Hello there, it’s been a bit of a mix weather wise at Old Moor today. We have had lots of grey skies, a bit of rain and this afternoon it brightened up and we had some sunshine. It’s been pretty chilly however but the grey phalarope is still here!
I’ll start today with the satellite sites. There is news via Twitter from Edderthorpe and Adwick.
Gary Stones tweeted the following sightings from Adwick today -2 black tailed godwits, 15 golden plover, 1 pintail, 1 wigeon, 8 shoverlor, 2 tufted duck, 55 teal, c70 mallard, 9 gadwall, and a ringed LBB gull – MBBP. Gary went on to say that there were 40 snipe on nearby Harlington Flash and then at least 60+ in air with 300+ Lapwing when the site was flushed. Thanks very much Gary.
John Clarkson was at Edderthorpe this morning and gave us the following counts – 1166 lapwing, 354 golden plover, 6 snipe, 270 mallard, 240 teal, 16 wigeon, a shelduck and 4 little egret. Thank you John.
Next to Old Moor… There wasn’t much in the book today but the grey phalarope was still present! It was again showing from the hides at Wath Ings and the Field Pool East. We had kingfisher sightings from the Field Pool West, Bittern Hide and Reedbed screen. The male sparrowhawk was once again seen in the Tree Sparrow Farm. There was a peregrine with a red darvic ring causing havoc on the Mere before it went to perch on the pylon near the monitoring hide. A kestrel was on a different pylon – the ‘cowslip’ one. We had 70+ pink footed geese honking their way over Old Moor and a weasel seen near the path by Grandad’s shed.
The pink footed geese...
The peregrine on the pylon...
Growing numbers of wildfowl on the field pools...
Juv male sparrowhawk showing yesterday in the Tree Sparrow Farm.
If you have visited recently, you may have noticed that there has been some work done by our reserve team. I chatted to Karen (assistant warden) today and she gave me the following info to pass on to you all.
There has been a new sluice fitted in the Toyota Pond this week. This will give us more control over water levels in the wildlife ponds area. The ditch up to the oak trees has been cleared too, so the water has somewhere to go.
We are trying to develop the Reedbed here. It’s quite new and we have deepened the ditch around it to try to stop the cattle getting in. We are hoping that this might develop into a bittern feeding area and the bearded tits have used this area at times as well. We have also removed a couple of trees from the corner to the left of the Family Hide. This will give you a better view of the area to the left of the hide.
Autumnal brush cutting has been taking place in the reedbeds and you may have noticed new channels that you can see down. This is to help us all see birds that over winter at Old Moor, and who might be feeding along the edges.
Finally for today, a goldfinch on the teasel in the Tree Sparrow Farm. The forecast is great for tomorrow so why not come for a visit and lunch in our fabulous cafe?!