of a lovely moment on the way back to the car at Lin Dike. The first book I ever saved up for and bought with my own money as a child was a book of butterflies, I still have it, it's well thumbed especially the page showing the Brimstone, which i'd been desperate to see and never did, until today when two of them flew over the hedge and followed us down the path. The excitement at finally seeing this butterfly after all this time was obvious and slightly bemusing to my husband and daughter!

On to the village end of the reserve for a walk along the lake. From Charlie's Hide we saw Canada Geese with chicks and more Black Headed Gulls, a lone Heron and a Wren singing away.

On the lake itself there were Greylag Geese, Cormorants, Common Terns, Pochard, Mute Swans and Great Crested Grebes, this one in the photo, though you can't tell as it was too far away for a decent photo, was hiding a couple of youngsters!

A quick late lunch by the RSPB centre and we wondered the trails there. The usual birds were on the feeders, Tree Sparrows, Chaffinch, Bullfinch, Goldfinch, Greenfinch, Blue, Great and Coal Tits.

We found a little quiet little spot by one of the ponds that was just overflowing with damselflies and ended up sitting there for half an hour or so just enjoying the peace.

Finally we spent a while watching some very protective Avocets looking after their young off the feeding platform by the lake, fantastic to see.

Such a good day out!