12/06/26 - Responsible Recreation

Over the past week, our Responsible Recreation Team have been busy replacing some of our signs across the reserve with new information boards, detailing how we can all help protect wildlife during the ground-nesting bird season. This is one of the most crucial times of year for many of the reserve's bird species, and we're pleased to say that 2026 is shaping up to be an exciting year, with a short summary below of how the season has unfolded so far.

• A large number of Curlew clutches began to hatch from the 21st May, and recently our team recorded six pairs with 20 newly hatched or small young at one site – we now need to hope that these young chicks have the best chance to fledge and recruit into the breeding population. 

• An impressive 69 pairs of drumming Snipe have been recorded across the reserve so far this spring.

• Several Quail have now been heard (following the first on the 6th May).

• The first-ever breeding Marsh Harriers for the site have been recorded this year.

• Several broods of Lapwing chicks have already hatched.

• It’s been a strong spring for Common Cranes – a species which could potentially colonise the site in the future.

Whilst we would like our visitors to enjoy the reserve and all the wonderful wildlife it has to offer, we ask everyone to help give these vulnerable species the best chance of success by following a few simple guidelines:

Keep dogs on leads 🐕

Stay on marked footpaths 🚶 

Use designated viewing areas 🔭 

Take notice of signs 🪧

Ground-nesting birds are particularly sensitive to disturbance, and unfortunately even well-intentioned visitors can inadvertently cause birds to leave their nests, thus exposing eggs or young chicks to predators. By keeping to designated routes, a safe environment can be created where wildlife can thrive.

You may notice livestock grazing in some areas across the reserve – grazing animals play an important role in maintaining the special habitats found across the Lower Derwent Valley, helping to create the varied conditions that species such as Curlew, Lapwing and Snipe depend upon. 

Many ground-nesting birds have evolved alongside grazing animals and are generally well adapted to their presence, and the movements of livestock are often predictable, allowing birds and grazing animals to share these habitats successfully. This is why conservation grazing remains an important part of the management of many of the UK's most important breeding sites for ground-nesting species.

Many thanks to everyone who is already helping us to look after this special landscape – together, we can ensure the reserve remains a haven for wildlife, while continuing to be a wonderful place for people to enjoy nature responsibly.

08/06/26 - Common Terns

In 2017, thanks to your support (via cards, calendars and log sales) and a kind private donation to the Friends of the LDV, four terns rafts were purchased by the charity, and since then, we’ve had the pleasure of having Common Terns breeding annually on the reserve (at least one or sometimes two pairs each year) - most notably on the rafts on the pool at Wheldrake Ings. 

Common Tern brood - Wheldrake raft - 2019

A total of 32 chicks have been hatched, ringed and fledged since that time, and so it was really pleasing to receive news about two of them this week.  

One of the chicks (ringed in July 2019) was seen at Tophill Low, whilst the other (ringed in 2023) was reported amongst the tern colony at North Cave Wetlands. In other years, we have had individuals reported from colonies at RSPB Aire Valley and the Farne Islands. One or two have also been sighted at Seaforth Nature Reserve in Merseyside and another, ringed in July 2019 (and the sibling of the bird seen recently at Tophill Low), was even spotted at sea off the coast of the Gambia. It's amazing to think how our four tern rafts and small numbers of breeding pairs have added to the population, and with each chick marked with a darvic colour-ring, it has allowed these incredible journeys to be revealed.

Common Tern - North Cave Wetland - Liz Newton

So thank you as always for your ongoing support and helping to make this happen. If you'd like to find out more about the status and ringing recoveries of our Common Terns (and other species) all of this information, and more, can be found in the new ‘Birds of the LDV’. If you’d like to purchase a copy of this book please e-mail Lucy.Murgatroyd@naturalengland.org.uk, with 100% of the sales going straight to the Friends of the Lower Derwent Valley charity to help with projects such as these. Or, if you’d like to make a donation to the new Aviva fund, the books are available on there as a reward for making a donation – every penny counts with Aviva matching each donation made – more details can be found by using the link below.

https://communitiesfund.avivafoundation.org.uk/p/lower-derwent-valley-corncrake-reintroductiom#

01/06/26 - Corncrake Aviva Fund

Many thanks for all the kind comments of support on our recent post on our Corncrake reintroduction project. We’re now pleased to say that the first of this year’s chicks have arrived in the Lower Derwent Valley (14 days old) and are now settled in our pre-release pens where they will remain until 35 days old, by which point they will be imprinted on the 'LDV night sky’ and will hopefully know it as ‘home’, which, all being well, will see them return next year. Further broods will be arriving throughout the summer months, all made possible by our incredible team of dedicated volunteers, who, along with our staff, will be transporting the chicks from Norfolk to the Lower Derwent Valley through the hours of darkness to reduce the stress.

This project is being privately funded by the Friends of the LDV and Carstairs Countryside Trust – in partnership with Deepdale Conservation Trust in Norfolk. However, with the project running for another two years, we are looking to raise additional funds and are pleased to say that we have been accepted into Aviva’s Community Fund, where any donation is matched by Aviva, and their staff are also allowed to donate additional funds. The more we can raise the more we can do – both in terms of building pre-release pens and tagging and tracking more released (and wild) Corncrakes, to understand what we can do to give the project the best chance of success. 

During this time we will also be supporting work to engage local communities and drive forward wider educational and nature recovery projects related to Corncrakes and other species. If you’d like to help us meet our target and raise some much needed funds (every little bit really does help) then please make a donation of your choice, and remember whatever you choose to donate, will be matched by Aviva - making your contribution even more valuable. A few rewards are also available for the first few donations made – please follow the link below to donate and to read more about the project.

https://communitiesfund.avivafoundation.org.uk/p/lower-derwent-valley-corncrake-reintroductiom

16/05/26 - Corncrake arrival

Regular followers of our page will be aware of our Corncrake reintroduction project which started last summer, in an attempt to bring back a self-sustaining population of Corncrakes to the Lower Derwent Valley - the hope is that boosting the small numbers that turn up here almost annually will be the first stage in securing an English breeding population. This project has been made possible thanks to our partners including Carstairs Countryside Trust and Deepdale Conservation Trust in Norfolk, as well as the hard work of our volunteer team, who had only weeks to build the pens last spring before the first chicks arrived. 

In addition to a wild pair present on site during the summer of 2025, a total of 74 chicks were released across the LDV NNR, having been reared in pre-release pens from 12 days old in order to fix on the night sky and to ‘set’ the Lower Derwent Valley as ‘home’. Our post-release monitoring work using various tracking tags showed the birds to survive well and behave naturally in the Ings meadows, and departing and migrating out of the country in line with what would be expected from wild Scottish bred Corncrakes. 

Following their migration to the wintering grounds in the Congo in Africa, we have been waiting with bated breath for their return, although with a low survival rate, we were expecting to see perhaps only four or five singing males return in the first year. However, we are delighted to say that so far we have recorded three, or possibly four returning males (all heard singing recently) – although in the coming weeks they are likely to become more vocal and easier to record – if you're fortunate enough to come across a singing male whilst visiting the site, please do get in touch to let us know – thank you. 

10/05/26 - White Carr Meadow

Recently, Natural England were gifted an area of land off the Pocklington Canal near Coates Lock (north of Bielby) from the estate of the late Mr Blackburn. This includes two old traditional meadows (one of which is SSSI and presently has a tremendous number of Cowslips), a fen meadow, reedbed areas and an old orchard – all surrounded by thick traditional hedgerows. This area of land will now be managed by Natural England and the Friends of the Lower Derwent Valley, as well as Carstairs Countryside Trust, who have a small parcel of land next door. This starts to form another block of land managed for nature conservation further east of the main block (Melbourne and Thornton Ings), and will form part of the extended NNR planned for later this year 🍾🤩

Before the start of the breeding season our team were hard at work starting to clear up the garden and orchard – making space to try and recover the old varieties of apple trees, as well as starting to fence off the site whilst enhancing the boundary hedgerows. Most of the trees appear to be still alive having started to blossom recently which is encouraging, and we look forward to watching as it develops further, with our fantastic team ready and willing to lend a hand. This site has largely been abandoned for over 30 years, so there’s a lot of sensitive work to do – but being just off the canal towpath it is hoped that we can create a site for visitors to enjoy, with our partners at Canal and Rivers Trust and the Pocklington Canal Amenity Society – watch this space 👀😁