Once again the reserve is a hot spot for waders at the moment. We’ve had little stint, ringed plover, greenshank, curlew, green sandpiper, dunlin, snipe, black tailed godwit and lapwing all seen regularly down at Lin Dike. Lapwings are now being seen in particularly big numbers, with over 100 seen from Bob Dickens hide on Monday. We’ve also had plenty of other water birds including little egret , garganey, gadwall, teal, mallard, coot and moorhen at Lin Dike. Red crested pochard, shoveller, little grebe and gadwall all seen in Main Bay.
Pickup Hide has been a bit quieter, but there have been several sightings of raptors there, including sparrowhawk and buzzard. The buzzards have been flying in large numbers over Newfield plantation, with 7 seen on Monday. Other sightings of note include kingfishers seen from village bay hide, at the pond dipping platform and on the River Aire. 2 yellow hammers were spotted in the car park on Sunday, plus wheatear, willow warbler, meadow pipit and a stoat. 12 mistle thrush were seen by the visitor centre on Monday, plus 50+ sand martins and 10 swallows from Bob Dickens hide.
There are still some butterflies on the reserve, with green veined white, speckled wood, meadow brown and small copper all seen on Monday. Plus common darter, ruddy darter and brown hawker dragonflies.
This photo of a ruff has been kindly provided by Joe Seymour