It was another sunny winters day down at the sands and both marsh and hen harriers seem to be having fun flying around.
Once I defrosted the reception, I got my first glimpse of a marsh harrier floating past reception and then looking towards singleton there was a ring-tail hen harrier hunting around there. This ring-tail was seen off and on throughout much of the day.
The winters light also shows off our ducks on our lagoons to their full. The smart male wigeons spent the day on the grassy bank right in front of first and reception. The two goldeneyes were present on xerox along with more of those amazing ducks including 8 pochard. The rest of the ducks were down at singleton - with gadwall and now some shoveler.
The snipe were also having fun on the left hand island on xerox and our rarity, the treecreeper spent much the day up at Ousefleet.
With the sun dipping towards the end of the day, the excitment of watching the marsh harrier roost built up. This is now taking place between 4 and 5 pm viewable from first, townend or singleton hides. Todays light just caught the reeds prefect and that male marsh harrier amazingly well. Over 20 marsh harriers have been coming to roost at Blacktoft during recent nights.
In the last of the light towards 5pm, the arrival of the male hen harrier and the glimpse of a merlin finished off another great day on the sands.
This photo by Hannah who volunteered with us a few weeks back shows the light hitting the reeds at the end of a winters day.