Seven's a crowd

It's spring - allegedly!.  Despite what the thermometer may say the nest box team had the first osprey of 2013 on Tuesday - reportedly perched on one of the owl boxes at Hempholme Meadow.  Michael Flowers had the first chiffchaff of the year today - for more details on his recent visits check out his excellent blog as ever here.

Again the little egrets have been a highlight on Hempholme Meadow.  Fed up of driving past them I took the time at the end of today to try and get some pictures and was rewarded with a nice maxima of 7 birds:

All were feeding actively on what were observed as some small fish - but possibly a lot of odonata larvae? - the main method of feeding being to stir up the sediment with ones toes before striking; so presumably it's something dwelling in the mud that does not readily swim off:

Oystercatchers back too - two pairs on site:

Teal snuffling about:

And plenty of lapwings ready to take up residence:

Yesterday this cracking group of redwing were on show at the water works lawns - pics by Roy Vincent:

And a couple by the editor:

Roy also got these great pictures of a group of eight goosanders on D res on Sunday night:

We often see them come in to roost on the res in late winter - Martin too has some great shots along with some of the mediterranean gulls also present on Sunday on his blog.  The drake scaup was also present on Sunday too.  Yesterday however Roy got these startling pictures of the female goosander consuming a jack pike of similar proportions - payback for all those tufted duck chicks on South Marsh West last summer?:

The red head smew is still present on Watton NR - logged yesterday - not really a vintage winter for them.  Marsh tit was again picked up around the feeders yesterday.  Best of the rest was an otter running across Standingholme meadow in Tuesday's blizzard and meadow pipit and skylarks in surrounding fields.
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On a separate note we're coming into renewals time for annual membership permits.  Prices for annual membership 2013-14 are slightly increased at £25 for adults and £17 for concessions (65 and over / registered disabled).  Please note day permit prices will also increase on the 1st of April to £3.30 for adults and £1.50 for concessions. 

All this will be on the visiting page above shortly - along with new renewal forms.  The new permits are still in print at present so we should be ready to take renewals at the end of the month.

For all the updates on the reserve and facility improvements why not pop along to the reserve open meeting on Sunday the 31st of March at 2.30pm - all welcome for a final visit to the old wildlife centre.  Work progresses on the new toilets and should be ready for late April.

So - on the subject of membership renewals, we ran the competition to submit a picture taken at the reserve to form the basis of the new permit.  We received the following entries - red legged partridge covey by John Hakes:

Running cub by Roy Vincent:

Otter cubs by Darren Smith:

Otter mum and cub by Steve Brimble:

All were anonymously voted for by the Yorkshire Water office team and there was a winner...

Well done to Michael Preston for Fieldfare and berries!  Michael's picture forms the basis of the 13/14 permit and he also wins a years membership. 

Thanks again to all who entered - we'll be running the same again for 14-15 - entries close on the 31st December so get snapping!

A first warble

Today saw the first warblers of the year.  A blackcap seen in South Scrub - whether it's an African migrant or an over-wintering European bird is debatable - but a year first non-the-less.  A cetti's warbler also gave a very brief burst from the southern site - we have had the odd call since October - but it would appear they have not followed up their 2007 breeding success since. 

The adult drake scaup appeared on D res again today.  Thanks to Andrew Bulmer for these shots of the goldeneye from the other week:

Gadwall:

And shoveler:

The lesser redpoll around North Lagoon has also been abundant - again a nice shot from Andrew here (for more pictures visit his blog):

Willow tit from Friday by Darren Smith:

Yesterday's reserve walk turned up a few otter spraints, a common buzzard making the most of the thermals, and a distant little egret.  They have however been the big highlight of the week - up to six birds daily now.  They do take flight readily onto the river - but are clearly finding good pickings in the meadow.  No pictures yet - I've said before Amboseli was an inspiration for this habitat - and it does look a bit like this: (without the spoonbills!)

The hot tip is to get there at first light and be in position in the hide before they see you approach.  A few moths in the trap now - visit Martin's page for the updates including the little gull still present on the roost last night.  This cracking dark morph pale brindled beauty was on the Water Works door earlier in the week:

Finally big thanks to our band of volunteers - over the last month we've been laying the hedge (or trees at any rate!) alongside Bamrston Drain / South Scrub - a total length of 260yds.  The purpose of which is to reduce forays from dogs into the reserve from the bridleway, provide a new dense nesting habitat for warblers with some more varied vegetation height, and make way for a new fence this autumn part funded by the Natural England Higher Level Stewardship Scheme we've just entered.  The intention is to graze the area like Hempholme from this winter onwards - preventing the need to take such drastic hawthorn operations in future:



Ring back...

As predicted the ring-necked duck didn't get too far.  After appearing at High Eske and RAF Leconfield since its stint at Tophill, the nest box team again recorded it back at Watton NR on Tuesday.  A quick scan the last couple of days revealed nothing however - so presumably it's still wandering.

Watton NR was the location for the first sighting of red kite this year on the reserve by Margaret Boyd, seen flying north.  Kites seldom leave their stronghold on the Wolds, but as the population grows we are seeing more and more visitors.  The Hull Valley is still much the domain of the marsh harrier - seen yesterday at the Wilfholme end of the site.

A nice highlight each day this week has been little egrets on Hempholme Meadow.  Now receded flood waters have seemingly stranded many fish and inverts in shallow puddles.  A peak of six birds was there today, along with a grey heron. 

Last Sunday saw the best gull roost of the year. Little, mediterranean, yellow legged and lesser black backed gulls all adding some southern flair to proceedings - for the write up and pictures visit Martin's page here.  Alas no arctic white wingers at all and it looks like we'll finish winter without one.

Other highlights of the week have included willow tit on the feeders - hopefully all set for breeding season, loads of great spotted woodpeckers, tawny and barn owls regular, three oystercatchers, kingfisher at Hempholme, woodcock at the centre and lesser redpoll showing extremely well on the road near the lagoons.

No photos today as blogger is playing up!

Remember - reserve walk tomorrow at 10am in which we'll be searching out those little egrets...

Gone but not forgotten

Whilst the great northern diver may have last been seen on Sunday the 17th it would apparently have not gone far - Erich has the low down on the apparent re-appearance of the bird at Hornsea Mere - alomg with the ring-necked duck which has ambled back down to High Eske again on his blog here.  So there is always a chance of re-occurence - that said we've has some great pictures of the bird from the weekend - thanks to Roy Vincent for these:

And also Alan Wrightson:

And this one courtesy of HVWG too:

Roy also captured these of some of the other stars of the reservoir at the moment - a fine drake pintail:

And the now showy goldeneye:

The red head smew was still present today on Watton NR, and up to two pink footed geese was present too there most days.  John Prentice recorded 24 barnacle geese there on Monday and the nest box team a male marsh harrier on Tuesday.   Martin recorded a welcome mediterranean gull on the roost on Sunday evening after a pretty dry spell for interest - along with two adult lesser black backed's - the start of spring?  Perhaps indicated too by 5 shelduck now on site and the return of the oystercatchers on Saturday.  Hopefully the willow tit in the woods is there to breed too.  Steve Routledge recorded the final scaup sighting along with a nice flock of redpoll on Saturday - pictures on his blog here.  An otter sighting from last Friday too - hunting for 30 minutes on Watton NR.

Great northern

Well done to volunteer Graham Slack today who found and sent us photo's of this great northern diver on the 'O' reservoir today - the first since 2007:

Keep and eye out on Martin and Steve's site's too for likely some pictures to come.  Elsewehere on the reserve we had red-head smew on Watton, juv type marsh harrier west over D res, scaup type hybrid on D res and some interesting 'mealy type' redpoll which would do well for further investigation.

Late edit - thanks to Martin for these great shots too:

Ringing off

Whilst it showed well on Sunday unfortunately there have been no further reports of the ring-necked duck since.  2 scaup were seen on Monday - picture from HVWG here:

But no scaup and much fewer ducks in general on the res today.  A few pintail remained - and a drake goosander at dusk tonight was a nice consolation spotted by Andy Marshall. Peregrine over the res on Sunday night with the little gull and a 1st winter lesser black backed gull.  Leucistic wigeon on O was an oddity - HVWG:

Elsewhere pink footed goose on Watton - and the seemingly now reliable woodcock at the wildlife centre - still there today.

Ducks deciphered

The snow stayed away and as such a few of us managed to take in a very aythyacational day on the deciphering ducks event this afternoon.  With the contents of D res at the moment we managed to go through a whole page of Collins with everything in between. Today we got some better views of the new 1st winter drake scaup found yesterday - pictured here top right with the ring necked duck lower right:

The bird of the moment was still here at dusk tonight - still in it's familiar pose:

We also had this tufted duck x scaup hybrid too:

In addition there were 16 pintail, a shelduck, and on O res and latterly Watton NR the red head smew.  Around 55 pink footed geese flew over NW at 11:00.  Have a look on Erich's site too for more aythya's and an interesting leucistic wigeon. Tony has updated his page with more Watton NR pics where a grey heron was hiding today. Also check out Africa Gomez's page for a nice barn owl sketch and the contents of a pellet revealing its diet - very comparable to what we found on the mammal safari's of the last couple of weeks.  And finally Chris Bell has some pictures of another predator of rodents - the stoat near the Hempholme hide here.

The little gull appears to be a nightly visitor, joined by a lesser black backed gull, and finally three woodcock were unveiled as darkness fell tonight - a picture of two in brighter conditions yesterday: