Another day of some extraordinary birds in the Dearne Valley! Here’s the summary of what was seen at Old Moor today…
Now, before I forget, we have reached that time again. Today is the last late opening for Old Moor. From tomorrow, the Visitor Centre and the reserve will close at 5pm. There will be reminders on site for visitors tomorrow (no doubt) but please don’t get caught out.
Just a short distance from Old Moor, at the remarkable Adwick Washland, Nigel Smith reported: 242 Canada geese, one grey heron, two little grebe, 202 greylag geese, seventy-four mallard, thirty-nine teal, five gadwall, one shoveler, 188 lapwing, seventeen snipe, two lesser black-backed gull, one common gull, one buzzard, one kestrel, a chiffchaff, two green woodpecker and seven skylark! Thanks Nigel.
One of two pintail seen at Old Moor today
Back at Old Moor, it is with some relief that I can report a bearded tit was seen today. Beardie news has been a bit ‘thin’ of late, so it’s good to know that they’re still around.
For many though, the headline bird is still the grey phalarope. Yes, it is still about – nine days and counting! Today it was still to be found towards the far side of the main marsh as seen from Field Pool East. Worryingly, this morning it seemed a bit ‘flighty’ but this turned out to be largely to do with keeping itself away from the increasing numbers of lapwing that are around the marsh.
Leaving room for the lapwings, the grey phalarope
For all those looking for ‘month ticks’, here’s hoping this terrific bird makes it in to October!
A more typical view of the phalarope feeding
The latest on the great egrets is that two birds were seen on Old Moor this morning. Thereafter, they (probably) visited nearby Bolton Ings for much of the day. Here’s hoping they return to roost at Wath Ings this evening. There they would join two green sandpiper and five black-tailed godwits among others.
Some excellent views of green sandpiper today
The weather forecasters predicted some sunny intervals today and sure enough these arrived this afternoon to break up the overcast skies. One brighter moment coincided with one of Old Moor’s trademark autumn spectacles – lapwings and golden plovers taking to the skies.
At peak, there were 165 goldies out there today and an impressive 430 lapwing. So I’ll finish tonight with a small selection of these fantastic plovers against an autumnal sky. Always uplifting.
Until next time.