Today was a short trip to Thorpe Perrow where we saw 2 clutches of young Little Grebes, a dozen juvenile mallards and a group of baby Tufted ducks.
Yesterday we stopped in at Fountains Abbey at the large pond nearest the deer park. Not as many birds here now as there usually is but a selection of the typical residents with juvenile Black Headed Gulls, Tufted Ducks, Moor Hens, Greylag and Canada Geese and a few Mallards. And the Jack Daws were braving the busy cafe eating area to scrounge for crumbs.
Last weekend we stopped in at Marshfields Reserve, just in passing, not expecting the size of the place once we got out and started walking around. There were loads of birds and young on all the ponds. Definitely a place we'll go back to and spend more time. Spotted maybe a hundred Mallards, a pair of Great Crested Grebe, Swans, Greylags, Moor Hens... we didn't get to all the ponds though. We also saw Chiff Chaff zipping about in the hedgerows.
On the weekend before this (June 29th) we stopped by Nosterfield late in the day and though the water line was low there were plenty of birds. Nothing new for us but we did get some really good close views of sedge warblers along the path and the baby Great Tits were out and flitting from bush to bush.
Shawnna
