Easter Sunday at Blacktoft. I started at Ousefleet, where there is still a lot of water left over from the recent flood. Shelduck,avocet, teal, pochard, black-tailed godwit, greylag geese with young, little grebes and six Konic ponies.
Cetti's warbler shouting as I walked back along the path towards Marshland hide. Chiffchaffs were singing but are now difficult to see due to the amount of leaves on the trees. Sedge warblers are singing but are remaining towards the bottom of the reeds. One lady visitor managed to get an excellent photo of a sedge warbler perched at the top of the reeds.
Avocets, teal and godwits on Marshland.
Reedling lagoon has become a mute swan domain. A pair have made a nest just inside the reedbed and the male chases most birds away. Some of the ducks have taken to feeding in the ditch in front of reception hide and a little egret is often on the banks of the ditch.
A snipe was busily feeding in front of 1st hide.
A good mix of geese and ducks on Townend and Singleton lagoons, with bitterns providing the background music, while marsh harriers interacted with each other.
Time to open the reception hide and welcome Emma, this weeks residential volunteer. A steady stream of visitors came to see what the reserve has to offer, and they all left after having a good day. Catherine made her first visit for a while, it was good to see her, she soon had 50 different birds on her list.
Gerald, who volunteers at Old Moor rang to say that he had seen a white wagtail from Townend hide.
At 4 pm when the reception hide closed, Emma and I had a walk to some of the hides. On our way to Marshland hide we met 2 regular visitors from Leeds, who told us that they had seen 2 greenshanks at Ousefleet, so off we went.
The grrenshanks were on the far left of the lagoon, so not a good photo, but still year tick 133.
We then returned to Marshland hide. This grey heron was just to the right of the hide.
A single male wigeon
male shoveler
No sign of any godwits but we could just see the barn owl in its box. We then walked down to Townend lagoon in the hope of seeing the white wagtail that Gerald reported, and I managed a fleeting glance before it flew off. Time to lock up after another pleasant day on the reserve.