An afternoon at Blacktoft Sands

I had to go to Worksop in the morning, so once that was dealt with I headed for Blacktoft, getting there before 2pm. The spotted redshanks [13 I counted] were at Marshland. One came reasonably close again, producing very similar images to my last visit.

Spotted Redshank There were at least 10 common snipe to the left and right of the hide.

Snipe Greenshank, ruff, dunlin, water rail were also seen. Eventually I walked down to Singleton hide to watch the harriers. As I settled in a female tufted duck flew across. I would like confirmation of the identification!

Wigeon Juvenile marsh hariers were plentiful and came quite close. I never seem to capture the level of detail I hope for - but the light was poor. It would be nice to shoot at 100 ISO and a fast shutter speed!

Marsh Harrier Marsh Harrier Finally you can't fail to notice the incredible [and uncommon] marsh sow thistles sonchus palustris which grow to 2.5m. Astonishing plants.

Marsh sow thistle