Spoonbills

 

A busy Bank Holiday at RSPB Blacktoft Sands. with lots of visitors enjoying the sunny weather.

One of the recent developments at the reserve was the re-profiling of the scrape in front of the Ousefleet hide. which has made it very attractive to breeding Avocets. There are about 100 adults and 50 young.

The adults took to the air in large numbers whenever a marsh harrier or carrion crow came near.

Spoonbills were having a bit of a spat on Reedling hide.

They flew towards Singleton lagoon where this one had a preen. It was however very close to the waters edge and I could only see parts of its head and neck.

A great white egret and grey heron were standing close together on an island in front of Townend hide,

Corn bunting

 Dog walking this morning. No whitethroats and only 1 swallow. perhaps things will improve with the warmer weather. On the plus side I had a new bird today, a corn bunting.

Community Birdwatch

 This morning was our monthly walk around the Museum Gardens.

The wildflower meadow is starting to come into full colour.

12 different species on todays walk around with members of the public who are just starting to birdwatch.

Lots of blackbirds, robins and dunnocks and a single male blackcap singing.

June 17th is the next one at 1030.

A few memories of Mull.

 

Until the next time.

Red footed falcon.

 While i was on Mull I was reading reports about sightings of red footed falcons in the Lower Derwent  Valley. My friend Stu had been and had seen 2!. Would they stay until I got home?

Bright and early on Monday morning I drove to North Duffield Carrs and joined Stuart Rapson in the hide.

We spoke about the holidays we had both been on as we watched the birds on the reserve.

In front of the hide whitethroats were busy

I think that smart looking reed buntings deserve a better song! A deer walked past the hide.

We had the briefest of views of a red footed falcon on the other side of the River Derwent, so decided to walk along the riverbank for a closer view. We parked in the car park just over Bubwith Bridge and walked along the riverbank. When we reached the gate Chris Gomersall and Ian Howard were there watching the falcon. Ian had been on Mull last week and has posted some great photos on Mull Nature Watch on Facebook.

Looking across the river onto the reserve.

For some strange reason I had not taken my scope with me, so I was grateful to the three of them for allowing me to view the falcon through their scopes.

Stuart ( @ivoryg.bsky.social) used his scope to take a piture of the falcon as it perched on a post.

Another year tick and some consolation for missing out on corncrake on Mull.

Waverley Paddle Steamer.

 We left Mull about 1pm on Saturday and arrived in Oban about 2pm. We stayed overnight in the Premier Inn. Wlist on Mull we saw the Waverley sailing up the sound of Mull towards Salen.

It returned to Oban later on Saturday evening.

Tobermory to Kilchoan

 Slowly catching up with posts about Mull. On Friday the 15th I caught the ferry that runs between Tobermory and Kilchoan on Ardnamurcan. It is just a 35 minute journey each way and as we did not leave Tobermory until 6pm I was hoping to see some new birds. 

Several gannets, herring gulls, kittiwakes and a single great northern diver. On the return trip I had a brief glimpse of a minke whale.

Reading reports on Saturday the shearwaters and skuas I had hoped to see were seen, but where the Sound of Mull reaches the open sea.

Waders at Ardalanish

 I left Tobermory very early and on my way south I ecountered a farmer with some of his livesrock.

After letting them pass by I made my way to the hide at Fishnish. It was 6am and I hoped I was early enough to see an otter, just this oystercatcher.

I decided to visit a new area for me, so drove to Ardalanish and this is the beach.

Lots of waders

Deer on the hill

Back on Iona for a 2nd attempt at finding a corncrake.

Managed to hear 5 but saw none, so back to Tobermory.

Crossbills

 Sat in the cottage garden enjoying the sunshine when I heard crossbills.

Male and female blackcap as well as lots of greenfinches