Grey heron and a fish.

 

Started at North Cave Wetlands at 0845. It had rained as I drove to the reserve but luckily it was dry on my arrival and for the whole of my visit. This was my view from South hide. Not far from the hide, a mute swan was sitting on the grass.

Greylag geese, mute swans, mallard and a single greenshank were on Eastholm. I walked back along the west hedge and saw very few birds.

lots of little grebes in front of the "Farm "hide.

a cormorant drying its wings

The Turret hide was my last stop. Spotted redshanks

ruff

curlew

green sandpiper

When I left the reserve at 11am the car park was fairly full, so the introduction of parking charges had not stopped people visiting. I drove to North Duffield Carrs, where I joined Alan Whitehead  (duffbirder)in the hide. Work has been done on one side of the scrape. Elaine joined us for a short while.

Two diggers were still on the reserve, as they work on the drainage ditches. 3 grey herons were on the newly revealed part of the scrape.

One of them caught a large fish.

The heron had quite a tussle with the fish, dropping it at one point before managing to swallow it.

I left about 1pm and headed for Bank Island. I wanted to have a look at the newly opened building and the new roof top viewing platform. Good views from the top, just need some water to fill up the ponds.