Hello again, here's a quickish blog with a round-up of sightings since the blog that Andrew wrote last Wednesday.
1) Little Egrets
We had another record breaking roost on Wednesday night and counted on Thursday morning as they left the roost very early on. 'Early on' means around 4:30am for the first sightings of them leaving the roost and so that's long before you or I get there. It was our warden Dave who counted all 71. Yep, SEVENTY ONE little egrets roosted in the willows on Wath Ings that night which, I'm sure you will agree, is a fantastic count.
2) Purple Hairstreaks
If you read the blog last Tuesday then you'll know we had some exciting butterfly news. If you didn't, then the link is here. The good news is that they are still there and were spotted yesterday by Heather (warden). There was at least one and so on a sunny late afternoon or evening, look out for them lower down in the oaks on Green Lane (on the left was you walk back to the VC from the Family Hide) and you might be lucky enough to get a good view. At other times of the day you are more likely to see them much higher up in the oaks.
3) Bearded Tits
Visitor Mary Wilde had a good view of a male in flight yesterday. She saw it flying from the reedbed hide going towards the reedbed screen. Now that's good news!
4) Kingfishers
It's that time of year again when kingfishers are starting to be seen more regularly around Old Moor. At the moment the best places seem to be the Bittern Hide and the Reedbed Screen/Hide. Good luck, it's always a thrill to spot one.
Mary Wilde spotted a kingy at the reedbed screen yesterday and posted this lovely photo. Thanks Mary :)
5) Bitterns
No new news as such of our bitterns - our juvs haven't been showing as well as they have in previous years but that doesn't necessarily mean they have left OM (but they might have). It might just mean that they are wandering around the reeds instead of flying because they are easily finding enough to eat. News will be coming out soonish about the juvs and how many there have been this year. In the mean time, if you do spot a bittern then please do let us know where it was, when you saw it and where it was going to if it was flying.
I spent quite a bit of time in the monitoring hide this year and thoroughly enjoyed the whole process. Monitoring is a lot about watching the reeds carefully for signs of movement, watching where flights come from and go to so that the wardens can build up a picture of what's happening and also the times that bitterns are being seen. Karen (assit warden) has given the OK for me to post photos and videos which were taken from this hide.
Here is a little video of one of the adult female bitterns just about to take off in the reeds. Taken on May 5th this year.
I got a bit very excited when we spotted this beautiful juv in the reeds. Look at the down on the head, definitely a juv! This was seen on June 6th.
If you've ever wondered how a bittern moves through the reeds then wonder no more. Here's a video of an adult female taken from the monitoring hide, also taken on June 6th this year.
After watching that you might be thinking that the bittern is near to the ground. That's not the case at all as they climb the reeds to preen and also before they take off to fly. The reeds are much higher than you might think - when our wardens walk through them in the autumn to see what's been happening (ie when all nesting has completely finished and it's ok to do so), they need to hold up flags and be guided by watchers in the monitoring hide in order to find their way around, and indeed out of the reedbeds!
6) Med Gulls
This year at Old Moor we have had 4 adult med gulls. One pair 'paired up' and had 2 juvs. These were ringed at Old Moor and this week, one of the juvs was spotted in Ireland! 2J12 was ringed at Old Moor and turned up in Gormaston, County Meath, Ireland. This bird was spotted by 'Jan Rod' on Twitter (@jan_rod) posted a photo of this bird. If you are interested in seeing this photo then scroll through the Twitter feed of @BarnsleyBSG.
7) Other Sightings
Today we had a visiting grey plover spotted early on as well as a sighting of a jack snipe flying across the Wader Scrape. Thanks to Richard Hargreaves (via Twitter) for the latter sighting. Then there was a red kite spotted from the hide at Wath Ings. It was mobbed by crows and then flew right over the pylon.
Counts from today via the @BarnsleyBSG at Old Moor are - Grey Plover 1, Black Tailed Godwit 1, Snipe 7, Green Sandpiper 5, Common Sandpiper 9, Common Tern 3, Shelduck 4, Shoveler 25, Teal 55, Gadwall 415, Mute Swan 45 and Little Grebe 45.
That's it for this round up except to say that we have had rain and it has been a cooler and very pleasant day to be at Old Moor. There are lots of events at Old Moor this summer so if you'd like to know what exactly, then take a look at our events page for details of everything we have for you to enjoy this summer at Old Moor. Find the link here.