Birding Group Visit to Blacktoft Sands : 15th June 2015

Birding Group Visit to Blacktoft Sands : 15th June 2015

Our birding group outing this week was a two-day event taking in Blacktoft Sands, North Cave and Bempton Cliffs. On the first day we went to Blacktoft and North Cave. The drive was about two and a quarter hours so we arrived at Blacktoft Sands around 11.15am. Our target bird was clearly going to be a Montagu’s Harrier, a pair of which had bred here this year and now had young.

We took in all but the furthest hide on the left hand side (the Ousefleet Hide), although one of our group did a recce there and found nothing there of interest. In fact, curiously enough, all the hides on the left side of the reserve were quiet but the hides to the right of the reserve were another matter altogether.

We started at the “first hide” as it is named and here it was a matter of a couple of minutes before Marsh Harriers started to appear and soon it was hard to decide where to look as multiple pairs and some individuals were all showing close to the hides simultaneously. I have never seen so many Marsh Harriers in the one place and certainly never seen so many together. It must be hard on the other birds trying to raise young with so many birds of prey on the lookout for a meal.

There were nice numbers of young to be seen including a Great Crested Grebe with chicks on her back, families of Little Grebes and even Shoveler chicks and a few Avocet chicks and lots of Mallard chicks. There was a bit of a shortage of waders but we did see one beautifully dark Spotted Redshank and a single Common Redshank.

As regard ducks there was a small smattering of Wigeon and a single Pochard but lots of Shoveler and Tufted Ducks. Little Egret and Grey Heron showed as well. Among the smaller birds were Reed and Sedge Warblers, Reed Bunting and Blackcap. Tree Sparrows are plentiful there and we also saw Pied Wagtail and House Martins, Swallows and Swifts.

Our target bird took a bit of finding amongst all the Marsh Harriers but eventually we saw one bird whose jizz was entirely different to the Marsh Harriers and who had a much more aggressive flying style and not at all like the languid Marsh Harriers. We did struggle with the identification of the plumage however because we could not detect the black line in the wings that would confirm the bird as a male Monty. As it happens, however, at another hide we ran into another birder who had got some photographs of the same bird and in the photos a close-up showed the black line we had been looking for. Where previously there had been a bit of apprehension about whether we had got the identification right there was now agreement on the part of all the more seasoned birders in our group and we were confident that we had got our target bird. In my case this was a life tick for the UK though I had seen one earlier in the year at S’Albufera in Mallorca.

A year tick on this trip was also rather accidental as I had my scope fixed on a perched Marsh Harrier and as I was looking at it a Bearded Tit flew onto a branch behind but very near the Harrier. It was only a couple of seconds but long enough to give a good show.

All in all we had a great few hours on a lovely warm and sunny day and just before we left we had another quick look in the Townend Hide where we had seen the Monty but it was all a bit quiet by then and even the waders and ducks seemed to have largely disappeared. We decided to head off to the other site we had planned for the day, North Cave.

Bird Sightings : Blacktoft Sands