It was another glorious warm summer’s day in the Dearne Valley and one chock-full of bird sightings. Here’s today’s summary…
It’s worth mentioning that not only were there bittern seen today, but that juvenile bearded tits were seen (again) on the Reedbed Trail. Sadly, I don’t have a number for that sighting but I do know that these young birds brought a smile to many visitors’ faces throughout the day.
One of four common tern (mostly) on / over the Wader Scrape
Gull watchers were happy too at the sight of an adult and juvenile Mediterranean gull along with our now fairly familiar third calendar year yellow-legged gull.
Common sandpiper feeding close to the Wader Scrape Hide (LHS)
Lapwing numbers continue to grow (190 today) and yes, the female garganey is still spending most of her time on Wath Ings. True, much of this time she seems to be asleep, but catch her up and about feeding and she’s a great bird to see on the reserve.
A rare shot of the garganey awake!
Elsewhere, it was great to hear of two little ringed plover with two small young on Broomhill Flash. These birds are probably best seen from the ‘reverse view’ of Wombwell Ings hide.
At Adwick, there’s still a chance to see avocet and it’s good to know that the snipe seem to be returning in numbers.
For me, one of the oddest pieces of behaviour I’ve seen for a while involved a pair of cormorant on the Mere. One immature bird had found a large, white wing-feather. It toyed with this and disturbed not only the nearby gulls but another, older cormorant. Annoyed, the older bird tried to claim the plaything and what followed was a tug-of-war accompanied by noisy, guttural grunts.
Neither bird was happy to give in but in the end, youth triumphed. The younger cormorant took off with the prize clamped tightly in its bill and a long, white vane fluttering above its head.
Until next time.
Nowt so strange as birds!