This last week has been replenishingly birdy, much of which involved four very enjoyable days guiding at Tophill Low, in the Hull Valley in East Yorkshire.
Cattle Egret
Tophill is a wonderful reserve - two reservoirs, damp, mixed woodland, marsh, lakes, scrub and more - all easily walkable from the car park, which is conveniently in the centre of the site (allowing for an ideal game of two halves for a guiding day); not only that, it's quiet, superbly managed, and has multiple comfortable hides at every juncture.
Lapwings
Amazingly it's taken us this long to sort out bespoke guiding days there (better late than never!), and I was very much looking forward to these days - a maximum of six clients per team, and blessed with beautiful weather throughout.
With such a fantastic mix of habitats in such close proximity, the birding is always quality - at pretty much any time of year, too - and so it was throughout my tours. Highlights were many - Scaup, Smew, Red-crested Pochards, Marsh Tits, Kingfishers, White-fronted Goose, Cetti's Warblers, Tawny and Barn Owls......
..... gangs of displaying Goldeneyes, super-close, nest-building Marsh Harriers, Cattle, Great and Little Egrets, Red Kites, newly-arrived Chiffchaffs, about-to-leave Redwings, great views of myriad commoner species....
Red-crested Pochards (above), Tawny Owl (below)
A really excellent, exciting new addition to our birding tour calendar, and I'm already looking at where I can fit in more days here later in the year - watch this space, and check the Yorkshire Coast Nature website here.
Red-crested Pochards (above), Tawny Owl (below)
