A morning visit to Blacktoft to do a bit of 'ticking' apart from anything else. Bearded Tit is almost guaranteed here and it wasn't long before the pinging sound in the reedbed led me to three juveniles. At the Xerox hide, a single Spotted Redshank flew in and promptly went to sleep. Along with a Redshank and two Avocets, waders were in short supply. There's very little mud around the islands at the moment. I'd heard that a Ring-necked Duck was visiting the reserve and after a minute or so in the Singleton hide, I found it asleep well out in the lake, amongst a number of Mallard. Eventually (!) it woke up and swam to one of the islands. The Montagu's Harriers were busy this morning and two superb 'food passes' were seen. Although both birds remained distant, there was plenty of action to observe and they don't seem to tolerate the Marsh Harriers being in the area. The image below shows the size comparison between the two species quite well. A very enjoyable morning, still plenty of warblers singing, a pair of Great-crested Grebes had two chicks with them and Little Grebe chicks were also seen.
Female Montagu's Harrier Comments are closed.
|
|