Holgate Birder: 3 ticks at Blacktoft.

My original plan for today was to go birding in the Hartlepool area. However there was a lot of shopping required, so 4 shops and a lot of packing away saw me set off for Blacktoft just after 1pm. My friend Chris had sent me a message to say that a glossy ibis had been seen on the reserve. During my journey the rain poured down and I wondered if I should continue my journey. What if the reserve is full when I get there?

I carried on driving and the rain had nearly stopped by the time I arrived in the car park. Not too many vehicles which was a good sign. Daz was in the reception tent, so I stopped and had a chat with him. I think that the last time I saw him was before Xmas 2019.

Further along I saw Stu, Neil, John and Chris. They had all been working hard despite the rain, helping to keep the vegetation on the reserve in check. Pat was on duty in the reception hide, and we had a brief chat before I set off for Ousefleet hide.

Before I went into the hide I had a quick scan from the screen. Mallard, black headed gull on its nest and a few swallows. Luckily for me the hide was empty so I was able to sit at the far end and not wear a mask.

Avocets were close to the hide.

They were chasing any birds away that came close to them, but I could not see any chicks.

To my right at the other side of the water, black headed gulls were very noisey. When I looked in their direction I could see them chasing other gulls. On close inspection I could see that the gulls the black heads were chasing were little gulls. I could see 1 adult and 4 immatures. However I did not find it easy to watch them due to the action of the black headed gulls.

A small group of black tailed godwits flew in.

Due to the rain showers the insects were flying low and they were hunted by swifts, swalllows, sand and house martins.

A pair of canada geese were watching their single chick.

A great tit landed on the 5 bar gate and started to search for food.

Chris, one of the volunteers, joined me in the hide, to watch the little gulls, which had returned.

While we were watching the little gulls we saw a bittern fly over the reedbed near the reception hide.

I was then thinking about moving on to the next hide, as it was now just after 2pm and the reserve closes at 6pm. I was just starting to pack my equipment away when it happened.

a great white egret came into land. This caused the adult avocets to go into attack mode.

the egret took off and flew over the reserve and the River Trent to Alkborough.

this was all over in just about 2 minutes.

The rain had stopped so I walked to Marshland hide. There is a notice on the boardwalk before you reach the hide asking you to keep quiet as there are avocets nesting close to

the hide. I guess that this is one of the problems resulting from the lockdown.

It was nice to see avocet chicks close to the hide.

There were lots of avocets on the scrape, I hope that they manage to rear some chicks, and keep the herons and marsh harriers at bay.

Xerox hide was my next stop. A few tufted ducks on the water, but most of the birds on the scrape were hirundines hunting low over the water.

I walked onto the reception hide where I spoke to Pat about the great white egret.

First hide and Townend had few birds on them so I moved on to Singleton hide. Three ladies were just leaving the hide as they had been there a while hoping to see otters, which had been reported earlier.

Marsh harriers were out hunting and this one cam a bit closer to the hide.