Seeing one bittern is unusual enough, but suppose you saw two, flying together over the reedbeds of Old Moor! Would that be twice as rare? If so, that is exactly what some lucky visitors saw this afternoon in an incredible glimpse into the world of this secretive bird.
More on that in a minute, but first the summary of sightings from Old Moor today…
The news from Adwick Washland today was provided courtesy of Gary Stones who recorded: six wheatear, five yellow wagtail, forty-six (yes, you read that right!) avocet, around fifteen redshank, four ringed plover, three little ringed plover, one common sandpiper, three snipe, one oystercatcher, one pink-footed goose, four grey partridge and three buzzard. Thanks Gary.
At Wombwell Ings were two redshank, one ringed plover, a shelduck and a greenshank.
Bolton Ings provided: a male bittern booming, one adult common gull and a grasshopper warbler.
And Alan Stonier reported from Edderthorpe of: one swift, three avocet, three ruff, four redshank, and one black-tailed godwit along with house martin and whitethroat. Thanks Alan.
Do those cattle not know what a rare bird looks like?!
On the Wader Scrape, the recent bar-tailed godwit was still easily visible to the far right hand side. Sadly, it was a bit too distant for a photo today, but is nevertheless a very welcome addition to the birds of Old Moor.
Yet, it was the Bittern Hide that provided the most unusual spectacle of the day. At 14.25 two bittern lumbered up from the reedbed just in front of the Monitoring Hide. They flew together to the right, heading towards the wind turbine.
With little distance between the birds, watchers followed the two as they first gained height and then looped back on themselves before heading towards the pair of large pointed boulders along the back of the reedbed.
With all this time to watch, the birds’ intentions were becoming clear. This was a chase between two rivals. Earlier this morning, Karen had reported two male bittern from the Dawn Chorus Walk. Here, it seemed, was a dominant bird making his feelings known!
Views were distant, but on some photographs taken the characteristic blue lores of the male bittern were visible. Could it be that we were watching the two males, one attempting to move the other from his booming terrtitory?
Be off with you! (or words to that effect)
And speaking of bitterns, it is time once again to both ask for your help and offer a very rare opportunity.
As you’ve already seen, the 2019 bittern activity levels are ramping up and volunteers and wardens have been watching them closely for some weeks now. It seems we already have one active nest for this season.
That means time has come for us to ask for some help with monitoring what’s going on. Ever noticed the hide on stilts, off the Reedbed Trail? Well, we are looking for bittern monitors to watch for bittern from that hide and record their sightings. It’ll be in half day slots 09.15 to 13.00 & 13.00 to 16.30(ish) - but if you fancy spending the whole day up in the hide, that’s great!
Don’t worry if this isn’t something you’ve done before as we will make sure there is an experienced bittern watcher in each session. Space is limited in the hide so if you are interested, please email Karen Williams (karen.williams@rspb.org.uk) with details of your availability. It would be great if you could help us add to the data we are recording for this year.
Until next time.
All too true Bridgey. Strange things cows
Bitterns? What bitterns? Munch munch munch!