Small is Beautiful
It’s roost time again. That means some of our larger feathered friends will be swirling around the skies later in the afternoons but more about them later.
This time of year is fantastic to spot some of our smaller gems. Some are here all year round, others are passing through on their way to their warmer winter grounds.
Most people head straight for the lagoons here, but there’s abundant wildlife all over reserve. Look and listen around the pathways and you’ll be pleasantly surprised!
So, to start we’re going to look at some of the smaller beauties gracing the pathways and scrubs.
Bullfinch (Pic P.Short)
Bullfinches, although resident throughout the UK, aren’t a regular sighting at Blacktoft. They are shy but striking birds, especially the males. Their powerful beak is perfectly adapted for it’s main food source of seeds in winter and they have a special sac at the base of their mouths to store food.
Bearded Tits erupting (Pic D.Johnson)
Whilst we’re coming to the end of October the warmer days still show promise of bearded tits erupting. Although this pic was taken a week ago when the weather’s right the pinging starts!
Goldfinch on meadow (Pic D.Johnson)
Although a common sight in England goldfinches are one of our smaller beauties too. The collective noun for a flock is a ‘charm’ and you can see why! It was great to catch a ‘charm’ taking advantage of the seed heads on the meadow recently.
Fieldfare (Pic P.Short)
It’s very worthwhile spending a few minutes looking over Horseshoe meadow as you pass by, particularly earlier in the morning. These sociable birds are regularly seen taking advantage of the abundant berries at this time of year, and are often joined by redwings.
Fieldfare flocking in trees across meadow. (Pic D.Johnson)
It was also great to see redpoll in the area too, thanks to Pete pointing it out as it passed us heading towards the trees lining the carpark trail. Sadly neither of us had a camera ready.
Tree sparrow (Pic D.Johnson)
The car park and trail towards reception is also a great place to spot one of our amazing residents too. Lots of seed eaters take in grit to help digestion and tree sparrows are no exception. They are regularly seen in numbers on the pathway pecking away.
Female reed bunting taking grit. (Pic D.Johnson)
Wren (Pic D.Johnson)
Cast your eyes down to the lower areas of scrub and amongst the trees you’ll likely catch sight of a wren or two. This one posed on the boardwalk fence leading to marshland hide.
Scrubby areas around the grazing marsh and lagoons are perfect habitat for other small beauties as well. You might just catch a glimpse of another winter visitor to our eastern shores. This water pipit dropped in recently.
Water pipit (Pic P.Short)
Scandinavian rock pipit (Pic P.Short)
Whilst rock pipits are resident in England they much prefer rocky coastal areas and are generally further north from the Humber estuary. This one is likely a winter visitor from Scandinavia.
Bramblings have been spotted on the reserve but was extremely camera shy (OK I completely missed it!)
Stonechat (Pic D. Johnson)
Frog (Pic P.Short)
Keep your eyes peeled along the drainage ditch. There have been several sightings of kingfisher whizzing through.
Kingfisher (Pic P.Short)
Looking To The Skies!
Pink footed geese are still prevalent around the estuary. It was great to see several skeins ‘toing and frowing’ this morning. One skein was flying so low their honking was almost deafening and I could hear their wing beats.
Pink footed geese (Pic D.Johnson)
Other fly by’s
Cranes overhead (Pic P.Short)
It seems the cranes have stayed in the area.
Whooper swans have been a regular sight flying through. Pete caught this group of 6 on the Trent as he surveyed recently.
Whoopers on Trent (Pic P.Short)
Although the weather this summer was glorious (sometimes too glorious for me!) the knock on effects can sometimes be telling. When our lagoons dry up so do the sources of food e.g. chironomids. Even though the lagoons have now refilled it can take a while for the food sources to return – possibly up to 6 months.
Whilst a few weeks ago there seemed to be plenty of water fowl around, particularly at Ousefleet flash and lagoon, food supplies are soon exhausted, a likely reason water fowl have moved elsewhere to feed. In the meantime you can rest assured the warden team are working hard to provide the perfect habitat for birds and nature now and into the future.
You’ll likely notice the edges of singleton lagoon have been ‘roughed up’. This helps to uncover some of the deeper grubs and larvae. We’ve done this around the other lagoons too.
At the moment we have a large excavator on site which is creating some deeper areas and removing some of the silt which gathers over time. You’ll notice the drainage ditch has been ‘dredged’ too. This helps the flow of water around the reserve, helps us to manage water levels and helps to replenish food stocks to an extent.
Excavator on townend lagoon (Pic D.Johnson)
Of course the lagoons aren’t totally bereft of life. There are some waders taking advantage of them.
Ruff (Pic D.Johnson)
Redshank (Pic D.Johnson)
Black tailed godwits (Pic D.Johnson)
Snipe (Pic D.Johnson)
Little grebe (Pic D.Johnson)
38 Ruff on Trent.
Whilst you’re down at Singleton hide keep an eye over towards the estuary as clouds of golden plover and dunlin are often seen rising.
Roost and Raptor News
The famous RSPB Blacktoft Sands roost is going from strength to strength. On a recent soujourn to the east of the reserve (singleton end) I counted 8 marsh harriers alone in the space of an hour and a half.
Marsh harrier resting (Pic D.Johnson)
Marsh harrier taking a drink (Pic D. Johnson)
Marsh harriers aren’t the only raptor of course. Excitingly Site Manager Pete spent some time at Singleton and spotted a hen harrier last Saturday. Hopefully this is the first of many as the temperatures drop. He also spotted a merlin! I’ve got to get me some of those magic binoculars he has.
With sparrow hawk, kestrel and buzzard there’s an impressive collection of raptors around at the moment.
Buzzard (Pic Andy H.)
Kestrel with unfortunate prey (Pic Andy H.)
When the ground is moist the fungi come out too!
Oyster mushroom (Pic D.Johnson)
Yellow fieldcap (Pic D.Johnson)
Whilst some wild fungi are edible others are really unpleasant and others are really toxic so please don’t disturb them!
Well that about wraps it up for this edition so I’ll wish you all well and leave you with this rather excellent misty sunrise over the marshes from Pete.
Misty sunrise over Blacktoft (Pic P.Short)
Want us to feature your Blacktoft pictures? Pop them in an email and whiz them across to us!
blacktoft.sands@rspb.org.uk
darren.johnson@rspb.org.uk
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