Despite the drought conditions since sowing took place, the Friends of the #LDV's wild bird mix is looking fantastic with plenty of seed in there to keep our farmland birds going through the winter, and hopefully bringing added interest and enjoyment to those visiting the site 🐦

Due to the ongoing drought and heatwave the pool at Wheldrake Ings has now virtually dried up, so our team have taken the opportunity to cut the surrounding vegetation ready for the returning waterfowl next month (assuming we get a top-up of water in the #LDV before then!) 🦆🌧️💧

Interesting to catch a ringed Whinchat at North Duffield Carrs yesterday (ringed by our team at the same site almost a year to the day) – another example of how site faithful some bird species can be, even on passage 🐦 @yorkbirding.bsky.social

Spotted Flycatchers are sadly now scarce in the area, so it was great to hear that a pair have once again fledged a brood at the Melbourne Arm on the Pocklington Canal (in a Swallow nest cup!). Thank you to #LDV volunteer Phil Harrison for the superb images 📸

We're pleased to say it's been a good year for Barn Owls around the #LDV (many pairs have raised two or more young) and most have now fledged with much late evening hunting observed at present. Thanks to Neil Cooper for sharing his image (taken recently in Melbourne) 📸

During the visit time was also spent exploring the contents of the moth trap outside our new NNR Base, & working with our team of volunteers who were hard at work helping to improve the site by controlling the spread of Himalayan Balsam – huge thanks to all for their help & interest on the day 🌿🐦🦋

LDV_NNR@ldvnnr.bsky.social · 8h ago

It was also a real pleasure to host two groups from Defra Press Office last week, with their visit coinciding with a Corncrake release, and the opportunity to hear about our species recovery project as part of an attempt to establish an English breeding population in the #LDV NNR 🐦

It was also a real pleasure to host two groups from Defra Press Office last week, with their visit coinciding with a Corncrake release, and the opportunity to hear about our species recovery project as part of an attempt to establish an English breeding population in the #LDV NNR 🐦

Last week we were also joined by staff from the Environment Agency & Defra, & look forward to soon welcoming Nestle - this extra help from our corporate supporters really makes a massive difference to what we can deliver on the ground, but it's also great to share our work on the NNR and beyond.

Great day recently with staff from H_S_E helping our team with Himalayan Balsam clearance in the #LDV as well as pollarding and coppicing a few large willows (to help keep the height down/prevent breeding Corvids) and in doing so hopefully decreasing wader predation attempts. Huge thanks to all 👏👏

Wheldrake Ings 6 Green Sandpiper 3 Snipe 18 Little Egret 1 male Marsh Harrier 26 Curlew 1 Common Tern 1 Tufted Duck 1 Water Rail 1 Cetti's Warbler Bank Island 2 Grey Partridge North Duffield Carrs 1 Whinchat 1 Stonechat @ldvnnr.bsky.social @yorkbirding.bsky.social

Trip to North Duffield Carrs this morning. Female bullfinch, linnet and pheasant making use of one of the many hay bales. @yorkbirding.bsky.social @ldvnnr.bsky.social @nybirdnews.bsky.social

Nice to see this write up of our #NationalMeadowsDay event in the Selby Times last week – delighted it was so well received by the local community as well as those travelling from further afield, and great to be working in partnership with the Friends of Aughton Church.

Whilst our #LDV volunteers have been busy tackling Himalayan Balsam at locations across the reserve, some of the wider community have also been hard at work in the Bubwith, Breighton and Wressle parishes, making a massive difference in that part of the catchment. Huge thanks to all 👏

Nice to be able to welcome the Pocklington Canal Amenity Society to our new Nature Recovery and Science Hub last week, for a dragonfly course run by Keith Gittins on behalf of the East Yorkshire Dragonfly Group - hopefully the first of many such courses to come 🐝🐛🦋🪶🐦

Thank you! Great to catch up and pleased to hear you enjoyed the day so much 😊 Hope you’ve since been enjoying the book and many thanks for the added donation - much appreciated! 🤩

@cumbriawild.bsky.social · 2w ago

@ldvnnr.bsky.social thank you for a great day at your special site! I'm looking forward to reading this fantastic book and will donate this evening!!!

Fantastic to see such a positive review of the Birds of the #LDV (shared recently by @birdguides.bsky.social) leading to a flurry of orders, with sales now approaching £10,000 & 100% of each sale going directly into the Friends of the LDV charity to help further conservation projects in the area.

BirdGuides@birdguides.bsky.social · 2w ago

Birds of the Lower Derwent Valley review This is a truly wonderful book dedicated to an area rich in birdlife, says Josh Jones: https://bit.ly/4vAh81f

Wheldrake Ings 7 Green Sandpiper 15 Little Egret 3 Marsh Harrier 9 Snipe 6 Curlew 1 Kingfisher 1 Cetti's Warbler @ldvnnr.bsky.social @yorkbirding.bsky.social

Today at N Duffield carrs dry fields with bales in the sun. Hardly recognisable in contrast to the winter floods. @ldvnnr.bsky.social

A Cattle Egret still from the platform at North Duffield Carrs with the cows on the riverbank. Also a Whinchat here yesterday evening @ldvnnr.bsky.social @nybirdnews.bsky.social

Wheldrake Ings 4 Green Sandpiper 9 Curlew 1 Redshank 1 Oystercatcher 2 Marsh Harrier 2 Corn Bunting Drake Wigeon 1 Water Rail Bank Island 2 Green Sandpiper 3 Grey Partridge @ldvnnr.bsky.social @yorkbirding.bsky.social

Thanks to #LDV volunteer Rox Vassie for sharing this delightful video of some of our newly arrived Corncrake chicks (now settled in our pre-release pens at just 15 days old), and to be released onto the reserve in around three weeks time 🐥

Amazing to see these drone shots of our new Nature Recovery, Community & Science Hub at Bank Island, as well as our original #LDV NNR reserve base, thanks to our partners at Ad Astra ALP - really interesting to see them from a different angle and blending into the landscape 📸

A Cattle Egret on the pool at Wheldrake Ings & a Wood Sandpiper at Bank Island Also a Quail at Hessay today @ldvnnr.bsky.social @nybirdnews.bsky.social

Over the last few months our team and partners in Norfolk have been busy with the second year of this reintroduction project, with up to date 72 chicks now released in the #LDV following vet health checks, colour-ringing and DNA swabbing, with more releases still to follow.

LDV_NNR@ldvnnr.bsky.social · 3w ago

Fantastic to be able to host Tony Juniper, Marian Spain & the @naturalengland.bsky.social Board at our new #LDV NNR Nature Recovery/Science Hub yesterday, & to be able to share the joy of our Corncrake reintroduction programme with them, thanks to the visit coinciding with another release.

Fantastic to be able to host Tony Juniper, Marian Spain & the @naturalengland.bsky.social Board at our new #LDV NNR Nature Recovery/Science Hub yesterday, & to be able to share the joy of our Corncrake reintroduction programme with them, thanks to the visit coinciding with another release.

Great to be able to use National Nature Reserves in this way to deliver such important research and evidence work. Thanks to @niqvassie.bsky.social for assisting with the project recently and documenting it 📸

LDV_NNR@ldvnnr.bsky.social · 3w ago

This year one of our long-term #LDV team members Rox Vassie has been running various monitoring stations on #SkipwithCommon NNR on behalf of UK CEH, with the data feeding into a national data set on pollutants (using passive air monitors and soil solution sampling).

This year one of our long-term #LDV team members Rox Vassie has been running various monitoring stations on #SkipwithCommon NNR on behalf of UK CEH, with the data feeding into a national data set on pollutants (using passive air monitors and soil solution sampling).

Following a message from one of the local landowners to say that a chick was peering out of their owl box (only installed by our team in April), we made time to visit & enjoyed showing the young birds to the students & owners (great reward for their hard work on the farm) 🦉🦉

LDV_NNR@ldvnnr.bsky.social · 3w ago

Recently we've enjoyed welcoming a number of work experience students to the #LDV to help with balsam removal, seed harvesting & path clearance, with each task day starting with exploring the contents of the moth trap - hopefully inspiring an interest & potential career in the environmental sector.

Recently we've enjoyed welcoming a number of work experience students to the #LDV to help with balsam removal, seed harvesting & path clearance, with each task day starting with exploring the contents of the moth trap - hopefully inspiring an interest & potential career in the environmental sector.

Whilst Quail numbers in the #LDV have now slowed, a total of 69 singing males have been located so far, with 15 males and a single first-year female caught and ringed. Amazingly, that equates to nearly 7% of all the Quail ever ringed in the UK @yorkbirding.bsky.social Image @niqvassie.bsky.social