Night Heron at Fairburn Ings

All images copyright Gain Lee

The persistent rain of recent weeks had abated and the evening was perfect for a jaunt up to Fairburn Ings; a Royal Society for the Protection of Birds (RSPB) site near Castleford, West Yorkshire. As frequent visitors to the sanctuary we were shocked to see the extent of the damage caused by weeks of flooding. Aside from the stench of filthy water, the bare, brown trees and hedges, and the warped bird hides with their ill-fitting windows and doors, there was a conspicuous silence marking the absence of birds and other wildlife.

We naturally expected to be alone and were surprised to happen upon a large gathering of twitchers, telescopes and binoculars at the ready. It was explained to us that a very rarely observed adult Night Heron and it's young had been seen visiting the hide at nightfall for a couple of days. We ran back to the car for our equipment, dodging frogs, and were lucky to acquire an image of the adult in silhouette, perched immediately before us.

So magical were the Night Herons, that we visited on several occassions. Gain found himself observing next to Uncle Ron from Derbyshire, quite by chance, on one sunny afternoon! We learned that the Night Herons had been occupying themselves in a nearby pool during the hours of daylight and it was here that Gain captured some magnificent shots of the immature heron. The adult was older, wiser and, consequently, very shy. You can just see a face peering from the reeds!