I decided not to leave home until it was light so that I could see any pools of water or obstacles on the road. It was very windy and the rain was lashing down, until I reached the Selby bypass, when the weather became calmer. The journey to Blacktoft was uneventful with just a few large pools of water on the road to navigate.
While Stu went to check on the ponies I visited the other hides to make sure that everything was ok. There were a few pools of water on the path leading towards Xerox and Marshland, so we put up a notice advising visitors to were wellingtons.
As I entered Marshland hide I could hear a lot of chattering, and saw a lot of black tailed godwits on one of the near islands. Dare I open a window or would that frighten the birds? I did manage to open a window without scaring the birds away. I counted over 70 black tailed godwits on the island, plus redshank, lapwing, shoveler and wigeon.
Some of the birds are starting to get their summer plumage.On another island a few wigeon were sheltering.
Two deer were not straying far from the shelter of the reeds.
Meanwhile a snipe was hiding in front of Towend
These gadwall were using this mute swan for shelter
A buzzard was perched on a distant fence post until a marsh harrier decided to dive bomb it.
The weather was mixed. fine and then very windy and wet. Later in the afternoon it became more settled which must have suited the barn owl as it came out and hunted in front of reception and first hides.
After we had closed reception Stu and I went down to Singleton hide and joined other birders watching for harriers to come into roost. As the sun was still shining the marsh harriers did not start to come into roost until after 1630. It was just before 1700 when we saw a ringtail hen harrier, my first one of 2020.
Not too bad a day considering the weather, with a bird list of 41 species.
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