Hello again, before I explain my title, here's the summary of today at Old Moor. As per usual, a click on the image will give a larger and sharper view.
So to my title. Today watchers were delighted to find 2 jack snipe from the hide at Wath Ings. One was very distant and at the back - best views were had from a scope. The second one was a bit nearer and was seen from the right hand side of the hide. Again, the best views were had in scopes and bins but the 'bobbing' motion was easily seeable!
The second part of my title is about those very elusive bearded tits.I could hear pinging as I walked along the path to the reedbeds. I saw a flitting beardie and got this great view of a female (I think).
Beardies were also heard and seen from the reedbed hide and the reedbed screen today.
'A beginning...' this part of my title refers to the fact that we have a little starling murmuration happening. It's of a few hundred starlings but fingers crossed that will grow. Today they started to gather around 4:20pm and flew around the pylons and the Mere before dropping into Reedbed 1 at about 5pm.
Here's a video clip from around this time last year.
For any further sightings updates from Old Moor, and also for sightings from our satellite sites, then please have a look at the Twitter stream from the Barnsley Birders. (@BarnsleyBSG).
A bittern was again seen from the reedbed hide today, so I'll finish with a bit of a treat from the monitoring hide earlier this year. This video clip was taken by Gerald Lax and the bittern was catching flies & chasing a dragonfly! Enjoy :)