View From The Shed by Shaun Finnie - JUST PASSING THROUGH

JUST PASSING THROUGH

Isn't migration wonderful? The mass movement of pretty much every creature in an entire species over many hundreds of miles from one area to another? It boggles my mind that, through the trial and error of evolution, migration has been proven to be the most energy-economic form of survival. If conditions aren't right for feeding and breeding in a certain area at a certain time of year, then the entire populations just takes to the wing and moves somewhere else that's more suitable, only to repeat the process in reverse at the polar opposite of the year. Incredible.

And that's exactly what's happening at the moment. Migratory birds are returning home to Britain – or they're coming here for their summer holidays, depending on your point of view. Whichever way you look at it they spend part of their year in far-flung corners of the globe and part of it here in dear old Blighty. And they do this every year of their lives, flying there and back again as the seasons dictate for as long as they live. But, like me on a long road journey, they don't just set off and take the most direct route to their destination. Some will take the quickest, yes, but others will take the easiest, the safest or the ones that they've been taught by their elders. It's like me choosing my favourite from the different route selections offered by my SatNav, only without the constant messages saying “One moment.... Recalculating.....” when I've missed a turning.

They might stop off at various points along the way too. It's a long journey, they'll want to arrive refreshed. So they'll have a break somewhere near the end. Just like me on my metaphorical road trip, they'll stop for a meal on the way, a toilet break or perhaps a wash and brush up. Maybe they'll even rest up for a day or two before their internal SatNav says “You have reached your destination”.

We've seen this happen several times over the last couple of weeks at Old Moor. Birds have arrived, got the local birdwatchers all excited and then moved on again before word could really get around.

For example we've seen a few GARGANEY up and down the Dearne Valley. These little grey and brown ducks would be pretty much overlooked if it weren't for the males' comedy eyebrows. They really do look as if someone has given them a big pair of curved lines spreading up, over their eyes and down to their necks, and done it with a shaky brushful of Tipp-Ex. It's very striking and unmistakable, if also somewhat out of place on such an otherwise nondescript bird.

We've had some BLACK-NECKED GREBE visiting our reedbeds too. These are small, dark waterbirds, sort of a cross between the more common Great Crested Grebe and Little Grebes, but with a permanently startled and annoyed expression. Any creature that has a bright red eye can never be described as looking happy. A few groups have visited us but as with all the other birds listed here, they were (excuse the pun) just flying visits.

A WHEATEAR was spotted on the reserve for a couple of days. These are lovely little birds that make the long flight all the way from Central Africa and back each year. That's amazing for such a small creature. You should be able to recognise them easily enough; blue/grey above, beige/peach below. And again, a whopper of an eye stripe, but this time it's black and passes through the bird's eye. Incidentally, its name has nothing to do with ears of wheat but it's a garbled version of it's old name, white-***, which it usually shows as it flies away from you. You can entertain the family around the dinner table with that fact. You're welcome.

A few SPOONBILLS have dropped in too, like huge Egrets with a massively malformed beak. That is evolution at its finest. Nobody would ever design this bird for its looks, they're all function over form. When I was a boy these majestic but seriously strange-looking creatures were foreigners, only ever seen in books or on television. We were certain that we'd never see their likes around these parts, ever. I'm delighted to say that we were wrong and they are turning up in larger numbers each year, with some even nesting in Yorkshire now. I never thought I'd see the day.

And finally, there have been more RED KITE sightings in our valley over the last few weeks than ever before. They haven't landed though, they've just passed over – which is fitting for this time of year. I'll wait while you check your religious calendar...

All of us at Old Moor hope that these visitors have enjoyed our facilities and that next time they pop in they might stay for a little longer, or maybe bring some friends. That'd be nice. So keep an eye on our Twitter feed or just keep regularly visiting the reserves. You never know what might be here at any given moment. I'll close as always with a snapshot of the latest sightings board. At least, it was correct at the time of writing!