Wheldrake Ings and Skipwith Common

 Cloudy morning as I walked onto Wheldrake Ings. I could hear chiffchaffs and willow warblers singing but I was unable to locate them. A skylark was gaining height as it flew over the meadow on my left. I could see splashes of colour as the wild flowers like milkmaid are starting to come into flower. Two swallows were perched on the roof of the Tower hide.

Further along the path I heard then saw my first whitethroat of the year.

More willow warblers were singing as I walked towards the Pool hide and at last I managed to see one, tick number 2 for the day. From the Pool hide

 I could see several ducks. Mallard, wigeon, gadwall, shoveler, goldeneye, tufted duck and pochard. A kingfisher flew along one part of the pool and landed in a small willow tree. A very distant shot

tick number 3, this is getting to be a good day. As I left the Pool hide and walked towards the Swallowtail hide I heard a sedge warbler. It was at the bottom of the reeds and not easy to see.

Tick number 4 and then just above it a yellow wagtail was singing

Tick number 5

No birds were on the water in front of Swallowtail hide. As the water level is slowly going down and the vegetation is growing there are plenty of areas for ducks etc to feed where it is difficult to see them. On the more open stretches of water I could see teal, shoveler, shelduck and mallard. A marsh harrier started to hunt over this area and this caused lots of teal to fly to other areas where they became easier to see, and as I scanned through them I saw a male garganey. On my way back to the car park I saw these butterflies

I drove to North Duffield Carrs but did not enter the hide as a work party had spent the morning cleaning, etc. So I decided to try Skipwith Common .

It was very quiet on the reserve. I could hear chiffchaffs and willow warblers singing, but I was unable to locate them. I then heard a cuckoo and walked towards the area where I thought it was. It then sang again and I saw it fly, tick number 6 for the day. As it flew off I saw a crane fly over the common, what a day. 6 year ticks to take me to 146.