British Garden Birds - RSPB Fairburn Ings

RSPB Fairburn Ings are wetlands that have been created among coal spoil heaps from the days when coal was mined in the area. The reserve is near Leeds, West Yorkshire, and just off the A1(M) motorway.

The shallow pools are surrounded by shrubs and trees, but vegetation is only slowly spreading over the barren spoil heaps.

I've visited the reserve mostly in the winter and a few times in the spring, but these are probably the best times to visit. In the winter, it is home to a large number of wildfowl, including Whooper Swans and occasionally rarer species like Smew. Springtime and the autumn are the best times to see migratory species.

Some of the best sightings of Kingfisher and Green Woodpecker have been at this reserve.

There are about half a dozen hides overlooking the pools but only one of these is accessible to wheelchairs.

What You Might See
Bar-headed Goose Barnacle Goose Black-headed Gull Blackbird Blue Tit Brambling Bullfinch Canada Goose Carrion Crow Chaffinch Chiffchaff Coal Tit Collared Dove Common Gull Common Snipe Coot Cormorant Dunnock Fieldfare Gadwall Goldcrest Golden Plover Goldeneye Goldfinch Goosander	Great Black-backed Gull Great Crested Grebe Great Spotted Woodpecker Great Tit Green Woodpecker Greenfinch Grey Heron Greylag Goose Herring Gull Jackdaw Kestrel Kingfisher Lapwing Lesser Black-backed Gull Little Grebe Long-tailed Tit Magpie Mallard Meadow Pipit Mistle Thrush Moorhen Mute Swan Oystercatcher Pheasant Pied Wagtail	Pochard Redpoll Redshank Redwing Reed Bunting Robin Ruddy Duck Sand Martin Shelduck Shoveler Siskin Skylark Smew Sparrowhawk Starling Stock Dove Teal Tree Sparrow Treecreeper Tufted Duck Wigeon Willow Tit Wood Pigeon Wren