Please note. The reserve remains closed under lockdown guidance. Unlike at other sites, much of the reserve here at Blacktoft can only be viewed from the hides, so closed hides means a closed reserve. We will of course continue to monitor the circumstances and re-open at the earliest opportunity. Please stay local.
It’s been a strange time for all of us this past year. I’m pretty sure a lot of us feel a little ‘cooped up’. All of us here at Blacktoft would like to thank you for your patience and bearing with us. We are all working very hard towards a day when we can welcome you back, hopefully in the not too distant future.
For me lockdown has meant working from home for the majority of the time. Sundays have been my day at the reserve checking livestock and hide safety and security checks.
I’ve been able to watch the seasons change to some degree for the first time in my short tenure (so far!) on the Humber, and it’s been fascinating.
Returning from furlough late last September meant I could build an archive of winter/early spring images. I thought I might share some of those with you.
When I first returned the waders were on their migration routes and arriving from their arctic breeding grounds taking advantage of the rich food sources around the Humber including Blacktoft.
Lapwing, Dunlin, Redshank (Oct.2020)
Fieldfare with the occasional redwing were a great addition in Late October and could often been seen ranging across the fields mingling with flocks of starlings. Mainly feasting on fresh ripe red berries in the hedgerows as well as rich pickings in surrounding stubble fields.
Fieldfare (Nov 2020)
On darker mornings and even darker evenings the marsh can be a lonely and eerie place. Hearing the crows echoed ‘cawing’ made me wonder what the marsh would be like in a bygone era before extensive land drainage or intensive farming. The marsh would have been vast, much larger than it is today. I wonder about those that toiled in and around the marsh to eek out an existence. It must have been a truly daunting place with hidden bogs and gully’s running through it and long reeds with dense fog confusing any sense of direction.
Of course a plethora of wildfowl were using lagoons as well.
Shoveler (Dec2020)
As well as shoveler (my favourite duck) good numbers of wigeon and teal have blessed us with their presence as well as a smattering of mallard, shelduck and gadwall.
I’m often asked if being quiet in and around the hides makes a difference. It certainly does with waterfowl. Several times when I was entering in my clumsy way clattering cameras and monopods as I went or doors banging as I entered I would note fowl moving away from me (sometimes at a rapid rate). Of course birds have excellent hearing. Some, like raptors, rely on their exceptional hearing to hunt.
Konkiks Ponies (Jan 2021)
The cold snap in January may have been welcomed by the Koniks, the colder the better for these guys, but frozen lagoons don’t make a good refuge for the water based birds. They headed off the reserve to ‘softer’ water areas around the Humber.
Ousefleet (Jan 2021)
Mallards (Jan 2021)
As January moved into early February the cold snap broke and along came the rains. Which is great for wetlands!
Singleton Hide (Feb 2021)
February saw some pretty extensive repair work to Singleton hide. The team have worked really hard to keep the reserve in it’s best state for humans as well as birds and all manner of nature’s wonders. As you can see above it was no mean feet. The hide is raised on a platform so quite a daunting height at the front.
Curlew with colour ring (Feb 2021)
February saw the return of a number of curlew (there’s always plenty of scope for more!). Pete captured this colour ringed chap mid February feeding on part of our wet grassland with around 150 others. He managed to find out it was ringed as a 28day old chick in Schleswig Holstein Germany in 2019.
Moving into March it’s been great to see our iconic Avocets return to the Humber.
Avocets at Reads Island (Mar 2021 P.Short)
As it appears Spring has now sprung (although its pouring down outside as I write) Pete was able to capture these as he WeBS counted in the area.
Black Tailed Godwits, Dunlin, Teal
The Humber estuary is also a really important feeding area for black tailed godwits at this time of year. They can be seen all around the estuary as they head north to their Icelandic breeding grounds. Their plumage during the winter is a browny grey colour. It was great to see some are in ‘plumage flux’, if that’s a phrase, changing to their summer rich russet breeding plumage. They were resting here at Marshland lagoon on the freshly dug islands (another example of the hard graft our amazing team put in while we’re still closed).
That about brings us up to date – I hope you enjoyed reading!
Please remember we are still closed for now. We’re doing all we can to ensure we can open at our first opportunity and look forward to welcoming you all back when we can!
Take care, exercise in nature local to you and look after each other!
Daz