The enthusiastic historian and naturalist Michael Clegg travels the Yorkshire region meeting colourful characters, looking at interesting places and uncovering some off-beat jobs and trades. In this episode of Clegg's People, Michael Clegg visits the RSPB Nature Reserve at Fairburn Ings near Ferrybridge. He also takes a look at Allerton Bywater and visits the former St. Aiden's Opencast Mine where the River Aire burst its banks. St. Aiden's later became a nature reserve...

The enthusiastic historian and naturalist Michael Clegg travels the Yorkshire region meeting colourful characters, looking at interesting places and uncovering some off-beat jobs and trades. In this episode of Clegg's People, Michael Clegg visits the RSPB Nature Reserve at Fairburn Ings near Ferrybridge. He also takes a look at Allerton Bywater and visits the former St. Aiden's Opencast Mine where the River Aire burst its banks. St. Aiden's later became a nature reserve after this flooding disaster in 1988. In all locations he pays close attention to the different types of birds present and how this has changed over time. The programme opens showing a petrol tanker speeding along a motorway in the distance. Michael is speaking from Fairburn ten miles east of Leeds. The motorway is a section of the A1 which goes past Fairburn village. He explains it’s an unlikely spot for a nature reserve. The camera reveals a large stretch of water which is Fairburn Ings a wildlife reserve managed by the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds. Not far in the distance is Ferrybridge power station, the giant cooling towers emitting plumes of steam. Michael explains that both the Ings and power station are man-made. ‘Ings’ is an Anglo Viking word meaning flooded meadow land. The film shows the extent of the vast lakes that make up the reserve. Michael appears on camera sitting on a fence post with a view of one the Ings in the background. He says that 60 years ago there was no such place as Fairburn Ings. It began in one field where water gathered in a small depression in the centre then water coverage simply grew from then on. The cause being mining subsidence and the land level sinking. People gather to feed swans on a narrow rocky structure known as a duck walk which goes out into one of the lakes. Michael says it’s the biggest collection of mute swans in Yorkshire. Swans gather to get at the food that’s being thrown on the water. A view of the power station cooling towers with overcast skies forms the backdrop for Michael’s explanation of the ownership of the site, British Coal which is improving the site with landscaping and burying toxic slurry. Michael meets Bob Dickens on the shore of one of the lakes. Bob helped create the reserve. He says that he is pleased that the British Coal are tidying up and landscaping the area around the Ings. The film shows a coot with some chicks feeding on the water. Bob is pleased that the reserve is recognised as a bird sanctuary. Other birds swimming on the lake, include mallards, Canada geese and a heron. At a bridge at a location Michael calls the cut, Michael meets bird spotter Charlie Wynn who says much to report with respect to bird watching. He has however spotted some pike in the waters below the bridge. The cut, Charlie says was made in 1823 for transport of gypsum and limestone from a nearby quarry. Michael leaves Charlie to his bird watching and walks down a path next to the river Aire. An aerial film view shows the Ings, the river and Ferrybridge power station. Michael walks along another path bordered by silver birch trees. This path runs over a coal tip, and a still photograph shows it’s bare, bleak origins. Trees were planted in the late 50’s and Michael states that there are now 20,000 trees planted on the former tip. Michael meets Andre Farrar, RSPB’s assistant regional officer for Yorkshire and the North East. Andre is pleased to see the numbers of migrant birds arriving at the Ings. Floating islands constructed especially for the Ings attract nesting black headed gulls. Michael and Andre agree on the success of the reserve and its attraction for the thousands of visitors they get each year. They watch over the Ings from a specially constructed hide. Andre outlines the reasons why the Ings are so successful in attracting birds. General views follow of the Ings area. Michael says that the development of the Ings wildlife reserve has also made Fairburn village a desirable place to live, the film shows new house building on part of the village. An unusual visitor appears over one of the Ings. Michael identifies them a black tern whose usual haunts are Holland and Denmark. In a tree Michael has spots a grasshopper warbler, back from Africa. The film moves on to the entrance of the Ings reserve with a notice board giving times of opening. A view from the visitor’s centre shows boardwalks allowing visitors to navigate through the reserve. Photographs on the wall of the centre show the Ings development as well as the range of wildlife you might see. Michael along with warden Robin Horner join a group from Fairburn primary school visiting the reserve. They all walk up the steps to a new hide where the children will bird watch. Michael asks Robin if he’s spotted any rare visitors, he says he’s spotted bittern, wood sandpipers and green sandpipers. The school children have moved from the hide and are trying their hand at pond dipping. They capture tadpoles, a water scorpion, and a great diving beetle. The children wave goodbye to the camera as they make their way along a boardwalk. Robin and Michael walk along a lakeside path. in conversation about the importance of education at the reserve. Views follow of nesting swans, some adopting a relatively new flooded area at Allerton Bywater just west of the Fairburn Ings. Canada geese also have adopted this relatively new Ings. Another new pond at Mickletown Ings is already an important nesting spot. Local farmer, Richard Firth is not entirely happy with these developments. He says the Ings started to develop about fourteen years ago, again due to coal mine subsidence, essentially submerging working farmland. A view from the spoil tip of the old Saville coal mine shows a large barge going down a waterway where the river Aire and canal join. Barges like this one load coal close to the open cast coal mines which work in the area. The film shows a barge being filled with coal, probably to deliver it, as Michael says to the power stations downstream. Archive footage shows an incident earlier in the year where the river Aire burst its banks and flooded the St Aiden’s open cast mine, making a lake 200 feet deep. The resulting benefits for the area should the mine be rescued, would include a new conservation similar, as the film shows to one at Swillington just to the west. The film shows a view of two of the massive cranes rescued by British Coal during the deluge. Michael talks of a rare visitor, a red footed falcon which perched on the jib of one of the massive cranes. 20 min 53 sec. A general view shows a panorama of the Ings, Michael off camera names the locations, Mickletown just below the viewpoint, Allerton Bywater with its coal pit, Fairburn and on the horizon Ferrybridge where the programme started. Tommy Goodwin a regular bird watcher appears on film, followed by Charlie Wynn seen earlier, Bob Dickens Michael says the three men will carry on their bird watching. On one of the Ings, Michael identifies a great crested grebe a bird he describes as daily fare for the men. One of the school children seen earlier looks keenly through binoculars from a hide. A view of another bird on one of the Ings is identified by Michael as a Gadwall, and Michael enthusiastically identifies a rarity, an American ring-necked duck which ends the programme. Credits: Camera Allan Pyrah Sound Stan Ellison Editing John Hey Dubbing Don Atkinson Production Assistant Catherine Mounsey Graphics Tony Sharpe Producer Marylyn Webb Director Geoff Hall Series Editor David Lowen Executive Producer Graham Ironside. © Yorkshire Television Ltd 1988 End credit: Yorkshire Television production