Tophill Low.......

Wood Pigeons,North Marsh.

A flooded Watton Nature Reserve.

With the prospect of a full day out today,Chris and myself headed over the Humber bridge to Tophill Low,Yorkshire Waters Flagship nature reserve.On the journey over we managed to see a Barn Owl crossing the main road at Willerby and along the approach road to Tophill a group of 5 Roe Deer were watched on a stubble field.On arrival at Tophill,we purchased our day permits and then made the decision to look over D-res first.There were good numbers of Wildfowl present and highlights included 10 stunning Pintail,which gave great views through the scope and were a privilege to watch as they swam about on the res.Chris then found a 2nd winter Med. Gull feeding on a flooded field and then after a short while took off and flew steadily north until lost in the distance.Numbers of wildfowl on the res included 25 Goldeneye,51 Shoveler and 115 Tufted Duck and a single Kingfisher was also watched flying around the perimeter wall.We then made our way around to north marsh were a couple of Otters have been showing,but sadly they didn't show today,all we managed to see were a couple of Lesser Redpoll and a Little Egret flew over towards Hempholme Meadow/Lock.At the lock itself,the only highlights included 2 Common Buzzard,1 of which was a cracking pale morph adult which gave superb views as it flew around over the flooded meadow.We continued our walk around this cracking reserve arriving at Watton Nature Reserve,which was completely flooded,but decent numbers of wildfowl were present and included 328 Mallard,65 Gadwall,237 Teal and a single Drake Pintail,the only waders present were 9 Redshank.As time progressed we made our way back to D-res and joined local birder Martin Hodges for the gull roost.Masses of Gulls eventually began to arrive and highlights included a further 2 Med Gulls an Adult and 1st winter which Martin picked out with expert precision and i managed to find a 1st winter Drake Scaup mixed in with the flocks of mixed wildfowl.As it got darker a Barn Owl was watched hunting along the Northern end of the res and this was the last goodie of the day.Another excellent visit to this great reserve was enjoyed today and a big thanks goes to Chris for driving.