I arrived at 6.15 to the sight of 4 lovely Brown hare along the approach road before paying for my day permit.
I got the gear together and headed for the new entrance/visitor centre,watching 2 Great-spotted Woodpeckers on the feeders before a quick scan over the D res saw a juv. Peregrine causing mayhem as they often do,as it chased gulls over the res and was mobbed by an adult and juv. Arctic Tern before they rapidly headed south overhead....what a start i thought!.
As i walked through D woods a Tawny Owl hooted is if to call an end to the night shift and i entered North Marsh hide to a lovely still scene.
I sat here for a while in the hope an Otter would splash into view,as has happened in the past,but only 1 of 5 Kingfishers observed during my visit made an appearance.
A Cetti's Warbler sang briefly as i passed through the remainder of D woods at the northern end of North Marsh,my only sight and sound of the species during the day.
As i reached the northern end of D res i spent some time watching and enjoyed some great views of loafing gulls on the reservoir wall and overhead and feeding over the reservoir itself 4 Little Gulls,5 Common Tern and at least 17 Swift kept me entertained along with some photo opportunities with the local gulls.
After enjoying the above species i carried on towards Hempholme Lock seeing a lovely doe Roe Deer and her fairly well grown fawn and i grabbed a few shots before they both caught a sight of me and promptly disappeared.
I carried on and arrived at Hempholme Lock,my fave area on the Tophill complex and settled down to take some landscape shots with the new phone and to scan the river and surrounding fields for anything of interest.
While scanning north along the river,i saw something briefly which looked like the back of an Otter as it dived and i watched and watched for about ten minutes and began to doubt myself when all of a sudden a huge dog Otter surfaced right in front of me,about 50 feet away....bloody hell!.I tried to get as many shots of it as i could,before it disappeared again,but it didn't seem that bothered by my presence and casually moved away feeding all the time.
It was interesting to see what it was eating and seemed to be fresh water snails as i have seen the animals i have encountered at Messingham sand Quarries in North Linc's eating,what a fantastic experience to see and i was just on a high as i left him to carry on feeding.
As i walked back along the western wall towards the car park and visitor centre there were a few gulls perched up and these included several Little Gulls.I steadily made my way nearer and managed to get some pleasing shots before they flew off and began to feed over the reservoir.
Also along here a juvenile Wheatear put in an appearance,but i never got that close to it before it flew past me to northern end of the res.
Back to the car and a some food and shedding of clothing as it was pleasantly warm now,i headed off to cover the southern section of the recording area.
North Lagoon was my first stop,with only 3 Green Sandpipers to see,but always a favourite sighting and i love this Scandinavian waders 'Kleert weet weet' call as they always head skywards like a giant House Martin.
Nothing too exciting on and over O reservoir apart from a couple of Common Terns and i then headed over to South Marsh.
A watch from here for about 40 minutes revealed a good mix of species which included 7 Little Egret,4 Green Sandpiper and 3 Little Gulls,but no Garganey unfortunately,but the hard work from the habitat management team certainly is looking good and the area looks perfect for a rare wader or a crake!.
The final area i checked was Watton Nature Reserve,where birds are always a bit more distant,but it can be pretty productive,particularly for Smew in the colder months.
Today another sawbill species was evident,as the long staying Redhead Goosander was watched as it loafed about on the bank side an unseasonal addition to the days sightings.
I walked back through the remainder of the reserve slightly weary from the night before after another superb visit to this cracking area,one of which i always enjoy and look forward to my next here in the near future.
 |
| North Marsh. |
 |
| 1st Calendar Year Black-headed Gull,D Reservoir. |
 |
| 1st Calendar Year Common Gull,D Reservoir. |
 |
| 1st Calendar Year Common Gull,D Reservoir. |
 |
| Common Swift Feeding Over D Reservoir. |
 |
| 2nd Calendar Year Little Gulls,Flying Onto D Reservoir. |
 |
| Adult Common Tern,D Reservoir. |
 |
| Roe Deer At The Side Of D reservoir. |
 |
| Hempholme Lock. |
 |
| Hempholme Lock. |
 |
| The River Hull,Looking North From Hempholme Lock. |
 |
| Swallow,Hempholme Lock. |
 |
| Dog Otter,Hempholme Lock. |
 |
| Dog Otter,Hempholme Lock. |
 |
| Dog Otter,Hempholme Lock. |
 |
| Dog Otter,Hempholme Lock. |
 |
| Dog Otter,Hempholme Lock. |
 |
| A Really Close Encounter With This Superb Animal. |
 |
| 2nd Calendar Year Little Gulls,D Reservoir. |
 |
| 2nd Calendar Year Little Gulls,D Reservoir. |
 |
| 2nd Calendar Year Little Gull Feeding Over D Reservoir. |
 |
| Adult Common Tern,D Reservoir. |
 |
| Wheatear,D Reservoir. |
No comments:
Post a Comment