Specie's Page                                               R.S.P.B. Fairburn Ings, West Yorkshire

R.S.P.B. Fairburn Ings: Straddles the border of North, and West Yorkshire, being located by the village of Fairburn, near to Castleford. Ings is an old Norse word meaning damp, or flooded marshy places. Being situated alongside the river Aire, the Ings gets flooded on a fairly regular basis, like other marshes by the river between Fairburn and Leeds.

This 657 acre piece of land was designated as a nature reserve in 1957, and has been managed by the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds since the 1970's. There are many habitat types here including wet fenland, marshy area's, reed beds, permanent pools, lakes, woodland, scrub as well as dryer area's where wild flowers and insects flourish.

The permanent pools owe their existence to subsidence, caused former coal mining workings. This area is bordered by arable farm land, there are many scarce and rare species to be seen, including some unusual winter visitors.

There are many kinds of water fowl to be seen here, as well as land birds. Some of the more notable species are, Grey Partridge, Corn Bunting, Marsh Harrier, Common Buzzard, Red Kite, Grey Heron, Egrets, Shelduck and many other species.