David, Roger and I had decided
to go to Blacktoft Sands today as there had been a pair of Montagu's Harrier
sky dancing over the last few days.
David picked me up and we then went to Roger’s who then drove to Blacktoft. We decided that we would go via the A46 to
Lincoln and then head north on the A15 to the M18 before using the M180 to
bypass Scunthorpe and head up to the reserve.
Other then three Buzzards near Lincoln we saw very little else on route
and we arrived at Blacktoft in a little over two hours at 09:10. The news was quite promising on arrival as a
pair of Garganey had just flown into the pool overlooked by the Xerox hide and
both the male and female Montagu’s had been seen just after 08:00.
As we were right next to the
Xerox hide we looked for the Garganey first but had no joy and so headed to the
Singleton hide and hopefully the Montagu’s.
There were a few birders already in the hide but the harriers had not
been seen by any of them and the only known sighting was earlier this
morning. We had been told at the centre
that the male had flown off to the west, which it had also done yesterday but
not until late morning and it didn’t return until after 18:00. There were quite a few hirundines over the
reeds, which were mainly Sand Martins but there were also a few Swallow and
House Martins and David picked up a single Swift. There were also four male Marsh Harriers and
we must also have had at least four females, although they tended to less active
than the males and were presumably on eggs.
We also saw a single Sparrowhawk and a couple of Kestrel as well as
plenty of Avocets and two Black-tailed Godwits flew off to the east and
Pink-footed Goose arrived with a few Greylag Geese. Dave Hursthouse arrived in the hide after we
had been there nearly two hours and after a few minutes said ‘here what’s this’;
needless to say it was the female Montagu’s.
After this initially sighting it was seen several times in the next
fifteen minutes before it went quiet again and we left the hide for some lunch.
Male Marsh Harrier
After lunch we walked in the
opposite direction calling at Xerox hide again and this time we had pretty poor
views of the Garganey that were asleep on one of the islands. We continued on to Ousefleet hide where there
was plenty of mud and were rewarded with a couple of Ruff, three Black-tailed
Godwits, a Greenshank, seven Redshanks and a Yellow Wagtail. We had heard Chiffchaff, Willow Warbler,
Blackcap, Whitethroat, Sedge Warbler and Reed Warbler and I did manage to see a
Sedge Warbler as walked between the hides.
With still no sign of the male Montagu’s David suggested we call at
Gonalston in Nottinghamshire for the long staying Glossy Ibis. Roger and I had seen the ibis back in
February but felt it was a good way to beak the journey home and it was not far
off one of the three choices we have in getting back to Leicester.
Black-tailed Godwit
We headed off through Goole
and picked up the M62 and then the M18 to the A1. We then headed south on the A1 picking up the
A614 to the A6097 to Lowdhan and then turning right to Gonalston. When we arrived there were quite a few Rooks feeding
in the field Roger and I had seen the ibis in but there was no sign of it and
so I walked along the road towards the village and found it just a few meters
on the other side of the road. I called
David and him and Roger soon arrived to get excellent views of the bird and we
also found a Little Owl in a row of old trees in the field. Once we had had enough of the bird we headed
off to the A46 and home after a successful day’s birding.
Glossy Ibis
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