Dearne Valley

My Lunch Break Birding by Harriet Day

A quick hour at one of my favourite nature reserves, Old Moor after work, ties and other responsibilities, it had begun to to feel like there weren't enough hours in the day, to spend time on my favourite hobby, bird watching! After 12 months of not visiting Old Moor I appreciated the changes. Within my time I was fortunate to watch a Little Grebe that appeared to be having his lunch…

Spotlight Species - Southern Hawkers

Banking Southern Hawker        D Pritchard

I’ve never seen more Southern Hawkers than I have at Old Moor this year. They are a fairly common species, but tend to disperse from their breeding ponds quite quickly, so it’s unusual to see them interacting regularly. However, there are several individuals to be seen around the visitor centre at the moment.

They have a presence…

Adwick Washland - a potted history

As our regular visitors will know, RSPB Dearne Valley is made up of Old Moor, Adwick Washland, Edderthorpe Flash, Bolton Ings, Gypsy March, Wombwell Ings, and Houghton Washlands. This time, the blog focusses on the transformation of Adwick Washland into the wonderful reserve it is today.

Adwick Washland             Matthew Capper

Background

In 2007 Natural England (NE), the Environment Agency…

Dragonfly Behaviour

We’re now roughly halfway through this year’s dragonfly season, and there is no better time to watch the behaviours of these fascinating creatures. While the first half generally has a slightly greater variety of species, the second half carries its own advantages.

From now until late October, even into November if the weather is mild, Old Moor is host to high numbers of Common Darters…

Welcome to the second instalment of RSPB Dearne Valley - Eye Opening

To follow the journey some of the key species in the Dearne Valley, I recommended that you read the first blog by following this link: 

#1 RSPB Dearne Valley - Eye Opening

Bittern in the Dearne Valley: Eggs and things:

The management of the reeds at Dearne Valley has led to fantastic success for bitterns, but it is also a success for other species too…

What’s in a name? - The trouble with Hawkers

Let’s talk about the names of dragonflies.

While there are some romanticised names out there, such us Demoiselle or Emperor, most dragonflies are named for characteristics that seem stupidly obvious once get to know them.

Chasers defend an area and chase away anything that comes near. One of them has a noticeably wider body than most of the others, so in the…

Eye for an Eye

Common Darter. Basically a flying surveillance system.           D Pritchard

It’s not just the wings that make dragonflies and damselflies such successful predators, it’s the fact they’re attached to some of the best image capture systems that nature has come up with.

The arrangement of the large compound eyes can help you tell the difference between the two groups of…

It’s all about the wings

Freshly emerged (or ‘teneral’) Common Darter - D Pritchard

Let's be honest: if a dragonfly crawled through the grass running down other creatures to eat, most people would find them utterly terrifying.

There's something about the addition of wings that adds a layer of magic to them, and has us marvelling at their beauty and agility.

As with things in nature though…

                  The Weird and Wonderful World of Dragonflies - an Introduction

Bittern in the Dearne Valley:

Readers of Nature’s Home magazine, and watchers of BBC’s Autumnwatch will be familiar with one of the star species at RSPB Dearne Valley, the Bittern. And current visitors to Old Moor will notice that the path from the Bus Stop to the Reedbed Hide is not open.  Here’s why.  

In 1997, there were only 11 booming males in the whole of the UK. A key…

This year's National Volunteer Week (1-7 June) has given me a bit of a pause for thought. 

We have of course taken the opportunity to celebrate some of our wonderful existing volunteers, (If you haven't seen the daily posts on our social media channels, have a look at our facebook page https://www.facebook.com/OldMoorRSPB) and highlight some of our available volunteering opportunities (https://cutt.ly/fnt19Rc)

The Dearne Valley Green Heart Partnership comprising of The RSPB, Yorkshire Wildlife Trust, Garganey Trust and Environment Agency along with Barnsley, Rotherham and Doncaster Borough Councils, have been working with Natural England (the governments advisors on the natural environment) towards the accreditation of SSSI (Site of Special Scientific Interest) status that officially protects vital habitats along the Dearne…

The sharp eyed amongst our visitors may have spotted a mysterious path that has appeared in the grass around Wombwell Ings, one of the satellite sites managed by the team here in the Dearne Valley. This isn’t a mysterious crop circle, but it is marking out the path of an essential piece of habitat improvement work on the reserve.

Giving Nature a Home at Wombwell Ings, an NLHF funded project.

As part of the Giving…

Sid Renauf’s emotive interview in the first episode of this season’s Autumnwatch touched hearts and minds, so we thought you might enjoy reading a little more of the backstory to the miners who first realised the wildlife potential of Wath Ings.

Sid’s a familiar face at RSPB Old Moor; a much-loved volunteer and avid birder, his connection to this special place goes back far beyond any RSPB involvement with…

We are once again entering a lock down across England. 

gov.uk/coronavirus

Although we were expecting this, it doesn't mean it's easy. We have picked through the legislation and we are making some changes to the offer here at Old Moor

First of all, our shop. 

From 5 November until further notice, the shop and visitor centre will be closed. Our retail store is classed as non-essential, and so we have had to pack…

For anyone that uses our Little Houghton reserve, you may see the newest members of the Dearne Valley team. 

Konik's being unloaded at Little Houghton - Paul Gould

Meet Ada, Trevor and Col

Settling in nicely - Lucy Kucharik

The ponies are a modern strain of the original European wild horse – the Tarpan. The wild Tarpan died out at the end of the last century, but a programme in Poland is trying to breed them back…

The timing couldn't be more perfect, as we enter the local half term and we're about to welcome the BBC's Autumnwatch on to the reserve, we get news that we're entering Tier 3 at 00:01 on Saturday morning. 

But what does this mean for the reserve?

Well, operationally, not a lot. We are still open, the shop and café will still operate as it has been, using one way systems and a take away only model. The…

For the last few weeks, the team on the reserve have been getting very excited, and we can now finally officially confirm, Old Moor is to be one of the base sites for this years Autumnwatch. 

The RSPB’s dynamic Old Moor Nature Reserve, has been chosen to host Gillian Burke along with a small team from the hit BBC TV series . Gillian first showcased the Old Moor reserve back in 2018, sharing rare footage of the bitterns…

Lucy has an update for us from the warden team:

Now that the Bittern have finished nesting and the reeds have gone dormant for the winter, you’ll notice our wardens and volunteers have begun work in the reedbeds, cutting down young trees and clearing areas of reed. This can sometimes look quite dramatic, even destructive, but is an essential part of habitat management for the reedbed specialists we treasure at Old Moor…

We have another update from our fantastic intern Lucy, but first a couple of practical updates...

We have now opened up Field Pools West hide and Wath Ings hide, meaning that all of green lane is now open. There is hand sanitiser in all of the hides and we are asking that those who are able to wear face coverings in the hides in line with current legislation.

I would also like to take this opportunity to say a massive…

As parents prepare for their children’s imminent return to school and we are noticing the gentle shift from summer into autumn on the reserve, I’m back, with another access update from Old Moor.

Firstly, some welcome news! We have opened another hide, and it’s a goodie! Wader Scrape hide is now open. This is one of our larger hides and offers fabulous views out across the mere, and it happens to be my favourite…

It feels like at the moment I am spending all of my time talking and planning and thinking about how to keep visitors staff and volunteers safe as we navigate this brave new world. We do however have some good news for visitors to the reserve.

*Some* hides are open!

Taking advice from our health and safety team at HQ, and with some ingenious problem solving from Dave and the warden team, we have been able to open three…

With shops opening and plans for pubs and hairdressers to open soon, it feels like the world is slowly beginning to find its feet in this new normal, and in some ways it feels like the RSPB and Old Moor have been lagging behind. We know how desperate people are to visit our reserves and we know how important getting your ‘nature fix’ on our reserves is to so many people and we are desperate to share it with you, I’m hoping…

Lucy is our all rounder intern, and is having possibly the oddest introduction to the RSPB! 

Here she shares with us some of her highlights;

With the reserve only partially open, I thought I’d share some updates on some of our breeding successes, as well as some other wildlife that can be found in the parts of the reserve that are currently accessible.

Our nesting Bittern has been busy raising her chicks during…

I thought I’d put together what we had been up to and some of the other activities, done by contractors, on the reserve up until lockdown in mid-March … plus a few updates.

Since I originally wrote this and before I could post it to the website, the reserve has partially reopened and we, the Reserve Team, have been back working. This has been things like checking the site is safe, maintenance of the paths…