Freed from slav

The hot topic this week has been the two grebes we posted last week.  There is certainly a substantial difference in the birds and there has been a justifiable suggestion that one could be a slavonian.  After a lot of head scratching and further photos it would seem everyone is now united that they are both black necks.  Thanks to Roy L for these photos of the birds:

They've been hotly discussed on the Yorkshire Birder's facebook page - but regardless of the outcome a bit of head scratching is always good as it makes people think a bit more than simply looking at what they've been told they're looking at.

More sparrowhawk pictures this time from Roy Vincent:

We've now confirmed there are three sparrowhawk nests on site - all readily found by volume.  Tony McLean got these cracking shots of a female hen harrier over Watton NR last week - a shame in light of recent news of the first year they've failed to breed in England since the 60's:

Faring better have been our harriers - another cracking shot by Tony - and the rabbit did escape!:

Likewise the little ringed plover chick - a worthwhile output from the drained down South Marsh East:

We've now started putting water back into the marsh amongst the newly excavated spits and channels.  To achieve this we need to drain down the neighbouring South Marsh West and this and the newly mown Hempholme Meadows have both been drawing in the waders. 

2 whimbrel SMW on the 8th with 1 curlew
3 greenshank over D res on the 7th and 1 on Hempholme this am
8 snipe on the 7th over SME with 1 on today
3 green sandpipers on SMW this morning
Wood sandpiper Hempholme on the 6th
Avocet over on the 6th

The best of the rest 15 little gull on the 5th, with further singles through the week
Osprey today again over O res
Hobby hunting north pond
Little egret on Hempholme
Marsh tit in D woods
Water rail on South Marsh West
And otters on both SMW and N Marsh

There's some nice insects around at the moment - check out Michael Flowers site for a nice write up of the reserve walk.  Thanks to Roy L for this of southern hawker:

It's national moth night tomorrow - so on Sunday morning at 10am we'll be opening the traps up for a final time this year (in public!) to see the array of species on offer.  A fitting celebration of the passing of the 500th moth species recorded at Tophill Low in its history.  A great testament to the hard work of the volunteers over the years - and chiefly Martin Hodges and Doug Fairweather in recent times. A cracking write up and photos on Martin's blog as always - I'm sure the volunteer team will enjoy seeing the mouth parts of cleg flies in macro no end having been feasted upon by them for the last month.

So waders is order of the moment - check out that mud...

Off with a screech

The final count of Marsh Harriers did indeed reach four youngsters.  Shortly we'll be putting the results of the prey log on the blog too.  The birds themselves seem to have now dispersed from the breeding site and Martin's been logging a number of migratory harriers, buzzards and an osprey migrating over the site.  An osprey was again present today.

But the new arrivals to replace them are the sparrowhawks.  There are two pairs on site but the ones near North Marsh are perhaps the best to see - or hear at any rate as the woods currently resound to the screech of hungry fledglings - thanks to Nigel Genn for these first pictures from a couple of weeks back:

The birds are now fledged with three chicks seen perched in a tree near North Marsh this morning - Thanks to Karen Williams for these:

Darren Smith:

And Eddie Laker:

Most birds are now on the move which has brought us this little highlight - a pair of juv black necked grebes on D reservoir on the 30th and still present today - again thanks to Eddie:

Waders are starting to move though the site too and the sizable highlights from the last 10 days looks like this:

8 x little egrets on the 23rd
3 x common sandpipers on the 23rd on O res wall
1 x avocet over on the 24th
18 x little gulls south on the 26th and a further 20 on the 27th over D res, and 2 today
10 x whimbrel south on the 26th and a further 1 on the 27th and another on the 3rd
Marsh tit in D woods on the 27th
Snipe on South Marsh West on the 28th
2 x Goldeneye on D res on the 30th
Hobbys various dates
Greenshank 30th and again on Hempholme today with a peak of 4 over the res
Osprey 30th, 2nd and 3rd
Black tailed godwits on the 1st and 3 on the 3rd
Green sandpiper on the 1st and peaking at 3 today on Hempholme
Willow tit on the 2nd in D woods
2 x spotted redshank over north marsh on the 2nd
16 x lesser black backed gull on the 2nd
Crossbill on the 2nd in the car park
Lapwing x 112 on Decoy Fields
1 x golden plover

And if you havn't already seen then Tony's heron and eel pics are well worth a look.

A few nice butterflies on the wing now - we're awaiting the first hummingbird hawkmoths but plenty of commas - Karen:

And gatekeeper:

The big highlight was found by Roy and Erich last night though - purple hairstreaks on the oak trees on the path from the car park to D res East Hide.  These high flying butterflies are difficult to spot and although logged before this is the first ever photograph of one at Tophill (even if a bit distant!) - Roy:

A bit unfortunate was this buzzard they found on the way home knocked on the A164 - apparently now at Swanland Veterinary Practice so hopefully its got the best chance.

And a nursery web spider by Eddie:

Pond dipping event this Wednesday - book in advance on the usual number

The fab four...

First off my personal thanks to everyone who helped out on the excellent Summer of Wildlife event this weekend - the volunteers who put in hours of work preparing and delivering the event, the exhibitors who brought some excellent displays and the guides who all did a brilliant job interpreting the reserve's sightings. Thanks too to James Hogarth and the Radio Humberside team who presented live from the reserve 10am to 12pm on Saturday:

You can still tune in and listen on IPlayer to the show if you're so minded! Link here to listen to an array of Tophill stalwarts!

The main stars of the weekend were however the marsh harriers.  Flying with increasing confidence since last weekend we're certainly up to three youngsters and there is a high likelihood of a fourth chick still calling in the nest.  More stunning pictures from Tony Simpson:

 

Johnny Pang too with another rat:

As did Steve Brimble with rabbit:

Alan Walkington got this shot of one with an apparent cloudy eye? We'll hope it comes through:

The birds should be present for about another week and then will gradually drift further away as they hunt for themselves.  Darren Smith got this shot last week of hopefully the next breeder for the reserve - osprey heading down river a week last Friday:

If you've been lucky you may also have seen a family of water rails present on the reedbed island as well as the otter family also there - thanks to Tony Simpson for these early morning shots - as ever remember you need to be a member to be in outside of normal open hours of 9am - 6pm:

Thanks to Johnny too for these of Kingfisher:

Barn owls have seemingly hatched on North Scrub too - Steve:



Martin did a sterling job showing these moths off for the RSPB Wildlife Explorers and at the open day - Margaret Boyd:

Thanks to Steve Smith for this array - more pictures as ever on Martin's blog - Elephant hawk:

Ghost:

Peach blossom

And buff tip:

Emerald damselfly by Johnny:

Thanks to Andrew Jackson for these too of common frog - a Tophill rarity!

And marbled white:

Swallows looking autumnal by Karen Williams:

So what's coming up in the next couple of weeks?;
We've already seen a smattering of green sandpipers like these two on Hempholme taken by Karen:

This should be followed up by more waders like whimbrel we've already had - we just need some rain now to top us the marshes... Keep an eye out too for stork suspects - we've had three separate reports of a stork sp. in recent days...