Alkborough Flats

 Yesterday's was my first visit to this fantastic and relatively new site. Placed on north Lincolnshire, where the Trent River meets the Humber bridge, by the somewhat misleading name of Trent Falls, the reserve was born in the autumn of 2006, where the bank was breached in a managed realignment scheme allowing the Humber to flood over 400 acres of fields. Habitat management since then has created a diversity of habitats, including extensive reedbeds, lagoons and saltmarsh. It is a beautiful location, with impressive views of the landscape surrounding the site from the cliff where the village of Alkborough is perched: the Humber and Blacktoft Sands and Whitton Sands in the distance. The dead tree trunks scattered across the reedbeds make for very atmospheric views. There are also some wooded patches on the cliff near the reserve.
 A cold, a bit breezy, but sunny morning, it didn't take long to see a large group of Bearded Tits feeding on the dry reed seedheads performing their acrobatics. At some point, three Marsh Harriers were visible gliding over the reeds. We visited three hides, by far the most interesting is a tall hide overlooking the reserve, were we saw a Kingfisher, a pair of Grey Herons and a regular pass of Bearded tits and Reed Buntings. Geese, Lapwing and Golden Plover flocks fed on the grassland, occasionally spooked into flight.
A western hide facing mudflats provided good views of Teal, Shoveler, Lapwing, Redshank and Black-tailed Godwits preening, with a flock of Dunlin and Shelduck feeding on the mud.

A panel showing a map of Alkborough Flats

A male and a female Bearded Tit feeding on the reeds. At some point three males were visible.

A female feeding

View from the tall hide

View from the western hide

More information
Article at Wildlife Extra.

Site location map


Bird list

1. Bearded Tit
2. Black-headed Gull
3. Black-tailed Godwit
4. Blackbird
5. Blue Tit
6. Canada Goose
7. Carrion Crow
8. Common Gull
9. Cormorant
10. Curlew
11. Dunnock
12. Fieldfare
13. Goldcrest
14. Golden Plover
15. Goldfinch
16. Greenfinch
17. Grey Heron
18. Greylag Goose
19. Jackdaw
20. Jay
21. Kestrel
22. Kingfisher
23. Lapwing
24. Little Egret
25. Mallard
26. Marsh Harrier
27. Moorhen
28. Pheasant
29. Redshank
30. Redwing
31. Reed Bunting
32. Robin
33. Rook
34. Shelduck
35. Shoveler
36. Starling
37. Stock Dove
38. Teal
39. Water Rail
40. Woodpigeon
41. Wren