Bank Island was my first destination. After parking my car I walked along the path towards the hides. At the top of the slope I saw 3 birders, who were looking through their scopes towards the water. As I approached Craig appeared with cups of tea for them. I asked about the level of water on the footpaths and was told that it was too deep for wellingtons. I decided to drive to North Duffield Carrs.
I arrived at the same time as Elaine, who had a new dog for the hearing with her. We sat in the Geoff Smith hide and remarked on the level of the water which was higher than we expected. A whitethroat was flying about and singing from nearby. After a while Elaine left and I walked down to Garganey hide.
As you can see from the above picture the water level is still high, but the vegetation is now starting to grow and show.
Still a lot of tufted ducks, I counted 50. 3 great crested grebes were also present along with 8 wigeon. I stayed in the hide for about 40 minutes and then returned to the Geoff Smith hide. Several male pochards were paying close attention to a single female, while the little grebes were still adding vegetation to their nests.
A birder from Market Weighton joined me in the hide and not long after he asked if there was a cuckoo about that we heard one. If flew from the right of the hide along the river before landing in a hawthorn bush on the other side of the river. It did not stay long and we did not hear or see it again.
The whitethroat was busy nest building.
2 new ticks on my year list.
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