26 February 2025

I was looking at The Naturalist, the YNU publication, issue Vol. 145, no. 1104, August 2020. In a paper by Martin Limbert and Tim Melling, it was discussing the return of Avocets to the UK.

It reminded me of when I saw Avocets breeding at Huggin Carr sand and gravel quarry near Hatfield Moor. I was told that Avocets were there and walked along the Bridleway from Boston Park farm. I could not see the birds so I decided to approach the quarry from the other side.

The site was being developed into a lakeside lodge area. I spoke to the person in charge and was given access to look at the Avocets. They were on a low island quite a way from the shore. I think there were six pairs but I,m not certain. I did not keep any records.  Some of the Avocets were sitting down, on eggs?

I visited the site between 26/5/2012 and 4/6/2012. I noticed a number of chicks walking along the far edge of the island. Sometimes the chicks were with an adult, at other times they were on their own. There were Black-headed Gulls flying around and I thought the chicks would be attacked but the gulls ignored them.

I have just looked at the site using Bing Maps and it looks like the island has been removed or landscaped. Image 3159 shows some of the Avocets. Image 3021a shows an adult with two chicks and image 3188 shows an adult.

I thought this might be of interest to the members.

Ian.