Hello there, my title first of all refers the the amazing fragrance of the flowering wisteria on the wall by the visitor centre. I had a good few minutes here today inhaling the wonderful scent. The clematis is also in flower and the combination of that, and the wisteria give a stunning view as you enter the courtyard. I don't remember it being quite so spectacular in recent years.
Lean in a bit and have a good sniff... :)
My visit today was a couple of hours in the late afternoon. It was warmish, brightish and there were lots of things to look at and watch.
Bees were busy feeding in the flowers near the VC.
Also in the flowers here were ladybirds and hoverflies. If you just stand for a few moments and have a look in the flowers, you will be amazed at what you see. If the sun is shining then there will almost certainly be a few butterflies on the wing.
Talking of butterflies, I happened to look down as I was walking along Green Lane and was delighted to see this male brimstone butterfly feeding on a dandelion. Dandelions are great plants. Bees, butterflies and hoverflies need them to feed on, so maybe think about them as a beautiful flower in your garden, rather than as a weed that needs to be removed. I do!
The noise bit of my title refers to the raucous sound the black headed gulls make when a lesser black backed gull homes in on their chicks because they are hungry. It's quite a spectacle!
It also refers to the noisy, but lovely, sedge warbler that is currently singing away in front of the hide at Wath Ings.
Enjoy :)
Also seen from Wath Ings today were tufted duck, 2 redshank, lapwing, mute swan, cormorant and little grebes.
On Green Lane, I heard and saw willow warbler, reed warbler, long tailed tits and dunnocks.
Sand martins and a great crested grebe were seen from the Family Hide.
On the Wader Scrape today there were sightings of 2 redshank, 2 common tern, 2 shelduck, black headed gulls and lesser black backed gulls.
From the book we have sightings of linnet, a weasel, various bittern flights, oystercatcher, pochard and great crested grebe.
From the Barnsley Birders (@BarnsleyBSG) on Twitter today we have the following sightings.
Old Moor: 2 little egret, a booming bittern, 1 little ringed plover, 1 common sandpiper, 10 oystercatcher, 3 redshank, 2 med gull, 4 shelduck and 28 pochard.
Broomhill Flash this morning - 2 mute swan, 2 great crested grebe, 2 LBB gull, 4 pochard, 30+ swift, 2 red legged partridge, 1 common tern and 1 blackcap.
Wombwell this morning: 5 mute swan, 1 redshank, 1 oystercatcher, 1 pink footed goose and 1 LBB gull.
Then they tweeted a raven flying over Old Moor this morning as well as a male bearded tit, a singing male Cetti's and a male and female bittern.
I think that's just about it for today apart from a reminder that the path to the reedbeds is now closed as we have breeding bittern nests. You can walk as far as the bittern bus stop but that's as far as you can go. Bitterns are a schedule 1 bird and need protecting. Here's a link to the schedule one birds and the law about how birds are protected. Well worth a read.