Over the weekend our team made a start with seed harvesting ahead of the hay cuts to follow later this week. Seed harvesting is an important way to help recreate species-rich floodplain meadows elsewhere in the local area & is an important role for NNRs in wider #NatureRecovery.

We were pleased to be able to welcome staff from the DefraNature finance team to the #LDV last week, giving them the opportunity to see what our delivery looks like on the ground and the outcomes of their work, with time also spent helping our team collect wildflower seed 🌿

Fantastic to be working closely with Britcon Limited, the contractors of our new reserve build, who have now managed to fill up one of our new reedbed areas - looking forward to seeing how this develops over the next few years 🌱

Great day last week welcoming staff from Drax to the #LDV to help out with balsam control on the reserve. Our targeted efforts over the last few years are really starting to have a marked impact now, helping to reduce coverage of this invasive species - many thanks to all.

Over the last five and a half months our team have been busy delivering an English Corncrake reintroduction scheme in the #LDV, with the project now over until next year, as the last of the 74 chicks were released onto the site this week 🤩

We are hoping this will give us a natural return rate of seven-eight singing males on the reserve next year, to mix with our one or two wild birds that turn up most years. Huge thanks to all involved for their efforts in making this fantastic project happen 👏👏

These chicks (from Deepdale Conservation Trust in Norfolk) have been held in pre-release pens in the #LDV from day 14 to day 34, before being released onto the site here (having fixed on the night sky and hopefully now knowing the Lower Derwent Valley as 'home') 🐥

Fantastic to see how one of our Corncrakes has migrated out of the #LDV – in line with what we would expect for wild Scottish chicks. Great use of the Motus network, which alongside our joint Jack Snipe project, shows the potential of how this tracking system can deliver.

Always nice to welcome a team from Drax to the #LDV, and with so many extra pairs of hands and plenty of hard work, the team did an outstanding job helping us tackle willow growth in the reedbed (reducing the height/density of cover to benefit a range of species) 👏👏

Recently we have also enjoyed hosting task days for Lloyds & DefraNature staff - we really couldn't manage without this extra corporate help, so a huge thank you to everyone who has helped out so far this year, & if you haven't yet but would like to - pls do get in touch 🙂

Work to extend and upgrade Cheesecake Hide at Bank Island is now complete (hopefully with a bit flooding to follow, to bring in some returning wintering waterfowl 🦆🦢). Many thanks to Ad Astra (Broadening Horizons) Ltd, our amazing team of #LDV volunteers & staff from Natural England Yorkshire and North Lincolnshire.

It’s beginning to feel and sound more autumnal on the Ings now - just need some more water! 💦 💧 🦆 York Birding

This week our team have been busy continuing with the coppicing work at North Duffield Carrs to help maintain clear view lines from the platform overlooking Bubwith Ings, whilst maintaining low willows with deadwood for Willow Tits & Cetti’s Warblers 🌳🪵🪓

We’ve had a run of BTO ringing recoveries lately including a young Shelduck ringed at Bank Island in December 2021 - found dead at Blackness, Falkirk on 20th September this year, 285 km to the NW York Birding

We're pleased to say it's been a bumper year for Chiffchaffs with good breeding productivity - one ringed in the #LDV on 11th August was recaught by ringers on its way south on 21st September, at Hornchurch, Greater London – 270 km to the SE York Birding

We’ve also just received news (albeit rather unfortunate) that one of our Corncrakes (released at Bank Island on 27th June as a young male) was 'accidentially' shot in northern Spain on 23rd August – 1,271 km south of the #LDV on its way to the wintering grounds York Birding

Whilst it is unfortunate news, it does help us understand the migration routes taken by these birds – it's also only the 15th recovery from BTO ringing outside of the UK and only the second to Spain 🇪🇸 York Birding

Winter thrush arrival in the #LDV on Tuesday morning with 1,000+ Redwing recorded over Bank Island and a similar number following again yesterday morning, with additional birds heard calling overnight York Birding Thanks to Trevor Walton for the image 📸

Large numbers of Lesser Redpoll are currently on the move through the #LDV - one ringed at 5pm on the 6th October at #SkipwithCommon NNR was recaught by another ringer, 29 km away, at Thorpe Marsh at 11.30am the following morning York Birding

We’ve also received several recoveries of the Black-tailed Godwits ringed in the #LDV during spring. Some of these birds have been resighted on autumn passage at Snettisham in Norfolk, East Halton in Lincolnshire and Cork in Ireland, as well as in Merseyside and Essex.