North Cave Wetlands

I had a few hours to spare so decided on a trip to North Cave Wetlands to see what had changed since my last visit during a particularly hard frost. This time there were quite a lot of different species and in particular it was great to see a female Smew, a first for me.

There were plenty of Shelduck, the most I have seen together in one group

A pair of Great Crested Grebes were showing plenty of interest in each other

A female Smew all on her own!

Kestrel perched waiting and watching for lunch

Lapwing in a field next to the reserve all busily feeding

Teal with the colours showing up great in the sunshine

Redshank

It was nice to see a Sparrowhawk hunting in the distance

I even got a distant viewing of a Barn Owl sitting it out waiting for dusk, shame it wasn't a bit closer though

Reed Bunting

View towards turret hide

Snipe

Greylag just coming in to land