Hello there, it's been a lovely day to be out and about at Old Moor. We had a nice warm day with lots of sunshine, just the thing. :)
This isn't actually my blog, even though it's me that's typing and publishing it. Karen, our assistant warden, is taking up blogging! It'll be great to have a blogger who really knows their stuff Old Moor wise. However, our fabulous quirky blog is still blocking her from blogging so I said that I'd do the honours.
Karen's Saturday Blog
It’s been a funny spring so far and every morning when I arrive in the Dearne Valley I feel like this will be the morning that something has dropped in overnight. The 49 mute swans on Wath Ings first thing this morning weren’t quite the mega I had in mind but they were nice to see.
Also around first thing were 3 little egrets, 4 dunlin (through), 3 redshank, ten oystercatchers, a great black-backed gull (flying North), 2 Mediterranean gulls on Island 1 of the Mere, 3 common terns around Wader Scrape and a barnacle goose (through East).
Cetti’s warblers are singing well from a few places including Reedbed 5, Manvers Lake, Bolton Ings and along the River Dearne. Warbler Way is the best place to hear most of these birds at the moment.
On Wombwell Ings today were 3 ringed plover, 2 dunlin, 3 oystercatcher, 1 snipe, 1 pink-footed goose, 2 shelduck, 2 shoveler and 2 redshank.
I spent the morning surveying the Eastern Pool at Bolton Ings.
From this vantage point I recorded 2 mute swans, 17 Canada geese with 6 young, 14 tufted ducks, 12 pochard (7 male & 5 female),6 gadwall, 1 common gull, 4 great crested grebes, 4 little grebes, 12 reed warbler, 6 pairs of reed buntings, 2 singing sedge warblers, 31 coots with a total of 37 young across 7 broods, 1 grey heron, 1 cormorant, 10 greylag geese, 1 green woodpeckers and 3 buzzards.
There was also an adult female grey wagtail reported from the river at Bolton, and three singing yellowhammers from Bolton ‘Top Lane’ off Carhead Lane.
At Adwick Washlands Gary Stones found this wood sandpiper…. If you are visiting Adwick tomorrow then please park in the car park and not on the residential streets at Bolton.
Also at Adwick were 31 avocet, c15 redshank, 2 oystercatchers, 2 ringer plovers, 1 pink-footed goose, 1 buzzard, 2 kestrels, 1 water rail and 4 grey partridge.
Back at Old Moor the raptors seem to have been performing as we had sightings of 3 Buzzards, a kestrel, a sparrowhawk, a hobby hunting over Wader Scrape and a peregrine falcon that was seen on the pylon nearest to the Visitor Centre.
Butterflies today have included common blue, orange tip, green-veined white and dingy skipper. I think it might be the first record on the reserve for 2018 of dingy skipper which reflects on the kind of spring we had when compared to 2017 when the first sighting was on April 15th.
I also saw a 4 spot chaser dragonfly today near the reservoir while I was checking the cows – which is my first dragonfly for the year. Hopefully there will be loads around before long.
What about the bitterns??? From the data that is being gathered by our dedicated team of bittern monitors, we are seeing behaviour which suggests that all three nests in Reedbed 1 are progressing as we should expect. A male is still on site and heard booming regularly – he is starting to move round the reserve a bit more so there is a good chance of hearing his boom from anywhere.
The path to the reedbeds will remain closed until the young have fledged but the feeding flights from the adults have been viewed from around the reserve with Bittern Bus Stop and Bittern Hide giving the best views today.
If you are interested in helping us monitor these birds please email Karen.williams@rspb.org.uk for more details.
Bitterns can move surprisingly quickly so be prepared to have your wits about you.
That’s it from me today, if you have seen anything else we’d love to hear about it.
Karen