I had a ride out to Blacktoft Sands today, before the rain came. Set off from home at 7.30 no traffic at all on the way so made great time and arrived at Blacktoft for about 8.15.
Had to wait for the warden to get there and open the gates but I was entertained by a flock of female pheasants working their way through the ploughed field by the gate.
Once inside the reserve I made for Xerox hide first, had a flyby from a Gt. spotted woodpecker as I crossed the embankment. The view from Xerox was great, just under a hundred black-tailed godwit, about 20 ruff/reeves, 3 greenshank and another 50 or so redshank. Plenty of eclipse ducks to ignore...too b****y hard them...lol. Managed to recognise gadwall, mallard and wigeon amongst them but there were others I'm sure. After about 15 minutes something spooked the birds as they were up and away, and I'm left looking at mud and water. Pushed on to Marshland hide and more godwits, avocets and a barn owl in the box by Ousefleet hide. Picked up green sandpiper at the back of the lagoon here but no rails.
The walk to Ousefleet turned up a couple of young sedge warblers but sadly there wasn't any water or mud at Ousefleet, just bare earth with a couple of stock dove grubbing about in a tussock of grass.
So hoofed it down to First hide, almost tripping over some little toadlets on the path. There was plenty of water at First hide, and plenty of little grebes as well, counted at least 5 adults and 3 downy young, with more birds calling from in the reedbed. More eclipse ducks, this time was pleased to find a shoveler...I'm getting better at these.
Townend held at least 50 snipe, at one point there were 35 birds probing the mud less than 40 metres from the hide.The greenshank trio dropped in, at least I think it was the same birds, they'd been flying around the reserve all morning. Working through a large flock of lapwing rewarded me with a couple of spotted redshanks roosting. The warden popped in and within a minute or two managed to find a juvenile bearded tit, which he was good enough to point out to me. I'd been hearing their pinging for a while but hadn't managed to find them. Sadly the juvenile was the only one we saw, although they were calling for a while longer. There was a couple of brief views of first a female , and then a male marsh harrier, neither bird coming close to the hide, both preferring to stay over the reeds
It was whilst in Townend that I witnessed a heron struggling to eat a flatfish which must have got into the lagoon when the reserve flooded earlier in the year. The heron tried for at least 15 minutes to get the fish into it's beak and down it's throat but failed at every attempt. There was also some aggressive behaviour as a second heron tried to muscle in on the fish. I don't know if the bird succeeded in eating the fish, as it stalked off into the reeds with the fish firmly gripped in it's beak.
The walk down to Singleton hide was brightened up by some young reed buntings flitting from bushes to reed across the path. Inside the hide I was on my own again, so I settled down to try and sort out the ducks in front of me. One was quite easy, a male ruddy duck, the others were probably mallard and gadwall. The greenshanks came flying through, but not stopping. Way over the reeds I could see a string of 30 or more oystercatchers making their way up the Ouse towards Goole.
I had to make a 'comfort break' so made my way back to the car park and watched the darkening skies to the west. I decided that as my cagoule's waterproofing was distinctly poor I wouldn't risk getting caught on the reserve in the rain so left the reserve about 12.00. All in a great few hours birding.
Species total for the morning was 45 which I don't think was too bad.
I've attached a few pictures, the first is taken from Xerox hide before the birds disappeared and if anyone can id the flatfish I'd be most interested.
Had to wait for the warden to get there and open the gates but I was entertained by a flock of female pheasants working their way through the ploughed field by the gate.
Once inside the reserve I made for Xerox hide first, had a flyby from a Gt. spotted woodpecker as I crossed the embankment. The view from Xerox was great, just under a hundred black-tailed godwit, about 20 ruff/reeves, 3 greenshank and another 50 or so redshank. Plenty of eclipse ducks to ignore...too b****y hard them...lol. Managed to recognise gadwall, mallard and wigeon amongst them but there were others I'm sure. After about 15 minutes something spooked the birds as they were up and away, and I'm left looking at mud and water. Pushed on to Marshland hide and more godwits, avocets and a barn owl in the box by Ousefleet hide. Picked up green sandpiper at the back of the lagoon here but no rails.
The walk to Ousefleet turned up a couple of young sedge warblers but sadly there wasn't any water or mud at Ousefleet, just bare earth with a couple of stock dove grubbing about in a tussock of grass.
So hoofed it down to First hide, almost tripping over some little toadlets on the path. There was plenty of water at First hide, and plenty of little grebes as well, counted at least 5 adults and 3 downy young, with more birds calling from in the reedbed. More eclipse ducks, this time was pleased to find a shoveler...I'm getting better at these.
Townend held at least 50 snipe, at one point there were 35 birds probing the mud less than 40 metres from the hide.The greenshank trio dropped in, at least I think it was the same birds, they'd been flying around the reserve all morning. Working through a large flock of lapwing rewarded me with a couple of spotted redshanks roosting. The warden popped in and within a minute or two managed to find a juvenile bearded tit, which he was good enough to point out to me. I'd been hearing their pinging for a while but hadn't managed to find them. Sadly the juvenile was the only one we saw, although they were calling for a while longer. There was a couple of brief views of first a female , and then a male marsh harrier, neither bird coming close to the hide, both preferring to stay over the reeds
It was whilst in Townend that I witnessed a heron struggling to eat a flatfish which must have got into the lagoon when the reserve flooded earlier in the year. The heron tried for at least 15 minutes to get the fish into it's beak and down it's throat but failed at every attempt. There was also some aggressive behaviour as a second heron tried to muscle in on the fish. I don't know if the bird succeeded in eating the fish, as it stalked off into the reeds with the fish firmly gripped in it's beak.
The walk down to Singleton hide was brightened up by some young reed buntings flitting from bushes to reed across the path. Inside the hide I was on my own again, so I settled down to try and sort out the ducks in front of me. One was quite easy, a male ruddy duck, the others were probably mallard and gadwall. The greenshanks came flying through, but not stopping. Way over the reeds I could see a string of 30 or more oystercatchers making their way up the Ouse towards Goole.
I had to make a 'comfort break' so made my way back to the car park and watched the darkening skies to the west. I decided that as my cagoule's waterproofing was distinctly poor I wouldn't risk getting caught on the reserve in the rain so left the reserve about 12.00. All in a great few hours birding.
Species total for the morning was 45 which I don't think was too bad.
I've attached a few pictures, the first is taken from Xerox hide before the birds disappeared and if anyone can id the flatfish I'd be most interested.
