Adel Dam & Golden Acre

Up early on Sunday for a walk around the park before it got too busy. A Goosander was on the main lake at Golden Acre along with Mallard,Tufted Duck, Moorhen, Coot and the stroppy farmyard goose that was pecking shoes last time.

Robin

Tufted Duck

Goosander

We could hear Chiffchaff, Blue Tits, Dunnocks and Robins, there were a few Nuthatch around too.

Nuthatch

Dunnock

This American skunk cabbage grows around the edge of the water and I quite like it, it's managed so it doesn't spread as it's an invasive species.

Onto Adel Dam and we saw more Nuthatches. At the first hide we chatted to a guy already in there, we the first people he'd seen so far this morning. A couple of Mandarin were around with the usual small birds at the feeders. 

Mandarin

From the lake hide we saw quite a few Greylag Geese, Teal,Little Grebe, more Mandarins and overhead a Red Kite and a couple of Buzzards

Greylag Goose

Moorhen

Teal

At the side of the hide where the feeders are a Reed Bunting flew in, i've not seen one here before.

Reed Bunting

Blue Tit

We carried on and walked through the woods stopping for a while to watch a Treecreeper fly around the trees. Further along the path a bird flew up out of the undergrowth - a Woodcock! Then a few minutes later another, again a new bird for me here and a bit of a surprise....although probably more so for the poor birds!

Treecreeper

North Cave Wetlands

After we left Blacktoft we decided to call into North Cave Wetlands, we weren't quite ready to go home yet.

We had to stop for a small traffic jam on the way........

The wetlands were full of birds, lots of Gulls following a tractor around the field at the entrance, Greylag Geese honking as we got out of the car.

From the picnic area we saw Avocets, Oystercatchers, Redshank, Teal, Great Crested and Little Grebe and Gulls.

,

In fact the Black-headed Gulls were everywhere, all over the reserve, now and again they were spooked, by what we couldn't tell.....

.....and in the middle of them all a pair of Mediterranean Gulls

On the reedbed lake we saw Shelduck and across on the bank a pair of Curlews. A Reed Bunting settled on a nearby branch.

It was pushing five by now and we decided to leave to make a little detour on the way home. My husband saw a Barn Owl whilst out with work a couple of weeks back so we headed off to see if we could spot anything. I thought we'd lucked out and we had turned around to head home and coming down the road way ahead of us an owl!! It was too far for anything but blurry shots but it flew down the road and over a hedge. We pulled up to look but it had gone, instead we took a few minutes to watch Partridge and hares in a field and listen to Skylarks. A beautiful moment.

Finally back home and the first bat of the year was flying about the yard opposite. A good end to quite a fantastic day!

Blacktoft Sands

Last weekend became unexpectedly free after a change of plans so we made the most of it and headed out for two days of birding, we picked the right weekend for it - good weather and good birds!

First up Blacktoft Sands on Saturday, we were there just after 9 and it was nice not to have to layer up with big coats and gloves. The Tree Sparrows were all around the car park and in the fields around it lots of Greylag Geese. 

We stopped at the visitor centre first to see what is about and look out of the window. I spotted something moving in the water right outside - a Water Vole! A lot bigger than I thought, a few more people had come in and managed to see it too. I looked up and out across the water and saw a bird fly in and land on a log - a Wheatear! A new bird for me, I pointed it out and apparently it was the first seen on the reserve this year, so I got to fill in the date on the chart........it's the small things......

So a good start so far, then as we stepped out the centre the first Swallow of the year overhead. A couple more were seen during the day. We walked down to the right first and had some better views of the Wheatear on the log, though still distant for the camera.

My husband spotted a deer in the reeds

A flock of Whooper Swans flew over in the distance. Several Avocets were flying around and three Herons flew in. We saw Teal, Shovelers and Mallard, mostly all asleep.

The noise from the marshland hide the noise was a little overpowering, thanks to a surprisingly small group of Black-headed Gulls. 

A few more sleeping ducks - Gadwall, Teal and Mallards. Lots of activity from the Avocets, they couldn't seem to settle. 

Walking along the Ousefleet Trail Reed Buntings were in the trees with the odd Dunnock too. At the end we looked out by the fence and saw Skylarks. There were ships out on the river and a couple of flocks of ducks flew up including a Little Egret. Looking out towards the road a couple pointed out more deer in the distance and a Buzzard sat in trees. 

Overhead my husband saw another bird of prey which at a quick glance looked like it had jesses. I wasn't looking as i'd been trying to get a photo of a Skylark, I turned and grabbed a couple of photos. Showing them to one of the volunteers (whose name I should have got!) it was a Red Kite with a bent/damaged tail feather. Everyone was quite chatty as we walked around today. 

At the Ousefleet hide i've never seen it with as much water, there were lots of Shelduck, Shoveler, Teal, a couple of Oystercatchers, Herons, the Konick ponies across the other side. 

Walking back along the trail my daughter nearly jumped 10ft in the air when the ground leapt at her.......or rather a toad did. Once i'd stopped laughing I took a photo. 

Back to the car for some lunch, with Dunnocks almost hopping around our feet. Afterwards we went off the other side of the reserve. We'd been seeing Marsh Harriers from all the hides but the better views are from the Singleton Hide and we sat there a little while watching them and lots of noisy Geese. A Bittern boomed but only briefly.

I had to take a phone call from my mum when we were in one of the hides, I took it outside and was treated to a loud burst of song from a Cetti's Warbler.

Another couple of toads were along the path and Dunnock were singing in the reeds. It was nice to see the odd signs of spring around too.

We headed out mid afternoon, a great start to the weekend!

Fairburn Ings

We spent a couple of hours at Fairburn on Sunday afternoon, right away spotting a couple of Red-legged Partridge in the fields nearby.

The feeders around the reserve were busy with the usual birds - Tree Sparrows, Chaffinch, Greenfinch, Goldfinch, Tits (though we missed Willow), Dunnock, Mallard, Pheasant, Robin and a Nuthatch too.

I'd read about two Spoonbills being seen at the reserve so we headed up to the Coal Tips trail to see if we could spot them. On the water we saw Common and Black-headed Gulls, Shoveler, Greylag Goose, Coot, Moorhen, Gadwall, Tufted Duck, Little and Great Crested Grebe. 

We head a Bittern booming in two different places at the far end of the trail, an amazing sound, one of them sounded quite close and I scanned the reeds a while but saw nothing. We also spent a while scanning the trees down on the moat for the Spoonbills and had a moment where we thought we'd seen one but it was a Little Egret, we did see plenty of Cormorants and Herons. We did found out the Spoonbills hadn't been seen all day. In a field off to the side a Buzzard flew across and we saw one again as we were heading down off the Tips.

As we stood at the top a Kestrel flew up and hunted quite close by initially almost at head height, such a beautiful sight. 

By the Kingfisher viewing point I head my first Chiffchaff of the year, no Kingfishers this time though we did see a fish jump down the stream!

The wind was bitter walking around so we finished off with a hot drink in the visitors centre and spoke to one of the volunteers we'd seen on the trail before taking the scenic route home.