White-winged Black Tern, Nosterfield Quarry, near Ripon, North Yorkshire - 17th August 2011
White-winged Black Tern, Nosterfield Quarry, near Ripon, North Yorkshire - 17th August 2011
It was flying over the far side of the reserve’s Lingham Lake when I arrived, jinking madly as it dipped down to the water for food or took evasive action from the chasing gulls. Each twist and turn made the black and white of the plumage flash like a signal. It appeared to be in adult plumage, although moulting into its winter form.
It finally came to rest on a pontoon nearer to the lookout that's provided for visitors, though this was still some way off. This is why my photographs aren’t so good, but at least I got some record shots.
Surprisingly, there were no birders around when I arrived, and the ones that did turn up were not aware of the scarce migrant tern in front of them until I mentioned it. Still, there was enough to keep any birder happy, the highlight being the great views of a Common Crane on the near shore.
Common Crane, Nosterfield Quarry, near Ripon, North Yorkshire - 17th August 2011
Common Crane, Nosterfield Quarry, near Ripon, North Yorkshire - 17th August 2011
I managed some video, although by this time the warden had come to lock up and he obviously relished telling people about the reserve. He was certainly a very helpful bloke, but he did talk incessantly for ages... At present I don’t have the ability to remove the audio track from my Samsung point-and-click video output; I use YouTube Video Editor in the “Cloud” to edit my videos at the moment – and there’s no permanent mute function available. So, there’s a fair bit of irrelevant talking on the audio…
There was an impressive number of Lapwings around, somewhere in the order of 750 around that one lake, I reckon. Plus at least five Ruff, 10+ Curlew, five Great Crested Grebe, Little Grebe, Little Egret, lots of gulls (no time/inclination to count these), and many Greylag Geese (lots of noisy movement from these as they came in to roost - a great sound and sight),
I’ve heard a lot of good reports about Nosterfield Quarry and its wildlife, and there have certainly been some good birds found here. Looks worthy of a longer visit sometime. Nice looking reserve, with plenty of places to explore and all in the middle of a working quarry. If you’re looking for an unassuming nature reserve with some hidden working-quarry-danger, try a visit to Derbyshire Wildlife Trust’s Willington Gravel Pits reserve…
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