It was another brilliant, warm October day in the Dearne Valley today and a chance to enjoy some of the best wildlife and colour the season has to offer.
At Edderthorpe, John Clarkson reported that this morning there were nine little egret, sixty-three wigeon, 260 teal, around 320 golden plover, two ruff, eleven dunlin, approximately seventy redwing (yes, 70), five redpoll and two willow tit (hooray). Thanks John!
Over at Wombwell Ings, Alan Whitehouse provided the details. He saw: seven mute swan, seventy-five wigeon, four shoveler, twenty-five teal, five shelduck, one grey heron, one little egret, eighty-one lapwing, five reed bunting, one yellowhammer and a further 141 golden plover. Thanks Alan!
The only other satellite sighting I have today was of eight grey partridge seen between Broomhill and Wombwell Ings.
A peregrine falcon soars over the Mere
Now if my arithmetic is accurate, that’s 461 goldies in the valley. Add to that the single golden plover seen at Old Moor today to round it up to 462. I mention this because visitors to Old Moor are asking regularly, ‘Where are all the golden plover?’ It’s a good question and one prompted no doubt from memories of tons of them on the main marsh in years gone by. My answer (in part at least) is that ‘They are here, just not here.’ If that makes sense. We have had numbers on Wath Ings this autumn but this year they mostly seem to prefer Edderthorpe or Wombwell.
Old Moor’s solitary goldie on the Wader Scrape today
At Old Moor, in the Bird Garden today were: great tit, blue tit, coal tit, long-tailed tit, willow tit (hooray2), chaffinch, goldfinch, bullfinch and greenfinch. With them were tree sparrow, dunnock, robin, wren, stock dove, woodpigeon, pheasant, magpie and at least one great spotted woodpecker. I only saw the female today but there were reports of a male too at one point.
On the Reedbed Trail were little grebe, five snipe, one little egret, two kingfisher (both females), two bearded tit, a Cetti’s warbler, one water rail, a kestrel, a peregrine, a grey heron and many wigeon, gadwall, coot and mallard.
A female great spotted woodpecker in the Bird Garden this afternoon
The Mere was gulltastic (yes, that’s a word) once again with seventy-five lesser black-backed gull, five herring gull and two common gull. Sadly, I could not find either the recent great black-backed or yellow-legged gulls today. There were also little grebe, great crested grebe, cormorant, a flock of around twenty linnet and good numbers of lapwing and both greylag and Canada geese out there today. One shelduck was also seen here today.
On the Wader Scrape was that golden plover (yes, just the one) and a male pintail though the latter had flown by the time I got there. I did however see a peregrine here as well as a kestrel.
Listen carefully as you walk down Green Lane at present and you’ll no doubt hear the clucking calls of redwing. At least three of these fantastic migratory thrushes were seen here today.
A redwing on Green Lane this morning
Which, of course, leads us towards Wath Ings. Here today were seven ruff, four green sandpiper, a stonechat pair, a kestrel and a grey heron. There were also shoveler, teal, coot, moorhen and mallard.
Other notable sightings included common darter (yes, still going) and stoat. The latter was chasing down Green Lane near the Family Hide before diving into the undergrowth.
I shall leave you this evening with one little bird that I was present in both the Bird Garden and the Tree Sparrow Farm throughout the day. Unashamedly one of my favourites, this little charmer is never still for long but if you keep your eyes on the farthest feeders in the Bird Garden, you’ll stand a good chance of seeing one at present.
Until next time.
Hooray!