20/09/26 - Pink-footed Geese arrival

Over the last few weeks we have witnessed the first arrivals of Pink-footed Geese into the UK, with several skeins also moving through the Lower Derwent Valley NNR as they began to arrive in the country from their Icelandic and Greenland breeding grounds. Flocks of these migrating geese often fly high and produce an excited medley of high-pitched honking calls, (sometimes likened to yapping dogs), and being particularly vocal in flight makes them a sight and sound so indicative of autumn. Birds will continue to arrive and increase in number as we head into October – so one to watch out and listen for.

Around 550,000 Pink-footed Geese winter in the UK each year, with large concentrations in Scotland, around the Wash and in the north-west, particularly Martin Mere WWT. Flocks passing through the reserve at this time of year are all heading south-east and are probably on passage to the Wash or Humber Estuary. Birds then return north-west again in January and February as they start to return to the north-west coasts before making the spring migration back to their breeding grounds. Small numbers sometimes remain throughout the winter and join up with the larger semi-resident Greylag flocks, although there has been a tendency in recent years for larger wintering flocks to linger, perhaps involving 1,000-5,000 birds. 

Pink-footed Geese can be separated from the similar Greylag Goose quite easily – look for a small, dainty, dark chocolate brown head and a small dark bill with a band of pink (if seen well) – also take note of the pink legs as opposed to the more orangey-pink of the larger/greyer Greylag. No doubt more flocks will follow over the next few weeks so please do let us know if you see (or hear) any.

06/09/26 - Final five

Last week saw our final five Corncrake chicks of the year released onto the reserve, in what has been a successful second year of our reintroduction project, bringing the total number of Corncrakes released onto the NNR this year to 148 (and an overall total of 222 across both years to date) – all released on a range of sites across the Ings. Recently we also enjoyed welcoming Paul Murphy from BBC Look North to the Lower Derwent Valley to film one of our releases, which you may have seen last week on the local and national BBC news, as well as featuring on BBC Radio York and Radio 4’s Farming Today programme. 

Whilst it has been a lot of hard work and long hours since early March when our team started building additional pre-release pens, followed by overnight transfers of chicks from Norfolk, twice daily feeds, numerous ringing, tagging and releasing mornings, as well as late evening and early morning survey work to try and record last year’s returning birds, it really is a fantastic project to be involved with, and we're now hoping to get another good return rate next spring, with perhaps 15-20 singing males expected around the site if all goes well. The post-release monitoring that we have carried out over the last few weeks/months suggests everything is looking good so far, with birds behaving in line with what would be expected by wild bred Scottish birds, and we were delighted to get in the region of nine singing males from last year’s cohort returning. Next spring we will be reaching out once again and asking those who live in the local villages as well as local farmers/birdwatchers to listen out for and report any singing birds.

A huge thank you must go to everyone who has supported this project – from building the pens, transporting and feeding the chicks, ringing and tracking the birds, carrying out health checks and managing/maintaining the pens, and most importantly, to those who helped to fund the project through grants and our Aviva crowdfunding campaign – this project is a true partnership effort to help bring Corncrakes back to the English countryside once again. 

15/08/26 - Ellerton Churchyard

It’s that time of year when our team have once again been working hard to help Ellerton Church Preservation Trust undertake the annual hay cut of the churchyard, with the aim of improving the diversity of wildflowers and spreading the benefits of the Ings hay meadows outside of the boundary 🌿🪻

As another growing season is over, we are pleased to say that the management of the churchyard is working as intended, with increasing amounts of Yellow Rattle and Greater Burnet, as well as many other herbs and finer grasses, along with other typical ‘Ings’ species that are now found in increasing numbers amongst the headstones. Whilst in recent years the churchyard has been looking more welcoming and awash with colour during the summer months, it is also now more resilient in the drought compared with many other areas of mown/drought-stricken grasslands, and so it's worth a mention and reminder of how our churchyards and gardens are incredibly important in providing valuable habitat for the local wildlife if managed correctly 🚜

Each year after our team have cut the meadow, it is then turned before being dried and made into bales by Rosewood Farms – helping both biodiversity of the site and the local farming community in producing feed for livestock. If you haven’t yet visited this area of the Lower Derwent Valley it’s somewhere worth calling on your next visit – set right next to the Ings the church overlooks the winter floods and is rather a special place in the local landscape – complete with its breeding Barn Owls who also feature in a specially made stained-glass window within the church, which details some of the history and wildlife of the Ings 🦉🪟

As always, it’s been yet another fantastic effort by our team, enabling the ongoing management of the churchyard and helping to make more places better for wildlife and people in our local area, and helping nature to recover and spill out from the core of the valley – huge thank you to our brilliant team for their efforts 👏 

08/08/26 - Clouded Yellow/HBHM records

We’ve enjoyed several sightings of two special visitors of late, with the Clouded Yellow butterfly and Humming-bird Hawk-moth making appearances across the reserve, including in our NNR Base Garden.

The Hummingbird Hawk-moth is a small, day-flying moth, and is a summer visitor to the UK, migrating from Southern Europe in variable numbers each year, and appearing to be on the increase as our climate changes. In some years it can be common and seen in gardens, hovering as its names suggests like a Hummingbird as it feeds on the nectar of honeysuckle, red valerian and other nectar-rich species. 

The Clouded Yellow is one of our migratory European butterflies and is a regular visitor to Britain and Ireland, and although some of these golden-yellow butterflies are seen every year, the species is famous for occasional mass immigrations and subsequent breeding, which are known as 'Clouded Yellow Years'. A few individuals have been reported across the county this year, with the warm weather undoubtedly accounting for the influx of this southern range species.

It's been 15 years since our NNR Base Garden was originally planted by our team, with the idea of making it a demonstration bee and butterfly garden – including nectar-rich plant species such as cowslips, purple loosestrife, scabious, foxgloves, lavender, buddleia and water mint. As we hoped it would, this garden has proved to be a hive of activity, producing high counts of butterflies, in particular whites on the lavender, along with Small Tortoiseshells, Red Admirals, Commas and Peacocks on the buddleia. A number of bee species have also taken a liking to the lavender, whilst hoverflies and moths have been numerous – why not try this yourself and make a home for pollinators in your own garden – let us know how you get on! 

28/07/26 - Quail

The year of the Quail! 🤩

2026 is proving to be a bumper Quail year with the largest influx recorded since 2011 when 2,000 singing males were recorded across the country. The Lower Derwent Valley (with its extensive flower-filled traditionally managed hay meadows) is one of the countries Quail ‘hotspots’ and an impressive 74 calling males have been located so far this year. The first birds arrived in early May, with several further arrivals – the most recent being in early July and involving birds singing from their other favoured habitat – barley fields. 

Quail are rarely seen and are often given away by their distinctive ‘wet my lips’ call coming from areas of dense grass, herbs and surrounding arable (https://soundapproach.co.uk/common-quail/). They are a migratory species of gamebird, travelling as far south as Africa for the winter, then returning to the UK to breed from late spring, with later birds arriving through June and July which may have attempted breeding in southern Europe before having a second attempt here. Most years around 100-300 calling males are recorded throughout the UK, although national influxes can result in much larger numbers in the country, and such influxes are often mirrored in the Lower Derwent Valley. 

A staggering 91 singing males were present across the reserve in 1997, followed by 70 in 2000. More typically, 5-15 males are located each year, so 2026 is certainly up there as one of the best. Our team have taken this opportunity to ring a sample during the influx, and so far, have caught and ringed 18 individuals, which given only 220 have ever been ringed in the UK is a huge addition to the national totals, and will hopefully lead to more valuable data on the conservation needs of this incredible little gamebird. Please do let us know if you’ve heard any on your travels around the reserve, thank you.