A new Reserve today, I thought I would give it a call as I was in the area for a couple of days. A great day lovely and sunny, the site is virtually next door to the Ripon Racecourse, which seemed to have a lake in the centre of the course, here I could see, Mute Swan, plenty of Greylag Geese, with a few Oystercatchers.
Walking further in to the reserve, there were Chiffchaffs and Blackcaps calling from the bushes, I soon came across on of the reserve lakes, however the sun was shining straight in to my face across the water, making it difficult to see anything. It was good to hear hear Chiffchaff and Blackcaps again, I finally made it around to the canal side of the reserve, where there is kind of a hide come screen setup, I could see a bit better here as the sun was now side on, birds here were Mute Swan, a male Goldeneye, Gadwall, Tufted Duck, a pair of Common Buzzard, it appeared the Buzzards had made camp on the Osprey platform, I also heard a booming Bittern from here.
After dinner, I went over to the river side of the reserve and found an area with Primrose, a few butterflies down here with, Orange tip being the common one, also Brimstone, Peacocks and the Dark edged Bee Fly, with my first Willow Warbler of the year
Video of the Day can be seen HERE
Birds Seen : Bittern, Black headed Gull, Blackcap, Blue Tit, Buzzard, Carrion Crow, Cetti’s Warbler, Chiffchaff, Coot, Cormorant, Gadwall, Goldeneye, Great Black backed Gull, Great Crested Grebe, Great Spotted Woodpecker, Grey Heron, Greylag Goose, Kestrel, Lapwing, Lesser Black backed Gull, Meadow Pipit, Moorhen, Oystercatcher, Reed Bunting, Robin, Rook, Ruff, Shoveler, Tufted Duck, Willow Warbler, Woodpigeon, Wren (33) 148/200
Butterflies Seen : Comma, Green veined White, Orange tip, Peacock, Speckled Wood
Chiffchaff
Comma
Dark edged Bee Fly
Huddsbirder 