Managed to nip over to the East of England the other day with Craggy and first stop was Hatfield Moor National Nature Reserve near  Doncaster, part of the Humberhead Peatlands.  The reserve is a mix of birch forest, scrub and bare ground along with the more unusual heathland and peatlands.  The reserve also contained the largest lowland bog in Northern England.

First we noticed how brown and sandy the soil looks in contrast to the much darker soils in Lancashire. We did not manage to see any of the star birds such as Nightjar, Tree Pipit, Woodlark - the latter would have been a lifer for me!  However, a Cuckoo was calling.  We hoped to se some reptiles of which there were a significant number of Adders on the reserve.  We saw warning signs but sadly no reptiles.  Once at the peatlands we could not believe we were in England.  The flat never-ending panorama from the view point was parched, brown and almost desert like landscape.  Looking across it it did feel we had transported ourselves to a different country somewhere hotter.  You could see the patches of dark peaty soil contrasting with the lighter brown sandy soil in some places.  There was not much vegetation growing on it.  We could only spend a few hours there and never caught up with the Osprey which was present but  I for one will be hoping to enjoy the alternative natural beauty of the Humberhead Peatlands again.

Our next step was Blacktoft sands an RSPB reserve near Goole.  Other than the flatness of the landscape the two reserves had little in common.  The reserve and the surrounding lands looked a fresh pleasant green. Near the reserve I caught sight of a stunning male Yellowhammer in flight, like a feathery flying banana and could hear the jingle of the Corn Bunting as they perched on bushes and wires.  We decided to top of here to see if we could catch sight of the Montagu Harrier pair which were nesting  here this year.   The reserve was already famed for Marsh harriers of which 8 pairs were nesting this year.  We managed to catch up with Tree Sparrows, Avocets, Little Egret and the Marsh Harrier.  We were told the montagu Harriers showed every  3-4 hours and the time was due any time soon.  We waited and waited but sadly no show.  I was not that disappointed as the Marsh harriers were entertaining us very well as they floated over the reedbeds, turning suddenly, dropping onto prey and then taking part in a food pass.  The Bearded Tits and Bitterns which were resident here were sadly a no show too.