Paxton Pitts Nature Reserve

 

A lunch stop on my trip to and from Cambridge. Lots of cormorants and mute swans. More gadwall than mallard and one wigeon and two tufted ducks.

Last Nature Day at the Minster tomorrow.

Kingfisher at Wheldrake

 Bank holiday Sunday at Wheldrake Ings. I got there early due to a poor weather forecast.

As you can see from the picture above there were very few birds on the water. I was not expecting to see the water level so high, there was no sign of any mud for waders. 2 teal, 4 gadwall, 2 moorhens and a coot were the only birds I could see. After a while a kingfisher flew across the water and landed on a post.

not a brilliant photo due to the distance and light.

A little grebe came close to the hide

I walked around to Swantail Hide

As you can see there is some water but again no shallow end or mud and no birds in view.

On my way back along the path I saw blue and great tits and a fresh looking willow warbler and heard a cetti's warbler. Butterflies and dragonflies.

 

 I could hear swallows and house martins chattering and when I looked up I could see them flying above the path. As I got closer I could see them circling arounf a tree.

Young birds were in tree waiting for an adult to feed them.

It started to rain as I got back to my car.

Waders at Blacktoft

 Worked at Blacktoft in reception after completing the health and safety checks at Fairburn and St. Aidans.

I arrived about 11am and joined Stu in reception.

A steady stream of visitors all day, lots of them came back into reception to say goodbye and tell me what a great day they had had. Some had seen bittern, water rail and bearded tits as well as the several types of waders. Two visitors had seen a pair of ravens on the other side of the River Ouse, and the ravens had been mobbed by other birds.

I had a walk around the reserve after 5pm, and it was not the best of the weather, heavy rain showers and lots of cloud. As you can see from the next photo the team are lowering the water level in the lagoons which is providing more feeding areas for the waders.

This is Marshland lagoon. Lots of waders including a curlew sandpiper. Not a brilliant picture due to the weather conditions.

ruff nearer to the hide.

Snipe and green sandpiper at Townend.

This green sandpiper has a few visitors thinking that because of the eye stripe they were looking at a wood sandpiper.

Singleton lagoon was home to a large number and variety of birds.

At least 30 little egrets, a great white egret. I estimated at least 100 mallard, teal and gadwall. A single wigeon and pintail with about a dozen shoveler. Waders included black tailed godwit, redshank. spotted redshank, snipe, ruff and lapwing,

Here and there

 

The cattle at Fairburn Ings were standing in the water near the road, so I stopped to look just in case a cattle egret was with them, but I could not see any egrets, little great or cattle.

Lots of greylag and canada geese in front of the hide at Lin Dike along with several young lapwings.

On duty at Blacktoft on Saturday. Waders at Marshland, Townend and Reedling. Great white egrets at Singleton and Reedling as well as 28 little egrets. A young bittern was seen by many visitors as it flew around Marshland lagoon and several saw a young peregrine scare away the waders.

I took these pictures of a bittern as it appeared in front of the reception hide while I was on duty on the 19th. At least 30 little egrets and 3 great white egrets on site as well.

I spent a couple of hours at Staveley on Tuesday the 22nd.

Lots of greylag geese and lapwings and butterflies and dragonflies.

Nature Day at the Minster on the 23rd.

This is a picture of "Terry", one of this years young.

Filey seawatching

 

A pleasant 20 degrees at Filey this morning and a bit misty.

No skuas  or shearwaters but I was pleased to see lots of young kittiwakes.

Sand martins were flying near the latest landslip on Carr Naze, while linnets and goldfinches were happily feeding on the thistles. A single swallow flew south, otherwise it was a constant stream of gannets flying back and forth to Bempton and lots of guillemots on the sea.

Several sandwich terns and a single arctic tern flew past. Due to the high tide the only waders I could see were a single turnstone and oystercather.

Waders and warblers at Blacktoft

 

The weather was better than forecasted with some pleasant dry and bright interludes in between the heavy showers of rain.

Marshland was the place to be wader wise. 

The curlew sandpiper remained at the far end of the lagoon, while the green sandpipers, lapwings, ruff, spotted redshanks, common sandpiper, redshanks, avocets and snipe came a bit closer. Several curlews flew downstream, following the route of the Ouse and a single whimbrel was with them. A spoonbill also flew over. A barn owl was perched in a tree near the barn owl box. An adult and a juvenile water rail were often seen as they walked around the edge of the reed bed. The waders were often disturbed by hunting marsh harriers and a peregrine.

One of the 3 mute swan families decided to move from Reedling lagoon to 1st lagoon.

During the week one of the swan families decided to walk along the footpath to Singleton hide and had a rest outside the hide!

Lots of small bird activity. A flock of about 50 goldfinches were flying about and Stu counted one flock of 18 young ones. Tree sparrows, reed buntings, meadow pipits, great and blue tits were also busily feeding.  Cetti's warblers were singing and I saw 3 individuals. Blackcaps and a garden warbler were also singing and I also saw chiffchaff and willow warbler.

At least 18 little egrets on the reserve, with 14 on Townend lagoon and a great white egret was also present. On August 4th there were 4 great white egrets on the reserve, a new record.

Despite the weather I managed to get 51 birds on my day list.

Yorkshire Day at North Cave Wetland

 A day out with Ian, a fellow volunteer at Blacktoft. We started at East hide and walked anti-clockwise around the reserve. From the Turret hide we saw several green sandpipers, a great white egret, 3 black-tailed godwits, 2 little ringed plovers and a single dunlin. An adult and juvenile water rail proved difficult to see as they weaved in and out of the reeds. A green woodpecker flew away from the lagoon.

Lots of lapwings from the farm hide and a peregrine flew over the hedge. We had a brief glimpse of a young warbler.

No sign of an owl from the far corner but as we walked along the path we were able to get a glimpse of the long staying female scoter.

Lunch break in the Crossland hide where we were surprised to see no waders. We were able to add pochard to our list when we visited South hide. We walked around the reserve again but were unable to find a new bird to take our day list to 50.