04/06/23 - Squacco Heron

Last week we had a rather special and rare visitor to the Lower Derwent Valley NNR in the form of a Squacco Heron. Squacco Herons are small brown herons, weighing in at just 270-390g (compared with 1020-2073g for a Grey Heron), and are smaller than our now regularly encountered Little Egrets. They are stunning looking birds with a mix of peach, buff and cinnamon coloured plumage, with white wings when seen in flight and long black-edged plumes on their head.

Squacco Herons are usually found breeding in wetlands in southern Europe and western, eastern and southern Africa, with them being a rare visitor to the UK with less than 300 national records, and an even scarcer visitor to Yorkshire with little more than a dozen county occurrences. This individual is presumably the same bird seen last week at Filey Dams and in the Upper Derwent Catchment around Potter Brompton, before it headed further downstream along the River Derwent. After a couple of hours at Bank Island the bird then relocated to North Duffield Carrs where it is still present today. This is the first record of this species for the reserve and has drawn a steady crowd of admirers - thanks to eagle-eyed #LDV volunteer Mal Richardson for spotting it, and to local patch birder Duncan Bye for the image below.

02/05/23 - Whimbrel to Senegal

Recently we received a report of one of our #LDV colour-ringed Whimbrel in Senegal - photographed there (image below) on the 4th February – this individual (white ‘28’), was originally ringed at the Wheldrake Ings roost last year on the 2nd May. This is our fourth Whimbrel to Senegal, with two to Mauritania, two to Guinea Bissau & one to Guinea. We’ve also had two on breeding grounds in Iceland & one breeding in Sweden, with passage birds seen in France & Spain.

Since receiving the record above, and our Whimbrel returning on spring passage, we are delighted to say that ‘white 28’ is now back on the reserve – great to know it has completed the first section of its journey before continuing on to Iceland.

Each year during mid-April, we look forward to the arrival of Whimbrel at the nationally important spring passage site at Wheldrake Ings – these birds use the reserve for a few weeks as a place to rest and feed during migration to their breeding grounds in Iceland, Sweden and Finland. Numbers often peak around 100+ at the end of April and the first few days in May, with the peak count occurring around the 1st/2nd May each year, with numbers quickly tailing off thereafter. We have been busy radio-tracking a recently tagged individual, with details of its movements to follow.

10/04/23 - Common Cranes

Common Cranes were lost as a breeding species in the UK around 400 years ago, before a population became established in the Norfolk Broads in the 1970’s. Slowly the population has since increased, thanks to conservation management/habitat creation, coupled with a reintroduction scheme on the Somerset Levels, which has seen the population increase (record 64 pairs in 2020) – and a total UK population of 200 individuals. 

 

Thanks to the increase in the UK population, we have also seen an increase in the #LDV in the number of birds seen on the reserve. March, April and early May is a great period to encounter these majestic birds, with a group of five seen over Wheldrake Ings on the 2nd followed by four over Thorganby on the 12th.

Image: Duncan Bye 02/04/23

20/03/23 - Project Penelope

In November 2021, we teamed up with the Wildfowl and Wetlands Trust and the British Association for Shooting and Conservation to help out with #ProjectPenelope - a study which aims to map the species flyway of Wigeon with fieldwork carried out across the UK, Denmark and Finland recording winter movements, flight paths and breeding sites from colour-ring re-sightings.

Since then, our team have colour-ringed around 300 birds to date, which have produced a number of re-sightings - both of birds back on the reserve in subsequent winters, but also along their migration routes to their breeding grounds in Russia. This data set includes two individuals to the Netherlands, as well as singles to Moscow, Russia and the Cherven District in Belarus. Please do keep an eye open for colour-ringed Wigeon when visiting the reserve (and other sites), to help build up greater information to help conserve our populations, thank you.

10/03/23 - Corporate Volunteering

We've got a really busy month ahead with a number of corporate days booked in March with groups from the NHS, Network Rail, Vistry Homes, Amey, Carter Jonas Estate Agents and Aviva. We’re really grateful for this extra support on the reserve and are looking forward to showcasing the LDV NNR and all it has to offer. 

Whilst the practical task is the main focus of the day, we do like to provide groups with an opportunity to experience some of our local wildlife at close range, with moth trapping and a bird ringing demonstration planned if weather conditions allow. 

Last year some of our groups were fortunate to see a Goldcrest and Kingfisher in the hand, with the very beautiful Hawk-moths delighting the invertebrate enthusiasts – not a bad way to start a working day! 

If you work for a company that offers corporate volunteering days, or if you’d just like to come along on your own then we have a friendly group that come in each week – please do get in touch if this an opportunity that you’d like to explore further, thank you.