Last shift of the year at Blacktoft.

 Saturday the 18th was a dismal day in York, the mist hardly moved so I was hoping for a better day on Sunday. When I left York it was still misty, but not as thick as Saturdays. By the time that I arrived at the reserve the visibility had improved slightly. When I got out of my car to open the 2nd gate into the reserve, I could hear the"whe-ooo" call of the male wigeons.

As I visited the hides it was not easy to see the birds on the lagoons due to the mist. On Marshland it was mostly teal, and I could not see any sign of the white tailed lapwing. Wigeon were on Xerox along with at least 19 snipe

, while 1st and Townend had no birds at all. Singleton had a mix of wigeon, gadwall and teal.

On my way back to the centre I saw and heard several fieldfares, and Stuart saw a goldcrest near the toilets.

By lunchtime the visibility had improved slightly and I could just make out the outlines of the buildings in Blacktoft, on the other side of the river. A merlin had landed briefly on the bush outside reception and bullfinches were near the bird feeders. A water rail flew across a corner of Xerox lagoon.

At 2pm Stuart took over looking after reception while I went to Singleton hide to do a harrier survey. luckily visibility had improved again so I could see a reasonable distance. A few wigeon were close to the hide.

 For the first half an hour I saw three single marsh harriers come into roost. Then one flew in and landed on a bush opposite the hide and shortly  afterwards another marsh harrier landed on a bush to my left, near the distant owl box.

Just after 3pm there was a flurry of activity as 5 marsh harriers flew into together from the direction of the Trent. There was little or no wind, so they like the other harriers dropped into the reed bed to roost. Just before3: 45 another flurry of activity saw 8 marsh harriers arrive from a similar direction, but again they dropped into the reed bed.

At 3:50 I became distracted by starlings. Several small groups joined together and I thought that we might get a murmuration.

 Sadly the numbers did not increase much more, but it was pleasant to watch them fly around for about 5 minutes before they settled into the reedbed. No more marsh harriers came into roost and I did not see a hen harrier.

So another year at Blacktoft is over. Two of our friends are going on holiday soon, so I will be helping out in the cafe at the football club, so it could be February before I am on duty again. At the time of writing this blog, there is still no sign of Larrry, the white tailed lapwing, so that should ease the pressure on the reserve on January 1st.