View From The Shed by Shaun Finnie - THE HOKEY COKEY

THE HOKEY COKEY

Over the last few weeks we've had a lot of unusual visitors to our little patch of heaven here in Barnsley. Not the human visitors, they're always welcome, be they usual or otherwise. No, I mean the birds that have been to see us, the ones that we don't usually encounter in this part of the world. They've been here one minute, gone the next, then turning up at another stretch of water along the Valley... It's been difficult to keep our sightings board up to date. For those of who might not have visited us at RSPB Old Moor recently, that's the large whiteboard on the side of our Welcome Shed. It's where we write a big list of all the birds, dragon- and damselflies, mammals, butterflies and moths, and anything else of interest that has been spotted around the reserve. We update it frequently as new reports come in throughout the day and usually keep things on there a day or two after their final sighting, just to be on the safe side. So if I show you the board and tell you that there's a chance you might see something that's noted on it, that's the truth, you might. I never, ever promise though. Momma didn't raise no stoopid kids.

But back to our recent arrivals and departures; this in-and-out business started a couple of months ago when a Ring-Necked Duck decided that he'd had enough of the USA and decided to spend his holidays in South Yorkshire. He stayed for quite a few weeks and lots of people had the chance to see this rarity from pastures West. I wrote an entire blog about him but by the time it actually went live the little blighter had moved on. And then he returned, but that was just a few hours after I'd posted an apology telling people not to bother coming to see him any more. Basically he was reading my posts and running away when I said he was here and sneaking back when I said he'd flown off home to America. It was so infuriating that I eventually stopped talking about him at all. Right now I'm convinced that he's thousands of miles away. So if you fancy taking a chance...

He was the first of these birds that have had a love/hate relationship with local birdwatchers. Some of these lovely people have been to our reserves multiple times to see a particular bird, only to be told on each occasion the most hateful phrase you can say to any birder: “It's just flown off”. We've all heard it. We turn up full of hope and within seconds our shoulders slump and we hear ourselves saying, “Just my luck”. And it's happened several more times since 'the duck who shall no longer be named' came did the hokey cokey on our doorstep. Plenty of other birds have been teasing us with their presence or lack of it. They're in and out of the various sites around our Dearne Valley more frequently than something that proverbially goes in and out a lot. And so, in no particular order, here's a little list of Old Moor's recent unusual birds that some might deem twitchable; that is, they'd be prepared to travel some distance to say that they'd seen it.

Spoonbill, Avocet, Cattle Egret, Garganey, Green Sandpiper, Black-Winged Stilt... 

That lot would be a decent afternoon's birder list by most people's standards. Some of these are particularly notable.

Spoonbill – When I was a boy these gloriously freakish birds were seen only in encyclopaedias and David Attenborough documentaries. These days they breed less than an hour away at our sister sanctuary of Fairburn Ings, Castleford. We had some young Spoonbills stay the entire summer with us last year and towards the end of their visit they were carrying nesting material around but not really knowing what to do with it. That's their equivalent of teenagers on first dates. Hopefully the birds return and stay around this time, perhaps even playing house more seriously.

Cattle Egret – This is one of my nemesis birds. We all have them, the birds that we never get to see even though everyone around us has seen them by the aviaryful. See my blog about big white birds for more details about these and their relatives but suffice to say they are becoming more frequent around the country yet I've still to see one on my home patch. One day Shaun, one day.

Black-Winged Stilt – Imagine an Avocet with a straight beak and long, long, looong fluorescent pink legs and you're not that far away from picturing one of these gorgeous creatures. There has been a large increase in the number spending their summers in the UK in the last five years, presumable caused by our old frenemy, climate change. They commonly breed across a wide range from the Mediterranean, through Africa and even as far as Australia, but as the world warms we've become an acceptable alternative. A pair even bred successfully at Potteric Carr in Doncaster last year. Maybe our Dearne Valley could be next?

Will any of these birds be here if you popped in to visit us tomorrow morning? Honestly, I haven't a clue. I can point you towards the photo of the sightings board which should accompany this blog and they might be on that as 'recent sightings', but the real answer is that they're all wild creatures with brains, motivations and whims of their own. And, crucially, wings to take them where they will. All we can do is to predict where they'll be given the information that we have and, like weather forecasters, much of it is educated guesswork.

Actually, we can do one other thing. We can just see whatever we see and accept it for its own beauty. Sure, have a wish list of things that you'd like to find but rejoice in every bit of nature that you come across. Your life will be better for it.