It may have been a ‘white-sky’ day in the Dearne Valley and a bit cooler than recent ones but hey, it was dry at least and, as ever, there were some incredible sights to be seen around Old Moor and its satellite reserves.
A goosander? In June? World’s gone mad I tell you!
The screaming calls of swift were the first thing I noticed on a visit to Broomhill Flash this morning. It is good to see their numbers increasing in the valley at present. With them were: wren, black-headed gull, two great crested grebe, tufted duck, pochard, Canada geese, greylag, gadwall, starling, two shoveler, one kestrel, jackdaw, mute swan, lapwing, house martin, pied wagtail and a single lesser black-backed gull.
Pied wagtail and their young seemed to be everywhere today
As the day warmed up a little, a visit to Adwick Washland revealed: mute swan, greylag geese, Canada geese, gadwall, shoveler, pochard, two grey partridge, little grebe, moorhen, avocet, lapwing, two ringed plover, redshank, woodpigeon, collared dove and yet more swift.
There were also jackdaw, crow, skylark, swallow, house martin, willow warbler, blackcap, whitethroat, sedge warbler, starling (in sizeable numbers), blackbird, robin, dunnock, house sparrow, pied wagtail, meadow pipit, chaffinch, bullfinch, greenfinch, goldfinch and reed bunting.
What it’s all about! The oystercatcher in the middle of these three is one of this year’s young.
Meanwhile at Old Moor, today’s ‘hotspot’ seemed to be the Wader Scrape. Here were one wood sandpiper (early on), four ringed plovers, two oystercatcher, four lesser black-backed gull, two shelduck with eight young, three avocet, one redshank and a great crested grebe.
Bittern flights were recorded throughout the day and at least two birds were seen flying simultaneously towards Bolton Ings.
Two of the three avocet on the Wader Scrape today
On the Field Pool, there was a female goosander along with two little egret, four oystercatcher, a pair of teal, and eight gadwall.
On Wath Ings there were sightings of a single pink-footed goose, a common tern, a chiffchaff, two pochard, four cormorant and a pair of little grebe.
Finally to the Mere where there were six great crested grebe, one buzzard, sand martin, lapwing, tufted duck, two cormorant, eight lesser black-backed gull, two mute swan, swift and, of course, that Mediterranean Mum brooding her chick(s).
I’ll finish today with two of those four ringed plover on Old Moor’s Wader Scrape – always great fun to watch.
Until next time.