RSPB Blacktoft Sands

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Blacktoft Sands RSPB Reserve is located in Yorkshire where the Rivers Trent and Ouse meet to form the Humber Estuary. It is known mainly for its huge area of intertidal reedbed and a series of lagoons, each of which is overlooked by a wooden hide.

In November I spent two weeks as a residential volunteer and, working alongside staff and other volunteers, I got a little insight into the work involved in managing a nature reserve for the benefit of both birds and people.

I was very lucky with the weather whilst I was there, not too cold and it only rained on a couple of days. So plenty of outdoor work, including repair work to paths, creating mosaics of habitat within the reedbed at Island Farm, repairing screens adjacent to a hide, helping move sheep off the grazing fields, and cleaning equipment whilst it rained outside.

A new species for me was cetti's warbler which lives in the reedbed. Marsh harriers are a frequent sight as they soar over the reserve and I enjoyed the opportunity to become more familiar with them. I haven't seen a barn owl for decades so it was really exciting to see one on two separate occasions near the grazing marsh.

Avocets nest on the little islands in some of the lagoons and I'm hoping to organise a return visit next spring/summer to see if they appreciate the work carried out over the last week or so. I'll also be on the look out for bearded reedlings, which I've never seen before either.

I don't have as many photos as for my other trips as my little panasonic bridge camera packed up on the last week of my trip to Spain/Portugal. I do have an old DSLR camera, but it is nowhere near as convenient to carry and lacks the zoom capablities of the panasonic. It's in for repair locally at the moment, fingers crossed.

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Photos

Winter Wildfowl
Shoveler, teal, black headed gull and a few snipe