View From The Shed by Shaun Finnie - BEYOND OLD MOOR

BEYOND OLD MOOR

Things have been fairly static here at RSPB Old Moor recently. Unless some mega-rare birds have turned up between the time of writing and you reading this, the number of species on the reserve hasn't really changed much since we unwrapped our Christmas presents. There's still plenty to see and do here but some people who visit several times each week could possibly have seen all the birds that are to be seen, many times. Perhaps it's time then that I reminded you of the other RSPB sites here in our lovely Dearne Valley.

My directional skills are notoriously bad (as my wife will tell you) but even I can navigate a left turn out of the Old Moor car park and along the Trans Pennine Trail (TPT). A short walk along Warbler Way will bring you to a hide with cut-out viewing windows shaped like Cormorants. This looks directly over the tiny RSPB site of Bolton Ings.

Bolton Ings is part of the same watercourse as the Old Moor site so the birds (being ignorant of fences and other man-made ground-based boundaries) have a tendency to spill over between the two. It's not uncommon for an individual to spend its day switching between Bolton Ings and Old Moor's Wath Ings pool, much to the annoyance of waiting birders. Many of us have been looking forlornly around at one site when it's enjoying its best life at the other. So we desperately toddle off along the TPT, only to find that it's just flown to the very spot we've just left. I've been victim of this dirty trick several times myself. It can be incredibly frustrating but what can you do? That's nature. And anyway, there's always something to see at both Old Moor and Bolton Ings. Just make sure that you've got some decent optics with you if you go to the smaller site; the birds there can be quite a distance away.

Follow the TPT from Old Moor's car park in the other direction and you'll come to Gypsy Marsh and, a little further on near the Old Moor Tavern, Wombwell Ings. I'll be honest, Gypsy Marsh is pretty much just a flooded field next to a relatively dry field. There's a small wood at one end and a large roundabout at the other. It's probably the Dearne Valley's least diverse (in terms of birds) site, but it's well worth a visit, especially in summer when the orchids are at their best. It may be a tiny site but it's important for those if nothing else and, as always, you never know what you'll find. I once walked from one end of Gypsy Marsh to the other in about ten minutes without seeing a single bird. Then I turned back and did the same thing in the other direction. I was just about to leave when I noticed a movement in a small bush. Slowly, carefully, I crept forwards and crouched before this small patch of green among the mud and reeds. The bush quivered slightly. So did I. There was definitely something in there. I edged ever closer, like a hunter looking for the perfect shot.

They say that a bird in the hand is worth two in the bush. Well in this case two erupting out of the bush were almost worth a pee in the pants. I leapt in shock as a pair of red-legged partridges shot past us and off to safety, making their unmistakable wobbling cry as they took off, almost vertically. I let out a little cry of my own. I'm not saying that it made me jump but if I really had been a hunter I might have shot myself.

Five miles up the Dearne Parkway is Adwick Washlands. Set your satnav for DN5 7FR and let it work its directional magic. With woods, pools, meadows, hedgerows and marshland as well as the River Dearne running along one side of it, this site has many different habitats and a variety of birdlife to match. There's a lookout spot between Adwick's two main bodies of water and there's usually something out of the ordinary to be seen at this delightful little site. A bit of diction instruction for non-locals though – it's pronounced “Addick”. The 'W' is silent, like the 'P' in “Bath”.

At Old Moor we're fairly predictable. We know roughly what birds will be around the reserve at any given time of year. Of course there will always be some anomalies popping in but it's usually pretty much the stuff we expect. But Adwick? That's completely another matter. One day you could see nothing of interest at all, the next you might see a bird so rare and sensitive that we can't even talk about it. Feast, famine and all the metaphorical snacks in-between, Adwick has it all. Or perhaps nothing. You sets your satnav, you takes your chance, but it's certainly a chance worth taking.

Finally we have the old mining pools of Edderthorpe Flash. This site is best accessed from a layby on the A6195. You're going to need some decent binoculars or a telescope as the water is a fair distance from the pathway but it's a jewel of a site. And like all metaphorical jewels it sparkles magnificently when something rare is around. At other times (to torture the metaphor even more) it can be dull and lifeless like an uncut diamond. Isn't nature great?

So next time you talk to me or the other volunteers at Old Moor's Welcome Shed, don't just ask what there is to see on our home site, ask if there has been anything of interest seen at our satellite sites. You might just be surprised. Just don't expect to find a toilet at any of them.