A Day Out

The week after Cleethorpes we headed east again, this time to Blacktoft Sands and then North Cave Wetlands.

At Blacktofts we stopped in the reception first and had a chat with the wardens there. A Wood Wasp was on the window, they are amazing looking wasps and I thought i'd taken a photo but I can't find one!

Wasps had also taken up residence in a large nest by one of the paths so they'd had to arrange a slight detour as the wasps can get a little irate! There is also work going on at the Ousefleet end of the reserve to clear a build up of silt and though it didn't really affect us much.

The difference though with the view from the Ousefleet hide compared to the last time we were here in April is immense, not a drop of water to be seen and the only birds we saw were around half a dozen Yellow Wagtails following the Konick ponies around.

The field by the Ousefleet trail was being plowed as we walked along and there were a lot of Gulls in the area, mostly Black-headed but a few Herring and Lesser Black-backed too. There were a few butterflies along the trail, Small and Large Whites and Speckled Wood, it wasn't the sunniest of days though.

On the lagoons we saw amongst others Avocet, Black-tailed Godwit, Dunlin, Canada Geese, Snipe, Green Sandpiper, Pied Wagtail, Stock Dove and a Cetti's Warbler called briefly too. I didn't take a lot of photos as the birds were distant.

Avocet & Black-tailed Godwit

Pied Wagtail

Headless Ducks......Gadwall

Snipe

Black-tailed Godwits

Green Sandpiper

Black-tailed Godwit

We stopped to have lunch before heading off and this scruffy looking chap decided to join us.

Onto North Cave Wetlands, it's not much of a detour to visit here, we only discovered it about ten or eleven years ago thanks to my Uncle who lived in nearby Gilberdyke. He decided the family weren't seeing enough of each other and arranged a yearly get together, it was for one of these that we discovered the Wetlands, sadly both he and my aunt have passed away now but I always think of them when we visit the wetlands.

It was quiet people wise and had been all day really, we had picked the weekend of the Birdfair so i'm thinking a lot of folk where there instead! There were however birds in abundance including a lot of Greylag Geese everywhere!

We were watching a couple of Blackcaps in the bushes from the Turret hide when a Fox wandered out of the bushes for a minute before disappearing again!

There were a few dragonflies on the paths, they didn't stay still for long but I grabbed a couple of photos.

Common Darter

We also found a beautiful Grasshopper by one of the benches, they always amaze me how intricately detailed they are, I think this is a Meadow Grasshopper.

This fly settle on my husbands hand for a couple of minutes, it's quite a beauty as flies go!

A few more photos from the walk.

Rodley Nature Reserve

I thought the weather was going to warm up a little on Sunday so decided to go for a walk around Rodley.......expect the snow hadn't quite finished with us yet and when we arrived it was sleeting, snowing and raining altogether like it couldn't quite make up it's mind.

Still off we went with our hoods up spotting four Bullfinch in the trees by the car park. From the hide overlooking the the lagoon we watched the Coot's stride around the ice and found two Oystercatchers in the middle of a large flock of Common and Black-headed Gulls. There were a few ducks around too, Gadwall, Mallard, Pochard, plus Moorhen and Great Crested Grebe.

From the duck marsh and willow path hides we saw Snipe - 8 of them along with a single Oystercatcher.

We saw plenty of small birds, heard a distant drumming Woodpecker and got a quick glimpse of a Bank Vole by the feeder on the willow path.

It was still snowing on and off and the birds were mostly in hiding, a few Teal were gathering all together in the grassland.

The Linnets were flying backwards and forwards from the meadow to the trees, it was a little easier to see them on the meadow with the snow but difficult to get a photo as they were constantly on the move.

As always we stopped at the visitor centre for cake and a cuppa to warm up, there were lots of  birds on the feeders and I spotted a Song Thrush out on the grass.

One of the volunteers mentioned there was a Lapwing by the dung heap and we saw it just as it took off and flew into the distance. A Grey Wagtail flew onto there too. There were quite a few Crows around sitting on the posts looking a little ominous in the fog!

The cold and sleet had defeated us by now though and we decided to head home and dry out. 

Old Moor

This is from a visit last Thursday, which I didn't get chance to post till now. It was a gorgeous sunny day despite the icy nip in the air and it made for some lovely views around the reserve.

The garden and Tree Sparrow Farm were both busy with the usual small birds, a couple of Moorhens and a few Squirrels.

We took a walk around the Reedbeds and Bittern hide seeing a GS Woodpecker in a distant tree, from the hides we saw Gadwall, Shoveler, Coots, Mallard, Tufted Duck, Pochard, Teal and Snipe.

If you look closely you can just see 4 Snipe under the reeds between the Shovelers

Robins followed us around all over the reserve

Walking up towards Wath Ings we stopped in the hides along the way spotting, Teal, Cormorant, Swans, Heron, Shovelers, Wigeon, Goosander, Black-headed and Common Gulls and at one point a Peregrine flew over the mere to the left of the family hide spooking some of the birds up off the water. 

It was good to get out and walk off some of the Christmas excess!