14/04/20 - Sand Martin arrival

We're delighted to say that the first Sand Martins were reported from Bank Island last week (6th April), with five individuals seen excavating new holes in our nesting bank. Fortunately, one of the last jobs our team managed to get done before the lockdown was to empty and clean out last year’s nesting chambers, as well as re-filling them and the tunnels with fresh sand.

With thanks to grants and donations received by the Friends of the Lower Derwent Valley, this will be the second year that the bank has been in use, following its installation last April. A total of 20 successful nests were recorded last year, with 79 young ringed (total of 95 including adults) – a great and unexpected result in the first year. In comparison to the other bank (in front of Pool Hide at Wheldrake Ings), birds were seen around the bank but they didn’t ‘move in’ or use any of the tunnels, which is more normally expected in the first year. Unfortunately this year this bank will now be out of action, after it succumbed to the winter floods and is in need of repair. Hopefully once work resumes, we will be able to re-position it later in the year, with plans also in place to install a new bank at North Duffield Carrs – purchased by the Friends. In the meantime, at least we’ll be able to enjoy the comings and goings of the colony at Bank Island, once it is deemed safe for us all to venture out once again.