It’s been a good year at Blacktoft, England’s largest area of tidal reedbed, with breeding avocets, bearded tits, bitterns and marsh harriers and the UK’s rarest breeding bird of prey - Montagu’s harrier, so there was plenty to look forward to. Recent high tides had resulted in the water levels on the reserve being unusually high which are not the conditions which attract many waders and this time of year is not the best for duck spotting as most are in eclipse, so we saw rather a lot of brown ducks and only a few waders. However, once we got our eyes in we were able to distinguish most of the ducks and we were pleased to see snipe, lapwing, redshank, curlew, little egret and perhaps the day’s highlight, black-tailed godwits as well as a skulking water rail. From time to time throughout the day a hunting marsh harrier would spook the ducks and a kestrel hovered over the reeds. A total of 30 bird species was recorded including tree sparrows which are attracted to the feeders on the approach to the cosy (log fire) visitor centre.
The botanists were especially interested in seeing the marsh sow-thistle, a species found on only a few sites in Britain. When Joan first recorded this plant at Blacktoft in 1998, there were just six plants on the reserve. It has spread so much during the intervening period that counting is now done by clump rather than by individual plant – a spectacular success story. In all 74 species of plants were noted either in flower or fruit by our eagle-eyed recorders. As the day warmed up butterflies started to appear; first of all, as usual, a speckled wood which was followed by peacock, small tortoiseshell and small and green-veined white. Dragonflies were also about in the form of common darter and migrant hawker and John also recorded silver Y and angle shades moths as well as a buff ermine moth caterpillar.
So our time passed surprisingly quickly and we returned to Bradford a happy bunch in time to miss the rush hour traffic thanks to our drivers for the day, Sue and Robert.
Stuart