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Well today was wet until 15:45 and all was calm until then. The marsh harriers were heading into the reeds one by one and two hen harriers were also present. Then it stopped raining. The next half hour brought about a lot of activity. Firstly, the male hen harrier made another appearance, then...

Blacktoft feels like a different place during the winter. Just have a look at the following photos for a taster on what you might experience. The reeds look wonderful in the winter sunlight. This photos is a view from reception taken by Mike Andrews. See and hear many different types of...

A little update this evening of some of the action about Blacktoft Sands today - starting with hen harriers and finishing with barn owls. OK - The hen harriers have been showing off and on throughout much of the day down at singleton - with both the male and a ring-tail making an appearance. The...

After much of this week being stuck in the office due to the weather, I went down this afternoon for a look at the reserve. Apart from being completely covered in snow including the car park - there was lots of action from some of our wildlife. Here are some of the highlights: Roe Deer - seen all...

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...

The spectacular harrier roost continues into 2012 with the male hen harrier joining the two ring-tail hen harriers (pictured above) at roost time between 2:30pm and 4:15pm. These three hen harriers have been flying around with up to 24 marsh harriers these first few days of 2012. Other highlights...

15 marsh harriers came into roost this evening with 7000 golden plover behind them. The hen harrier was once again present at roost time along with a merlin. Also today there were 3 spotted redshank up at Ousefleet, a chiffchaff by the feeders and a cettis warbler around singleton. We have now managed...

Well, our harriers seemed to be having a lot of fun down at singleton this evening. Just after 4pm, I managed to count 16 marsh harriers and 1 ring-tail hen harrier in just one view in my binoculars! - what a sight! They were in the mood to have a right good fly around before settling in for a night...

Phew! The birding just seems to coming thick and fast at the moment confirming that the combination of high tides and an easterly influence in the weather often makes for some excellent birding. A good old fashioned bird list should be the best way to tell you what you are missing! - Peaks as follows...

A lot of displaying seems to be happening all around Blacktoft - from the marsh harriers busy chasing, patroling and doing a bit of skydancing to the little grebes calling and displaying on some of our lagoons. We have been watching two spectacularly marked male marsh harriers busy at work in front...

This week has seen the return of our spactacular male marsh harriers to the reserve stirring things up with those young males that stayed the winter. Today our marsh harriers were soaring, falling, twisting and turning all over the the reserve and this is just the start! In the coming weeks more males...

They are still here! I have been to Scotland and back since my last blog on the 1st March and these owls appear to have not moved. OK they must go hunting at night but return to roost each day next to our xerox hide - offering close views of these amazing birds. Once you have had a look at the...

The long-eared owls that we found on Sunday are still here and offering excellent views for our many visitors this week. This week has also seen a little bit of change with many birds returning to Blacktoft. Most noticeable is the black-headed gulls . Also skylarks have been singing up at Ousefleet...

Despite the damp and dreary weather recently there have been a few signs of the spring, including this morning an amazing nine hares all together and boxing in the field just next to the reserve. Not quite March to be mad yet but they were certainly a spectacular sight! What with all the Roe deer on...

Our bird of prey roost has been entertaining us since September when the roost was at 21 birds, 15 remained through November, around 10 in January and now numbers are climbing again with around 15 marsh harriers coming to roost at Blacktoft around 5pm each day. During this time the merlins have been...

The following is a report of the last three hours of the day and all seen from singleton hide on Sunday 13th February during our bird of prey event. Starting with birds of prey. Another red kite sighting this week - this one flew in along the back of lagoons heading towards the trent. Around 7 marsh...

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...

Enjoying this bit of fresh air today has been the marsh harriers - the have simply been amazing! They have been flying around all over the place all day long. Towards dusk today there were at least six marsh harriers going into roost (well six in the air at once) and they even invited a couple of...

A welcome sight this morning was the sight of two ringtail hen harrier chasing each other around the reserve. It was interesting to see that one of the birds was almost certainly the one with abraded primaries that was seen at Reads Island over the weekend. So its looking good for birds of prey at the...

Well what a nice day to visit the reserve at Blacktoft - the sun on the reeds, some nice birds and a place to escape to in the winter! I only spent the last few hours on the reserve today but I had a barn owl - this time at the marshland box. This along with recent sightings of two down at singleton...

In recent weeks we have been seeing up to three different hen harriers joining our regular birds of prey on the reserve. At least two of these, a male and a ring-tail were seen coming into roost towards dusk in the last few days so why not join us this weekend and you may be able to compare a male hen...

After the harsh winter here at Blacktoft Sands, we thought it would be a long time until we saw a barn owl. Yesterday one was spotted flying through the reserve so the good news is that at least one has survived. Not only we had a barn owl we also had a short-eared owl - see the photos in our gallery...

Well what a day for birds of prey at Blacktoft Sands with 2 Hen Harrier, 4 Marsh harrier, 2 merlin, sparrowhawk and kestrel. Lets start with the hen harriers - around 14:30 our smart male that has been around for at least the last ten days turned up at Ousefleet and did a complete circuit ending up...

As you were expecting here is Friday evenings update. Top of the sightings list for the past week has been a male hen harrier . This smart looking bird seems to like it as was around last weekend and was last seen at 3pm today down at singleton lagoon. The ice / water situation: At Ousefleet hide...

During recent days we have been seeing signs of both marsh harrier and hen harrier using the reserve. We have spotted two different male hen harriers hunting over the reserve on a regularly basis. Marsh harriers have also started using the reserve as a place to roost again as the water begins to free...