As i have often done in the past,i finished nights today,went home had an hours kip and woke up to wall to wall sun,so i decided to head for Messingham again.At last spring had arrived properly and i parked a short way from the reserve to view the sheep fields and new sand workings.Highlights here consisted of two 'Firsts' for the year in the form of a Cuckoo and a lovely male Whitethroat.The Cuckoo was just observed in flight,but the Whitethroat performed admirably,catching insects and sub singing.Also on the nearby fields,several nesting and displaying Lapwings were seen along with 3 Yellow Wagtail,6 Common Buzzard taking advantage of the now rising thermals and a flyover Little-ringed Plover.So after this good start i made the short hop over to the reserve proper.As i parked up,a further 6 Common Buzzard were seen,with some of the birds being the ones i had seen earlier,but great to see in the fantastic light.A quick check on the Grebe lake revealed nothing out of the ordinary,but a little further on just past the dipping platform another 'First' for the year was seen,a singing male Reed Warbler.This bird didn't show particularly well,but later in the day another gave great views from the mound on the way down to the wader hide.Nothing unusual in the plantation today,but on the other side another singing male Whitethroat gave stunning views and i managed to get some great images of this individual.On arrival at the duck hide,i again managed to find the 2 female Scaup,one of which looked like it was paired up to a male Tufted Duck,that should make for some interesting young later in the year.The only other bird of note here was a single drake Wigeon.After a text from Dave we met up and carried on looking around this cracking reserve,eventually ending up down at the wader hide,on route seeing another 'First' in the form of a 2nd calendar year Hobby,my earliest personal record.It was watched hawking fly's,with fantastic aerial prowess,what a superb species they are!.Today was the best day i have had so far this year for insects,with the highlights being provided by my 'First' Brimstone and Green-veined Whites of the year,at least 10 Peacock and several Bee-Fly's.There were quite a lot of Toads active today and i also managed to see a couple of juvenile Common Frogs.So all in all,what a superb day and i returned home a bit tired,but very happy.
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| Bee Fly. |
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| Defensive Common Toad. |
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| Singing male Whitethroat. |
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| Male Whitethroat. |
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| Peacock Butterfly. |
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| Distant Hobby. |
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| Black-headed Gulls. |
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| Reed Warbler. |
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