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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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

Well we are nearing the end of another year and here is my top 5 Blacktoft moments of 2010. 1) The amazing sight of a rough-legged buzzard being chased by nine of our marsh harriers on Sunday 24 th Oct 2) The walking, flying and even climbing young bittern of Wednesday 15 th September. ...

After first been seen on November 1st - we appear to have a fallow deer living at Blacktoft Sands. It was seen quite a few times during the first week of November but then we have had no records until today (Friday 26th) and then it was only seen very briefly out the front of reception. If anybody has...

Since 2002 marsh harriers have been found all year round at Blacktoft Sands. During the last couple of winters, numbers staying for the winter have dramatically increased so that at the moment we have over 10 different birds returning each day to roost in the reeds. Why have they started to...

Todays roost had well over 10 marsh harriers coming in - these 10 were counted from reception at 3:15pm and were all in the air at once! A ring-tail hen harrier also made an appearance around that time. For the roost best to be in postion by 2:30pm at the latest. We also had a male hen harrier seen on...

Approaching 4pm up to 12 marsh harriers start appearing from all different directions. Depending what they feel like they may flap around for a while sometimes with 6 to 9 marsh harriers in the air at once before they decide it is time to get settled for the night in the reeds or they may just drop in...

Well we now have made it into November and if you were to visit Blacktoft Sands then I recommend that you spend a little time going around the lagoons ending up at singleton or townend for the roost between 3pm and 5pm at the moment. Recent roosts have included around 10 marsh harriers, sparrowhawks...

Ten years ago there was a great starling roost at Blacktoft Sands but for some reason this no longer happens. Sometimes starlings change roost sites - this might be what happened to us. Last year for one night only, 100 starlings decided to roost in the reeds at the reserve - why one night? I cannot...