Tophill Low

A morning at Tophill Low in East Yorkshire was very enjoyable. The weather was fine and dry but a little breezy and there weren't as many butterflies around as I'd hoped for, but the birds more than made up for it.

A walk through the woods and scrub yielded singing ChiffChaff, Willow Warbler, Blackcap, Sedge Warbler, Whitethroat and a Reed Warbler (which was my first of the year). Another year first was when 3 Swifts flew over, screaming as they went.

I reached the hide overlooking D Res at the far end of the reserve and I went up to have a look to see if there was anything there. First impression was no, nothing there at all, just a load of waves. I scanned the reservoir again and found a Mallard or two and a Gadwall but nothing else. I was about to give up when I saw a black shape and thought aha - a Tufted Duck perhaps but it dived almost as soon as I'd got onto it and the way it dived wasn't a Tufties way of diving. Looking again once I'd located it on the surface once more and I waited until I could see more detail - its bill was what I was after.

 

A Common Scoter no less, with almost nothing else on the water at all - what a piece of luck!

I left the reserve and walked on the bank of the Barmston/Beverley drain up towards the reserve entrance and there were singing Reed Buntings and Sedge Warblers to enjoy on the way. A Reed Bunt looked stunning against the background of rape seed crop:

Into the reserve and over to the western end to visit a few hides there but although there were plenty of birds (Black headed Gull, Shelduck, Herring Gull, Little Grebe, Gadwall, Oystercatcher, Lapwing etc) there was nothing outstanding to latch onto.

A Great Spotted Woodpecker was calling in the woods as I went back to the car park, where there were a few people pointing and looking up into the trees. I asked what was up there and they said that a Tawny Owl had just flown into the tree. Sure enough, there it was: