WFV St Aidens RSPB, near Swillington. 15.4.25 

This site is now a firm favourite & worthy of our annual visits. April is the best time of year to see the rare Black-necked Grebes (30% of the UK population), after which they typically hide within the reedbeds with their chicks. Early Spring is also when the Bitterns are booming & the migrant warblers are arriving.

The forecast had not been at all promising & we were all layered up. Surprisingly it stayed dry all day & the sun was out most of the time. In the centre of the site away from the larger bodies of water it became quite warm & I certainly needed to take off my jumper. Numerous black flies hovered around the paths, particularly in the gorse/broom areas. Fortunately they were not of the attacking variety ! Our group was only six as several of the regular attendees were at a funeral.  We stayed together & followed the path towards Astley Lake & then along the Eastern Reedbed path. We didn’t get to the Main Lake or Bowers Lake.  Alice recorded a total of 17 plants in flower incl. Butterbur, Cuckoo Flower, Sweet Vernal Grass, Snakeshead Fritillaries & Fodder Salad Burnet.

Birdsong was everywhere, though we never did catch sight of a Bittern, Grasshopper W or Reed Warbler. Eventually we did get brief sightings of Cetti’s W’s. In one Willow bush a singing Sedge W & a male Blackcap. We saw several Black-necked Grebes in the Eastern reedbed area. They prefer the channels rather than larger stretches of open water. Great-crested Grebes, Reed Buntings, Pochard, Black-t Godwit & Pipit were all seen. Thanks to some friendly & helpful birders with scopes we also managed sightings of sleeping Common Tern & Garganeys. Bird of the day was the splendid male Slavonian Grebe in its full summer plumage. We had been told where to look for this one !

Butterflies seen = Orange Tips, GV White & Peacock. The best areas for butterflies is the sheltered path along the western perimeter but we never ever get that far !  Julia spotted a Garden Tiger Moth caterpillar feeding on a young willow which was odd as I have only ever seen them crawling over sandy paths?

After tea at the VC we departed at 15:50. Many thanks go to Julia for driving us there. 

John Gavaghan