Swan time at Blacktoft

 After completing the H&S checks at Fairburn and St.Aidans I went to Blacktoft to help Stu. You may have seen the post about a pair of mute swans having 9 cygnets. 2 other pairs of swans also had cygnets and on Thursday the 18th of May all three families met in the ditch and a skirmish broke out. The end result of which was that one of the swan families that had 9 cygnets now has 10, and a couple of cygnets were in the ditch on their own.

Later in the day 2 adult swans appeared in the ditch, so it looks as if it could be happy families again.

Marsh harries put on a wonderful display, one male often came close to the 1st hide much to the delight of photographers.

A bittern was seen in flight from Singleton and Marshland. One lady on her first visit to the reserve wanted to see bittern and bearded tit, a tall order. She was in Marshland hide at the right time and saw both birds. 

This adult grey heron was busy fishing just outside Marshland Hide.

this young heron flew onto the lagoon so the adult left.

Sedge warblers were singing and then doing their display flight back into the reeds, a pleasant day to be on the reserve.