Fairburn Ings RSPB reserve

Fairburn Ings RSPB Reserve
Nature reserve
Flotilla of mute swans with Fairburn village on the horizon
Country	England
County	West Yorkshire
For public	Open year round
Protection status	SSSI, Local Nature Reserve
Website: http://www.rspb.org.uk/reserves/guide/f/fairburnings/index.asp

Fairburn Ings Nature Reserve is a protected area in Yorkshire, England, which is noted for its avian biodiversity. The reserve has recorded around 280 bird species, remarkable for an inland site in the United Kingdom. This is explained by the site being on migration routes as well as the diversity of habitats.

It was designated a Local Nature Reserve in 1957 under the National Parks and Access to the Countryside Act (1949). Since the 1970s it has been managed by the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds on behalf of the local naturalists who set it up.

The reserve is situated in the Lower Aire Valley, to the south and west of Fairburn, near Castleford. It includes the whole of Fairburn & Newton Ings SSSI. It is also a Statutory Bird Sanctuary (one of only 10 in England) with a focus mainly on wildfowl and waders, although many other birds can be seen.

The word "ings" (singular "ing") is of Old Norse origin and means "damp or marshy land that floods", a reference to the area being flooded regularly by the River Aire. Lying alongside the River Aire, the 1,000 acres (400 ha) nature reserve includes a large lake and a number of smaller lakes, ponds and dikes. The area has been the scene of industrial and mining operations for 150 years, and, although the valley floods naturally, the permanent water bodies are the result of subsidence of former coal-mine workings, up to 600 metres (2,000 ft) underground, providing habitats for wildfowl and many other birds.