Dannysbirds: Spoonbills at Blacktoft Sands

Saturday 25 June 2011

Spoonbills at Blacktoft Sands

Saturday 25th June a.m.
Today started cloudy with drizzle falling and a temperature of 13°C, we had
heard there were Spoonbills at Blacktoft Sands and so set off in the hope of
seeing them. The cloud broke as we travelled East and there were some sunny
spells at Blacktoft although it did cloud over from time to time.
We were told by the RSPB warden that the Spoonbills moved about behind the
Reed Beds on the lagoons and didn't always show, he mentioned he'd just seen
12 Spotted Redshank so we went to seek them out. We found them where he said
but could not get any good pictures as the light was behind them and they just
appeared as a black shadow in their summer plumage. From the hide we saw our
first Sedge Warbler and the Marsh Harriers were flying in the distance.
In the next hide we were pleased to see the Avocets again and also here were
20 Black-tailed Godwits along with the many Black-headed Gulls. The Spotted
Redshank also appeared and we got a little better snap.
As we moved between the hides we also saw several Reed Warblers and 20 Swifts
overhead, at the feeding station were Tree Sparrows along with other usual species.
The next hide we saw Shelduck,Tufted Duck with 8 chicks and several Mallards,
Coots and Moorhen.We also saw a Cormorant showing well on the island of one
lagoon and a Wren made an appearence infront of the hide.
We had our lunch and then had a quick scan from the liklely hides for the elusive
Spoonbills. A Heron appeaed on the far side of the lagoon followed by a second
and soon after on the edge of the reeds we could see the Spoonbills. They seemed
very friendly with the Herons and showed for a while in the distance, so we could
get a few snaps. The Marsh Harriers were still flying in the distance and we also saw
a Kestrel hover above the reeds, a succesfull end to our day.