Splash of colour!!

With the continued presence of the Purple Heron at Tophill Low NR yesterday, I decided that I would give it another go this evening. The bird was seen first thing this morning but then no further sign by 5pm. I was passing anyway so thought it was worth a shot. Arriving on site at 5.30pm, I met the warden, Richard, he informed me that the hides had been full all day with no sign of the target bird and with most people now having departed the reserve, there weren't many people left looking. I decided to start at North Lagoon hide, where it had last been seen this morning and whilst watching a small flock of my first Sand Martins of the year, the only other person in the hide, calmly said "Oh, there it is!" and there on the far side of the lagoon was the Purple Heron (241), working it's way along the reeds.

Purple Heron - Tophill Low NR (Photo: D.Mansell)

The bird continued along the north edge before flying into the more dense reeds in front of South Inlet hide. I quickly relocated and after a short search, found the bird busily feeding in deep cover.

Purple Heron - Tophill Low NR, E.Yorks (Photo: R.Hampshire)

At last, after 2 unsuccessful attempts at this site, once back in 2005 and just 2 days ago, I had finally added the species to my Yorkshire list, now I just to need to add a few more of those silly ones now and get to that end of 2011 target of 275.