Busmans holiday

 I am not sure as to where the saying came from, I guess it could be related to bus drivers going on a coach holiday. It was not the best weather for a holiday, very dull with low cloud. It was however a free day and I decided to go to Blacktoft Sands. This is where I volunteer, hence the term busmans holiday. However today I would be birdwatching not welcoming visitors.

My normal route to the reserve was closed due to road works, so I had to take a slightly longer route. I was surprised to discover that it only added 15 minutes to my journey, There was one other car in the car park, so I would probably be in a hide on my own. 

As I walked from the car park towards the reserve I flushed redwings, fieldfare and blackbirds from the trees and bushes. This is the first time that I have seen them at Blacktoft this winter. Just past the first gate there was a lot of bird noise, mostly blackbird, at least two wrens and several dunnocks.

I had decided to go to Blacktoft in the hope of adding to my year list. There had been recent reports of a water pipit from Xerox hide, so this was my first stop. 2 shelduck, 3 teal and a a pair of mallard were all I could see, so after 1/2 an hour I went to Marshland hide.. The only birds that I could see were 2 snipe feeding in front of the hide.

 I don't often get a chance to visit Ousefleet hide when I am on duty so I was looking forward to going there today.

Plenty of water, just no birds. After 15 minutes I was about to leave when a pair of stonechats appeared.

They flew off when a marsh harrier flew over, so I left and returned to Xerox hide. Again no sign of a water pipit, so I went back to my car and got my lunch. As there were only 4 cars plus mine in the car park, and I had not seen anybody, I guessed that I could eat my lunch in Xerox hide without disturbing anyone. So I went back to the hide. Same 3 teal etc but this time "Larry" the white tailed lapwing was in front of the hide.

How much longer will he stay? Will he attract hundreds of visitors on January 1st!!

I continued to scan the small piles of vegetation and suddenly I saw a movement and a water pipit walked into view. It was feeding along the edge of the vegetation and often could not be seen as it went out of view behind an island, but I had seen it, tick number 195 this year.

After lunch I visited First and Townend hides, both were bird free zones, so about 1430 I arrived at Singleton hide where I planned to spend the rest of the afternoon until it was time for me to lock the gates at dusk.

2 mute swans were on the water and 32 wigeon. The wigeon would come onto the grass to graze

 only to fly onto the water when a marsh harrier flew over.

This happened several times as marsh harriers came into roost. As well as a dull cloudy day there was no wind, so the harriers were not doing much displaying. As they came into roost from the Humber and Trent they soon dropped down into the reed bed.

Over the apex of the reserve a large flock of pink footed geese flew over.

Some marsh harriers landed in bushes and sat there whilst more harriers came in. One or two would come out of the reed bed and have a fly around but the biggest count I got was 8 birds in the sky at the same time. Overall I counted 21 marsh harriers in the roost, but no sign of a hen harrier. 4pm and time to lock up and go home. The road works had been completed so I could go home the usual way.