A Taste of Twitching

We have just got back from a fabulous morning with the RSPB at Blacktoft Sands in East Yorkshire.

Many thanks to John and his wife, Anne for all their excellent bird guide knowledge.   We all had a thoroughly enjoyable morning.  My daughter said afterwards that it was nothing like she had expected as the birds were free.  I think she was expecting a zoo! We Townies definitely need to get out more into the wilds.

Dressed to twitch!

The highlights of the morning were the magnificent Marsh Harriers and the warblers. There are so many different warbler types and they are far too fast to easily identify, particularly for the untrained eye. We did spot one of the “star” birds, the Black Cap but we were far too slow to photograph it!

I was really looking forward to a glimpse of the Bitterns that have been sighted at the reserve along with the avocets, but they remained elusive. Perhaps we may have better luck next time.

Marsh Harrier being mobbed by Black headed gull

Beautiful yellow Flag Iris and plentiful at the site

I spy with my little eye my gorgeous twitcher

An extra surprise was a glimpse of the recently introduced konik ponies. This is a hardy Polish breed originating from the extinct Tarpan horse which roamed Europe in prehistoric times. They are extremely self-sufficient and luckily they can survive extremely low temperatures and will help control the habitat through grazing.  Pity we just got a rear view of these beautiful creatures and another reason to visit the reserve again.

I highly recommend a visit. For more info visit:

http://www.rspb.org.uk/reserves/guide/b/blacktoftsands