This Sundays plan was to cross the border into Yorkshire and visit two RSPB sites within the West of the County. The first would be Swillington Ings renamed as St Aidans by the RSPB and the last would be Fairburn Ings a more established reserve. Swillington Ings aka as St Aidans was opened officially to the public by the RSPB in May 2013 however a legal dispute resulted in complications leading to them temporarily closing their visitor office their but still open access to the public.

Arriving just after 9am with Craggy we started from the former visitor centre and worked our way up the small hill planted with scrub and small trees. It was a dry cold cloudy day but the sounds of Skylarks which filled the reserve lifted our spirits. Skylarks were a key target species for this reserve and large sections were left as grassland, meadow and pasture. The lake in front of the closed visitor centre had a Swan, some Coot and Tufted Ducks. As form previous experience the reserve looked bleak and devoid of any wildlife worth saving by a large conservation organisation. It is only when you follow the path back down from the hill and the cacophony of Black-headed Gulls fill the air. From the view point the wetlands consisting of lagoons, lakes and ponds fringed by reed beds and surrounded by grasslands and meadows pans out. The valley below was like a bowl covered in Golden winter vegetation. The Golden Bowl was flaked by white flakes, moving flakes which were Black-headed Gulls.

The reserve was very different to what people may expect. There were lots of people walking through enjoying the green open spaces, dog walkers, horse riders and cyclists. Lots of human activity but lots of birds and some quite rare. It was very open plan with just one hide. It was 440 hectares and if you followed every path you could easily do 13 km. I enjoyed the open plan style of the reserve as it enabled you to see more and feel an actual part of the reserve. Most nature reserves had hides but within these hides it feels like you are an observer cut off and looking at this separate world. Although I would not come on a wet day!

A boom surprised us and reminded us the elusive Bittern was present somewhere. It boomed from somewhere in the reed bed but no sighting. It repeated this 3 times through out the course of the day. A large flock of Black-headed Gulls were worth scanning for the rarer but strangely handsome Mediterranean Gulls. We searched through but no luck we moved up the path to the lake and another birdwatcher said e had been watching at least one but it moved to where we were standing five minutes ago. We moved back and picked out a dark hood with a very red beak in the colony, and then a second. A lifer for Craggy. The birdwatcher had recorded 182 species at the reserve in 2014 and he had not even seen the most.

The sun came out adding light to the golden reeds and turning the water blue. Near some lakes were gorse in bloom. The blue water, golden reeds and the deep yellow flowers of the gorse reminded you that there could be natural beauty without greenery and in the depth of the winter chill. The reserve was a true jewel and hopefully the RSPB can establish their presence their full time.

Here is a list of birds that we saw:-

1. Black-headed Gull FI

2. Common Gull

3. Lesser Black-Backed Gull FI

4. Great Black-Backed Gull FI

5. Mediterranean Gull

6. Herring Gull FI

7. Cormorant FI

8. Kestrel FI

9. Buzzard

10. Marsh harrier

11. Pheasant FI

12. Golden Plover

13. Lapwing

14. Dunlin

15. Redshank

16. Black-tailed Godwit

17. Snipe

18. Oystercatcher

19. Bittern

20 Grey Heron FI

21. Water Rail

22. Coot FI

23. Moorhen FI

24 Great Crested Grebe FI

25. Little Grebe

26. Teal FI

27. Wigeon FI

28. Shoveler FI

29. Pintail FI

30 Gadwall FI

31. Mallard FI

32. Shelduck FI

33. Tufted Duck FI

34. Pochard FI

35. Goldeneye FI

36. Goosander FI

37. Greylag FI

38. Canada Goose FI

39. Mute Swan FI

40. Wren FI

41. Long Tailed Tit FI

42. Blue tit FI

43. Great Tit FI

44. Stonechat

45. Robin FI

46. Dunnock FI

47. Goldfinch FI

48 Reed Bunting FI

49 Meadow Pipit FI

50. Pied Wagtail

51. Skylark

52. Starling

53. Song Thrush FI

54. Blackbird FI

55. Jay FI

56. Magpie FI

57. Carrion Crow FI

58. Stock Dove

59. Feral Pigeon FI

60. Woodpigeon FI

We then made our way to Fairburn Ings and first stop was at the café for a Mocha and a slice of chocolate orange cake! Once inside it was time to work that off. We made our way to the feeding screen to see if any Willow Tits were around.

Fairburn Ings was in complete contrast to Swillington Ings in my eyes. It was less open plan, more trees and with the smaller pools a large lake which was more of a favourite for the diving ducks and views could be quite distant.

On the feeders we managed to get sightings of Willow Tit which made repeated visits. Only one bird was seen at a time so it was likely it was the same bird. We were told there were just 5 pairs present on the reserve. Willow Tits are a fast declining species which are found in select pockets of the country now. It was my first sighting of the year and a lifer for Craggy. We managed to see all the other regular feeder birds but the Bullfinch. We did pick up a pew pew pew and managed to locate a male in a tree. In the bare branches the male Bullfinch who was clearly in his best breeding plumage looked like a shiny juicy red apple. Another rarity was the Tree Sparrow which was seen in reasonably good numbers on the feeders.

We walked along the trail and managed to hear a Kingfisher, see our first Sand Martins of the year and a singing Chiffchaff which gave very good views eventually but for a few seconds. Towards the end of the day we were pointed in the direction of a Tawny Owl, saw a flock of Redwings, and then Fieldfare, a covey of 12 Red Legged Partridges and 3 Little Egrets from the Lyn Dyke Hide

We managed to add the following new species on the day list at Fairburn:-

61. Goldcrest

62. Willow Tit

63. Coal Tit

64. Treecreeper

65. Chiffchaff

66. Sand Martin

67. Tree Sparrow

68. Chaffinch

69. Greenfinch

70. Bullfinch

71. Redwing

72. Fieldfare

73. Jackdaw

74. Great Spotted Woodpecker

75. Collared Dove

76. Red-Legged Partridge

77. Little Egret

78. Tawny Owl

NB: Birds seen at St Aidans and Swillington Ings are in the first list and will have FI in the sentence. Water Rail, Kingfisher and Bittern were just heard. Notable omissions were House Sparrow, Sparrowhawk, Green Woodpecker, Grey Wagtail and for that part of the world - Red Kite. An American Wigeon was present at a lake in Normanton but we decided against going to see it. The following birds were seen but :-

1. Peregrine - seen by Craggy only in Rawtenstall

2. Mistle Thrush perched on a lamp post seen just as we got onto the m62 but not seen by Craggy

3. Rook - seen at usual spot on m62 in the Rochdale borough.

4.  Linnet  - small flocks of finches seen although written of at Reed Buntings - I forgot they could have ben Linnet and forgot to observe them.