The waters are finally receeding - down a couple of inches on Barmston drain over the weekend. Many thanks to Ivan Nethercoat for these panoramic pictures of the flooding at Wilfholme:
And also at Aike - both further down stream from Tophill and showing the effects the floods are having on much of the farmland:
That said the wildfowl is currently enjoying it - lots of teal and lapwing - very much in evidence on Thursday when Andy Marshall spotted this bird of the week from the access road; a lovely male merlin:
Other sightings this week have included to Sunday night;
Marsh harrier, 3 common buzzard, peregrine, 136 pochard, 36 siskin on Friday.
Saturday saw male crossbill, 3 pink footed geese, 1 white fronted geese, 6 woodcock (though not showing at the centre), 1 little egret and the first shelduck of the year.
And on Sunday 2 willow tits, 1 mediterranean gull and a lone waxwing over the car park.
Many thanks to Andrew Bulmer for this array of wildlife just prior to Christmas - treecreeper:
Reed bunting:
A fine redwing:
And fieldfare:
Robin:
Gadwall and wigeon:
And blackheaded gulls:
Followed by atmospheric skies - visit Andrew's blog for more excellent shots here:
Another great bit of pre-Christmas action here - many thanks to J Turner for this lovely film of the mother otter teaching what does appear to be a lone cub to hunt on the 17th of December:
For more guidance on otter spotting why not have a look on the Nature Triangle website for some tips? Details here.
Thanks too also to Doug Fairweather for this recent addition to the list:
'It's not much more than a speck to the naked eye, but with a bit of magnification it is transformed into something rather wonderful. It grows as small discs on Larch twigs. Looking under the trees can often turn it up on the broken off twigs that have fallen.'
