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Blacktoft Sands 11th May 2013 Flying from the reeds in front of the Xerox Hide Four times in an hour - great treat and my first of the year

Blacktoft Sands 11th May 2013 Flying from the reeds in front of the Xerox Hide Four times in an hour - great treat and my first of the year

Today was an excellent example of the action from the wildlife at Blacktoft Sands during spring. Lets start with the magnificent male marsh harriers. They seemed to be in the mood for a bit of nest building this morning. I watched just one of the male marsh harriers down at townend hide today flying...

This is a typical view of a bittern at Blacktoft during the past couple of days. Despite the wind, the bitterns continue to be very active and are able to fly high over the reserve as it flies past reception as it did both today and yesterday during the afternoon. Much like in this photo taken...

Had just arrived when this bittern showed well as it returned to its nest in front of Singleton hide. My second ever sighting of a bittern at Blacktoft Sands!

The following happened in just 15 minutes from reception this afternoon. It all started with us watching the stunning little gull feeding on first lagoon as it has been for much of the day. Then came the sighting of the bittern flying low over the reeds, followed 5 minutes later by another glimpse...

Hi, This week has seen a bit of change in our marsh harrier behaviour. Just a week ago we have been watching one of our male marsh harrier taking pieces of reed into a potential nest site and now today many of our marsh harriers were taking advantage of our first dry day for a while to start building...

On Monday we had an extremely close view as a bittern flew past reception just 10 metres in front of us and ended up going into the edge of the reeds on the right hand side of first. This offered us excellent views of the wonderful marked pulmage on this rare bird. This last few weeks has seen a increase...

So what would you like? Garganey, bittern, black-tailed godwit, barn owl, spotted redshank, water rail, avocet or just a yellow wagtail? Well we have them all and even more! The pair of Garganey that turned up in the storms on Monday were still here today enjoying their time of first lagoon along...

15 May 2011, Townend Hide, Blacktoft Sands You don't get too long to capture these birds! Maybe 5 or 10 seconds? Well, that's my excuse for a hastily grabbed shot :-) This bird dropped down close to where I believe there was a Marsh Harrier nest, and there was shortly some agitated harrier...

Well today started with another sighting of our friendly hare running along the path in front of reception. Then down on marshland, we had a spotted redshank (in full summer plumage), those black-tailed godwits , the noisy avocets (and chicks), sedge and reed warblers along those reeds. This afternoon...

Today the top bird at Blacktoft was not: The osprey that flew over the reserve at 4pm The slavonian grebe on singleton (now almost two weeks) The sighting of bittern flying over the reeds (twice) and hearing it boom Over 100 avocets on marshland The spectacular male marsh harriers flying...

Our marsh harriers continue to offer an amazing display with over 10 birds often in the air at once! Look anywhere from reception down to singleton lagoon and I am sure you will see at least a few marsh harriers. It is also worth looking high into the air and you might see some of them doing somersaults...