Up and away

 Looking after the football club for the rest of this month, so birding is restricted and I don't think that I will get another 5 ticks to take me to 200 before the end of August. Tonight there were a couple of hot air balloons taking off from the Knavesmire.

Over lunch time I was able to pay a visit to Bolton Percy station yard.

I have visited this area for over 60 years. Admired primroses in spring, seen butterflies in summer and watched birds feeding on the berries in autumn.

the berries looked ok and not showing signs of drought as other berries I have seen.

plenty of speckled wood butterflies but no sign of any others. The only birdlife was a robin and a swallow flying overhead. The reason for the lack of wildlife is the work going on to "improve" the railway.

Gone are the flowers etc that are described on the information board. I was reminded of the poem by Larking, "Going, going"

"And that will be England gone,

The shadows, the meadows, the lanes

The guildhalls, the carved choirs,

There'll be books ; it will linger on

In galleries; but all that remains 

For us will be concrete and tyres.

Waders at Blacktoft

On duty at Blacktoft on Sunday. Weather wise it turned out to be warmer than I expected. Lots of visitors, some of whom had come to see the pectoral sandpiper. Having visited Frampton Marsh on Saturday it was interesting to be back at Blacktoft and compare the two sites. Both sites have construction work going on, a replacement hide at Blacktoft and a new cafe etc. at Frampton.

Both sites are low on water, which is to be expected at the moment. so it is nice to see rain falling as I write this blog However, welcome though the rain is it only tops up the water level and does not comtain any food. The ffod for the birds comes from the water from the Trent and we need a high tide. Frampton is situated close to The Wash and I always expect to see more waders. Blacktoft is situated inland up the Humber estuary and therefore has a lower chance of passing birds.

I was pleased to see the following waders: pectoral sandpiper, dunlin, redshank, spotted redshank, green sandpiper, greenshank, curlew, ruff, black-tailed godwit, avocet and lapwing, more than I saw at Frampton. Whinchats and stonechats were to be seen in the paddock where the ponies are and yellow wagtails from the screen at Ousefleet.

These were the waders at Marshland early morning.

the pectoral sandpiper was busy feeding

It was nice to see avocets back on the reserve

The team have been working hard to maintain the water levels on three lagoons and there was a good mix of waders at Townend.

a water rail was having an early morning walk around the edge of the lagoon.

Nene Washes, Frampton Marsh and Freiston Shore.

 Taxi duty to Cambridge again and an opportunity to visit another reserve in the area, so on Friday afternoon I visited Nene Washes.

I was not sure which if any birds I might see and was pleasantly surprised to see several red kites and buzzards as well as a kestrel and a marsh harrier. Next stop was Frampton Marsh .

Lots of waders close to the hide.

Golfinches feeding on the sunflowers.

After a night in Spalding I returned to the reserve on Saturday morning and the plan was to stay until lunchtime when it would be high tide. As well as the waders on view there were lots of spoonbills.

I took this picture from the footpath that is along the top of the floodbank.

a female peregrine flew over the reserve and all the birds took to the air.

I don't think that I have seen as many spoonbills before.

When this gull landed all the waders flew off.

 As it got closer to the time for high tide more birds flew in including a wood sandpiper and three black terns. Amongst the greylag geese were 3 pink feet and feeding near them a brent goose. I decided to visit Freiston Shore on my way home.

Sadly there were very few birds on the reserve, so the high tide had not brought any birds in, but I had a pleasant walk along the floodbank.

Pectoral sandpiper and spotted crake at Blacktoft

 Webs count and reception duty yesterday at Blacktoft. I arrived just after 7am. Due to the ongoing work on a new hide the usual path to Marshland hide is closed so I used the grass path that leads towards Ousefleet hide.

This deer was on the path and I assumed that it could see me despite the mist, so I went to Marshland to avoid disturbing it. Lots of waders on the lagoon.

redshanks were still sleeping

After counting all the birds I went to Ousefleet to count the birds there, just as I was leaving Pete and Masha came into the hide. They were checking to see if the pectoral sandpiper that Masha had seen on Saturday was present. From the hide at Ousefleet, the only birds I saw were a carrion crow and a marsh harrier, both were on the ground. From the screen to the right of the hide I could see lets of birds, including 8 little egrets and lots of dunlin.

I returned to Marshland hide where Masha was still looking for the pec sand when she got a message from Pete to sat that it was on Singleton lagoon. As I walked down to Singleton hide this weasel was hiding in the grass.

 Due to the recent heat waves the water had evaporated from most of the lagoon just leaving a few small pools. The sunlight on a morning makes viewing birds on the lagoon difficult at the best of times and yesterday morning with the misty conditions it was even more difficult. However Pete was in the hide and gave me the information I needed to find the bird. It is not a large bird and it was a fair distance away from the hide but I managed to find it using my scope, tick number 192 for this year.

Time to go to reception and welcome visitors, a lot of whom had come to see the pectoral sandpiper.

A steady trickle of visitors during the day then I heard a familiar sound.

 After lunch a visitor came into reception and looked at one of the reference books as he was unsure if a bird he had seen was a spotted crake. After a while he decided that he had seen a juvenile water rail. The team had been working hard all day and had been pumping water onto Townend lagoon, had they been rewarded? Just after 4.30 another visitor came into reception to report that he had just seen a spotted crake on Townend lagoon. Darren and I walked down to hide, Pete and Masha had just returned to the reserve so they joined us.

Not brilliant photos as the bird was a long way from the hide, but I was pleased to see the bird as it was another one for my year list and the second of the day. It was now after 5pm, so Darren and I closed the reception hide for the day. I went to Marshland hide to see if the pec sand was still there.

No sign of the bird but well over 200 black tailed godwits. The team had worked hard during the day pumping water onto the lagoon and the had been rewarded with lots of birds now feeding. I walked down to Singleton lagoon and found the pectoral sandpiper feeding.

Very small when standing near a godwit.

A very pleasant day.