It took a while for those clouds to move but, when they did, it turned into a glorious day here in the Dearne Valley. At the moment, Old Moor's reserve stays open until 8pm so there’s plenty of time to visit.

Here’s what you might see at the moment…

My favourite part of my visit today was when those bitterns proved the experienced watchers right, almost to the second.

In the Wader Scrape hide, many visitors had enjoyed a very lengthy bittern flight but some, who had only just arrived in the hide, thought they’d missed ‘it’.

“Don’t worry,” said one Old Moor regular, “She’ll be back in ten minutes.”

And – yes, you guessed it, ten minutes later there she was returning to her young with a crop full of food. Perfect timing!

Just keep watching the back of those reedbeds!

Until next time.