LONG DISTANCE VOYAGERS
I have been known to take a few birding trips around the UK in my time. I'm not one of those people who react to a sighting of a rare bird species by dropping everything and haring across the country in hopes of spotting an infrequent feathered visitor before it continues on its way or (Heaven forbid) a predator gets it. Good luck to those who enjoy their birding like that, they're sure to see far more species than I am, but it's always seemed too much like hard work for me.
I don't “twitch” in this way but I do plan a couple of trips a year to places I haven't visited before in the hopes that the change of scenery means a change of locally common species. Living well inland as I do, the chances of seeing (for example) a Gannet or a Puffin on my local patch are next to nil but if I go to a place where they live (e.g. the magnificent RSPB site at Bempton Cliffs) then my chances of spotting some of these gorgeous birds are vastly improved. Last week for example I went for a long weekend to Gloucester in the hopes of seeing (among other things) some Common Crane, as that's a part of the country where they can regularly be seen. And (unusually for me) my plan had a successful conclusion. Big tick, excellent sightings, happy Shaun. Sometimes though it doesn't work out so well, like earlier in the year when we went to Inner Farne off the Northumberland Coast in the hopes of seeing the heavily advertised flocks of Arctic Terns that arrive there each year.
Sadly, when I turned up in late September, there were no Terns to be seen at all, Arctic or otherwise. In fact, the island was devoid of all birdlife apart from a few Shags and a solitary Robin – which delighted the local rangers as it was the first one they'd seen on the island all year. Good for them. Nice as the Robin was, I was somewhat less whelmed.
Today's lesson – Do your research before leaving home. Yes, Inner Farne is teeming with several species of Terns every year, but only during Spring and Summer. By the time I arrived in Autumn every single one had departed, as they do every year, on a migration pattern that can cover 50,000 miles or more each year. I should have known that before I began my own, much shorter, journey to see them.
Just as I take trips to visit other sites up and down the country, plenty of other people make a special effort to come to our home in Barnsley. We're host to visitors from all parts of Yorkshire as you might expect, but I speak to people at the Welcome Shed who have travelled far and wide to get here, from Scotland to London and all points in between. It's fair to say that the Dearne Valley is quite a draw for Britain's birdwatching community.
But what brings Britain's birders to Old Moor? Well our birds, naturally. For example, the BITTERN should be on every RSPB member's must-see list.
We're justifiably praised for our facilities too, be those designed to encourage our young visitors or our large, well-stocked shop. Personally I think the fabulous bounty on offer in our cafe is a birder-magnet. Nothing says “I Want to Give Nature a Home” like a whopping great slab of orange and cranberry cake.
Or maybe it's our genial reputation? Several guests have mentioned that our friendly yet knowledgable volunteers and staff are a credit to the site. It must not have been me that they spoke to...
And of course it's not just the birders that travel a fair distance to come to our reserve in South Yorkshire. Some of our avian voyagers (like the aforementioned Arctic Tern, which has occasionally dropped in for a few days) have come from much further away than our human visitors. While none of Old Moor's current feathery residents can claim migration journeys to match the Tern's, we have some recent guests that have completed long-distance trips of their own to come stay with us. Take the REDWING as an example. They travel from Scandinavia, Russia and Iceland to spend their winters here in Britain, with many covering a journey of over 500 miles in a single flight. It may be the smallest thrush species that we have on our shores but it's certainly a contender for the furthest travelled, and it's definitely the prettiest.
Redwings are, in my view, misnamed. While they do sport a lovely reddy-orange patch, it's not their actual wings that are so brightly coloured. It's the part underneath the wing, along their flanks. Their armpits or wing-pits, if you will. They probably employed the services of some advertising agency when it came to their name though. I guess 'Orangepit' wouldn't look so nice in the guidebooks.
Another bird whose name is a misnomer is one of Old Moor's 'star' species, the BEARDED TIT. This gorgeous but elusive creature would definitely benefit from a rename as it doesn't actually have a beard and it's no longer considered to be part of the same genetic family as Blue Tits, Great Tits etc.
So I suggest that it should be henceforth known as the 'Reedling-With-A-Moustache-Like-Freddie-Mercury'. Do you think it'll catch on?