It’s not much of a song – to our ears at least – but the sound of a chiffchaff is another very welcome step in the direction of spring. Today, at Old Moor, Green Lane resounded with both its song and the song of a Cetti’s warbler near the small ‘reedbed’ there. It was almost as if they were trying to outdo each other.
Meanwhile, thanks to a bit of site-work on the gorse hedge that bounds the lane and some in the reedbeds, everything had a shuffle around. A Med. gull was on the Field Pool; five goldeneye (one female) were at Wath Ings; and a pink-footed goose followed the greylag and Canada geese each time they relocated. In short, it was a day when the usual ‘rules’ didn’t apply and watchers had to look carefully to see ‘what’ was on ‘where’.
In full ‘song’
Elsewhere in the Dearne Valley, at Adwick Washland today there were: four avocet, four whooper swan -though these left quite early – to be replaced by at first nineteen more overhead and then a further group of thirty-nine flying in the opposite direction.
Most of that super group of whoop-ers landed at Wombwell Ings where there were also two barnacle geese, two little egret, eight shelduck, six goosander, one dunlin and two redshank. Both the firecrest and the yellow-browed warbler showed well in the late afternoon. My thanks to Chris Harris for those details.
What a top bird Wombwell's yellow-browed warbler is!
On Broomhill Flash the sightings included: one goosander, two drake goldeneye, one hawfinch, one buzzard, one great crested grebe and a peregrine. There were also three sand martin here today (another ‘step’).
At Bolton Ings John Seeviour reported: two mute swans, two great crested grebe, two little grebe, four mallard, twenty-seven tufted duck, five pochard, three goldeneye (one female), ninety-three coot, seven goosander (three female), sixteen cormorant, 191 black-headed gull, two buzzard, one marsh tit, a song thrush, a green woodpecker and a grey wagtail. Thanks John.
A pair of mute swan ‘piggybacking’ across the main marsh
At Old Moor today, I counted sixty-two species of bird about and I’m pretty sure I missed a few. On the Reedbed Trail there were four bearded tit, another Cetti’s warbler and a bittern booming in the early part of the morning.
In the Bird Garden and Tree Sparrow Farm there were: blackbird, blue tit, bullfinch, chaffinch, collared dove, dunnock, goldfinch, great tit, greenfinch, kestrel, long-tailed tit, magpie, mistle thrush, moorhen, pheasant, reed bunting, robin, stock dove, tree sparrow, woodpigeon, wren and yellowhammer.
Behind you!
The Field Pool was the place to find the Mediterranean gull and three snipe while the Wader Scrape was where watchers might see an uncommon sight this year – a great crested grebe.
All other sightings come from Wath Ings where there were: five goldeneye, one goosander, one little egret, three buzzard (over), a pair of pintail, three oystercatcher, two lesser black-backed gull and one grey heron. With them were mute swan, cormorant, teal, shoveler, gadwall, wigeon, black-headed gull, lapwing, little grebe, pochard and tufted duck.
And sadly, that’s about all I have for this evening. Wonder when the first willow warbler will turn up?
Until next time.