An excellent week for birds of prey with our young hen harrier joining the marsh harriers at roost time and spending a lot of time flying around together - must think its a marsh harrier! I also was watching a spectacular male hen harrier hunting around the reserve today - at one point directly in front of townend. Marsh harriers coming into roost is now back in double figures with around 11 coming in between 4pm and 5pm. Our male merlin is still around - taking a close look at reception when it perched up in one of those bushes. 3 red kites were seen on Tuesday - records of these are increasing rapidly year upon year! Another one that we are seeing more of is buzzard. And lets not forget the sparrowhawk, peregrine and kestrel. So that is eight species of birds of prey at Blacktoft this week!
Otherwise, there are now quite a few snipe along the grassy banks in front of the hides. We are getting the odd appearance of a spotted redshank. Lots and lots of lapwing at Ousefleet. Our ducks have spread out throughout many of the lagoons offering excellent close views of those males in full breeding plumage - worth a photo! We also had a drake pintail today..
Mammals - weasels, roe deer and hares are also worth looking out for.
Please note that on Sunday 13th February we are running the last of our bird of prey events. During the afternoon of Sunday we will be using singleton hide. Please use townend hide to view the birds of prey towards dusk if visiting on Sunday.