Its been a pretty full on last few days here on the Sands with some excellent birding as August passes into September, and right at the last the tides relented and allowed us to get a little bit of water onto some of the lagoons that will help us last through to the end of the month and attract any passing waifs and strays. Marshland hide was looking particularly good this afternoon with over 10 species of wader plus…

There's been some pretty good wader watching over the last few days with last nights thunder and lightning resulting in a few migrant birds dropping onto the lagoons, but I suppose the star bird has to have been 'our' female Montagu's harrier that has returned to site and shown pretty well on an off over the last five or so days. 

She's just about completed her moult and will be getting ready to return…

The Warden and staff team would like to apologise that Ousefleet Hide will be closed on Tues 27th & Weds 28th August for essential maintenance work replacing the roof. The rest of the reserve will be open as usual and sure to provide some fantastic birding and wildlife.

Exciting times at Blacktoft the last couple of days. The female Montagu’s Harrier is back! She was first spotted early yesterday (approx. 9.30am 24.08.19) to a packed reception hide. As you can imagine there was much debate as she cruised west across the reserve. She was a little distant (flying over the river) at the back of the reserve but thanks to a new set of bins her white rump and tail bars were clearly visible…

Firstly let me offer my apologies. Our warden team have been really busy the last couple of weeks cutting back new growth. So far our attention has been cast towards Xerox and today the team are beavering away at Marshland. We’ve closed the hide for the day so that the work can be completed as quickly as possible minimising disruption to wildlife and visitors alike. The upshot of the work is much improved views – especially…

This time last year we were basking in glorious weather amidst a sustained heatwave. This year we’ve not been quite as lucky weather wise and it’s a touch soggy and much cooler today. It certainly hasn’t stopped the wildlife though.

Spoonbills are still our star attraction. 10 were counted on the lagoon at Ousefleet hide this morning and (when I visited) a solitary one at Marshland hide.

Photo credit…

It’s amazing the difference a little time makes. A couple of weeks ago we had the hottest day of the year and the reserve felt more like the Borneo jungle than a prime Humber nature reserve. Yesterday we had near tropical storm rain proportions and today we have the winds to match.

There’s still tons of wildlife around though. The wader count has been fantastic, going some way to proving our recent predictions.…

It seems its all about the numbers game here on the lagoons at the moment with an amazing record reserve count this morning of 24 spoonbills, backed up by 24 spotted redshank and 22 ruff and a whole host of different quality species over the last few days including yesterday the re-appearance of the now moulting female Montagu's harrier.

Photo's by Peter Ramsden

Yesterday evening Townend lagoon looked fantastic…

It’s been amazing to see so many people at the reserve this week. But then it’s amazing to see so many birds as well.

There’s been a plethora of lapwings around. Brilliant news considering how they have faired in recent years, and there’s been a good quantity of young ones around too. The loss of rough grazing land amongst other things, often cited as a major cause of decline in lapwings since the 1980’s,…

There's nothing like a bit of inclement summer weather to give a bit of bird interest here on the Sands and the last few days has certainly proved that with plenty to see not least the amazing 20 spoonbills! 

A pretty awe inspiring sight - flocks of spoonbills!

And at times some real close up views

A juvenile landing on Marshland

 And it was also good to see the reserve sharing in the countrywide influx of wood…

Phew what a week its been here on the reserve with plenty to see all round including birds, insects and flowers, but certainly a busy week on the work front with plenty to keep the team busy as the Koniks had their feet trimmed by the farrier and our hay meadows were cut and bailed for hay. 

Hay ready to be baled on Horseshoe meadow

Waders passage is now certainly getting going at last with a semi-decent range and number…

Heat Wave

With soaring temperatures more suited to the Caribbean it’s been great to see more waders dropping in to feed around the lush fringes of the lagoons and the muddy edges of scrape. There’s been a diverse range over the last few days with Xerox hide featuring well and Townend and Marshland hides providing plenty of variety too.

Ruff.

6 Ruff appeared at Xerox lagoon but visible from reception yesterday…

Some fantastic news over the last few days here on the Humber is that avocets are fledging young from the lagoon that we created back in 2017 out on Whitton Island! See this link -   https://community.rspb.org.uk/placestovisit/blacktoftsands/b/blacktoftsands-blog/posts/putting-the-wetland-into-whitton It really is outstanding news because even though we create this new estuarine habitat we can only live in hope that it delivers…

As birders we spend a fair bit of time looking up. Looking up into trees to spot that elusive arboreal beauty or staring into the sky tracking spoonbills, marsh harriers or flocks of sand martins. We usually have a pair of binoculars glued to our eyes which means we sometimes miss some of the splendour unfolding in front of us. So, this morning I decided to look down, and around me.

The first thing I saw was an enormous…

This last couple of days seems to have been dominated by our marvellous spoonbills and then when the weather was overcast a fantastic gathering of 6000 roosting sand martins. On some days there has been up to 14 very entertaining spoonbills, and just stop and think for a moment - apart from starlings when did you last see a gathering of 6000 sand martins or any other small passerine? 

Sand martins at Singleton

The sp…

In my early birding days I’d listen to some of the “old folk” saying this time of year is slow for birding. I don’t agree. It’s all happening at the moment ranging from parent birds sitting on the nest, like this little grebe (surely we’ll have hatchlings soon!).

To juvenile marsh harriers lazily soaring across the reed bed. It’s fantastic to see such diversity.

I counted 5…

It’s a fantastic time of year where new things and fledglings abound and that includes me. I’ve been working at the reserve for a couple of months now and still feeling a little shiny and new. Thankfully I’m surrounded by a fantastic team of people (including volunteers) who have a wealth of experience and knowledge. Some of which I’m in awe of but it’s a pleasure to be amongst. Talk about a steep learning curve!…

There is no doubt that the 2019 breeding season is still very much in the swing of it with fledgling birds all over the place but then many broods of some species just hatching, it makes for some very entertaining birding both in the mornings and evenings here on the Sands although even in the heat of the day there is always something to see particularly a plethora of insects. 

And I suspect there is non more quite entertaining…

Who'd have thought that the humble three-spinned stickleback would be so important at helping to feed so many important birds on the reserve at the moment including now regular feeding forays on Marshland lagoon from the veracious Fairburn spoonbills that are currently feeding chicks.  I still can't fully get over the fact that they are undertaking a 50 mile commute on each feeding trip! 

Spoonbill from this week…

First of all I'd like to say how nice it is to have a few people commenting and reporting sightings recently via the Blog, its all very much appreciated and I do enjoy hearing about birds like short-eared owl on an evening this week - it all adds to the bigger picture.

This week has as suggested in my last blog seen the first marsh harrier chicks take to the air! In fact they look amazingly strong so must have been…

Wow yesterday was amazingly sultry here on the Sands with it feeling more like Thailand than East Yorkshire with the humidity creating a steam across the marsh that in the morning tempted out a lovely party of 16 juvenile bearded tits that were feeding in the tops of the reeds at Xerox lagoon. This is the first indication of just how successful the beardies have been this year in their first and second broods and from…

Wow with a bit of better weather now and a little bit of rainfall on and off it seems that the birds and the wildlife are really moving towards a mid-summers breeding season peak as well as now returning waders starting to trickle back from the north and east. 

Bitterns seem to be all over the place at the moment with different birds flying around site giving a somewhat confused picture of what seems to be I suspect a…

What with all the rain recently and it being in the middle of the breeding season it seems very much like there's the usual mid-June madness of a typical British summer. What was a little more unexpected though was the arrival of a superb adult purple heron that was found by our regular volunteer Chris while he was surveying the bitterns. Its the first reserve record for 30 years!

Here's a picture and superb video…

Funny how sometimes secretive reedbed species can surprise you? Well this time it was our breeding bitterns, we had an inkling they were feeding young on site, but what we didn't expect is that they have young that were about to fledge! First seen by Sara (who was until recently one of our Wardens) on Sunday evening when she saw two bitterns at the side of Townend lagoon that then flew casing after an adult female. Then…

Being almost mid summer this time of June is very much about diversity here on the banks of the Humber, plenty of breeding bird activity, plenty of interesting insects and also the appearance of some interesting plants. 

Vipers bugloss in Horseshoe meadow

It is however typical D-day weather, never expect anything less form the British maritime influenced climate! Last years hot sunshine was an exception but this year…