Hello there, it’s blog time again. I don’t have the sightings from the book at Old Moor today, but I do have sightings from both Adwick and Bolton via Twitter. Both are great places to visit and easily includable in a visit if indeed you are thinking of visiting Old Moor this weekend.

I’m quite sure however that there will have been sightings of bitterns around the reserve. If you have never seen one, then…

I am pretty sure that no-one will be reading this blog tonight and - you know what - that’s absolutely brilliant! Yes, tonight is the night that part of the BBC Springwatch programme comes from Old Moor. Tune in around eight o’clock on BBC 2 or – whenever you like – on iPlayer. I am sure it will be excellent.

But for fellow bird-geeks (beeks?) who don’t feel complete without a summary of the day…

It may have been a ‘white-sky’ day in the Dearne Valley and a bit cooler than recent ones but hey, it was dry at least and, as ever, there were some incredible sights to be seen around Old Moor and its satellite reserves.

A goosander? In June? World’s gone mad I tell you!

The screaming calls of swift were the first thing I noticed on a visit to Broomhill Flash this morning. It is good to see their…

Blimey, I was only away for a week! Just how did Old Moor's lanes get so narrow in such a short time? And for that matter, where did all those orchids come from?

The answer as anyone with a lawn will tell you, is that spring, after being held back for so long, has now accelerated with such vigour that it’s difficult to keep up.

And what a difference a week makes. Apparently, the BBC have taken an interest…

Hello again! 

The good news from today is that we have news of bearded tits. Karen told me that there has been some bearded tit activity in reedbed one today but not conclusive enough to say if we have juvenile beardies as yet. Watch this space!

She also told me that we have 2 med gull chicks. These are best seen from the Family Hide.

Bittern activity continues and everything is still progressing as we expect. Bittern…

Hello again, it's been a pretty warm, if not very sunny, day at Old Moor today.

The 'new' sightings are of a sanderling on the Mere, to pink footed geese on Wath Ings and from Adwick - two little stint, 3 dunlin, 4 ringed plover and a garganey.

The book from today in two parts.

Part 1.

Part 2.

As you can see, there are lots of birds for you to see during your visit and bitterns can currently be seen…

The warden team got pretty wet in the rain today at Old Moor but we took the opportunity to tidy up and strim some visitor areas and the playground before the sun comes out again tomorrow and hopefully there will be loads more people around the site.

Many of the people who braved the weather were hoping for sightings of the black terno that were over the mere yesterday but they were nowhere to be seen.

Low visitor numbers…

Hello there, today it's time for the next blog about the latest WEX meeting. Freddie was there and I have his news to bring to you. Evelyn wasn't there this time but will be back next month.

Here are Freddie's words. Thanks Freddie :) 

This time at WEX we did about migration. Migration is when birds fly from one country to another to spend the winter or the summer. First, John one of the leaders showed us…

If you want to be inspired by the majestic flight of a bittern and a conservation success story, the time is now. On a visit to Old Moor at present, the question is not, ‘I wonder if we’ll see a bittern?’ but rather ‘I wonder how many times we’ll see a bittern?’

There are of course, no guarantees but with three active bittern nests on the reserve and feeding flights coming thick and…

Another day in the Dearne Valley, another record tumbles!

Yesterday, guided by years of birding experience, I wrote that the chances of our recent red-necked phalarope hanging around for three days in the valley were ‘slim’. This was because we have no record of a previous red-necked phalarope doing that. Ever.

Today, a tiny wader proved us all wrong as for the third consecutive day, the red-necked phalarope…

For only the ninth time in the birding records of the Dearne Valley, has a red-necked phalarope been recorded. The first was way back in 1974 so you can begin to see how significant this sighting is to the area.

Even more amazingly, today was only the second time in that period that a red-necked phalarope has stayed around for two consecutive days!

So, when tired motorists in Broomhill stopped to ask me where Broomhill…

Well, it's been quite exciting at Old Moor today as you can no doubt gather from my title.

The red necked phalarope is new in this evening and was picked up by Sid Renouf who was in the Wader Scrape hide and it's a male. Here's the link to the RSPB webpage about this bird for a bit more info. As far as I know it's still there and there is yet time to go and find it before the gates shut at 8pm.

The glossy…

Hello there, the good news is that the glossy ibis was still at Old Moor today. 

Mary Wilde was there and managed to take these lovely photos of it. Thanks Mary.

As far as I know, it has been on the field pools all day and Karen, assistant warden, told me that some of the best views of it today were to be had from the drive.

Good news all round I think!

Understandably most of the attention today has been on the…

For the second day in a row, Old Moor played host to a touch of the exotic in the form of an extraordinary newcomer. Though it felt more like February this morning, at the back of Wath Ings, in the undergrowth, was a bird used to warmer climes.

A glossy ibis, at nearly half a metre tall, was feeding in the long grasses towards the back of the right hand arm of the ‘spit’. The trouble was, those grasses aren’t much shorter…

Hello there, the RSPB have done an official press release about our reserve and our bitterns. Here it is :) 

Hello again, the big, and exciting, news today is of the arrival of a stunning glossy ibis. Here's the Arkive webpage about this bird for a bit more info. The latest news I have is that about 30 mins ago (18:20) the ibis was on Wath Ings ( via Chris Harris). Warden Dave tells us that this is the 4th record of a glossy ibis for the reserve.

Without any further ado, here's a photo from Twitter via Jeff Wragg.

If you had to choose, who would you say was the better flyer – a black-headed gull or a brimstone butterfly?

Watching a male brimstone flutter his way across the Mere, I wasn’t the only one captivated by his showy, yellow wings. A black-headed gull, looked up and saw an easy meal. Worse, another gull spotted the same target.

Both birds took off towards the unfortunate butterfly, beaks agape and aiming to…

Nature is full of surprises that’s for sure. When I set out for Old Moor this morning, I was pretty sure I knew what to expect – common sandpiper, bittern (of course), a generous helping of warblers, those Med. gulls, a few redshank…

What I didn’t expect was to see three adult, drake goosander sunning themselves on the Wader Scrape. Nevertheless, there they were. In May!

In case you are wondering…

Hello there, it's been a lovely day to be out and about at Old Moor. We had a nice warm day with lots of sunshine, just the thing. :) 

This isn't actually my blog, even though it's me that's typing and publishing it. Karen, our assistant warden, is taking up blogging! It'll be great to have a blogger who really knows their stuff Old Moor wise. However, our fabulous quirky blog is still blocking her from blogging so…

Hello there, my title first of all refers the the amazing fragrance of the flowering wisteria on the wall by the visitor centre. I had a good few minutes here today inhaling the wonderful scent. The clematis is also in flower and the combination of that, and the wisteria give a stunning view as you enter the courtyard. I don't remember it being quite so spectacular in recent years.

Lean in a bit and have a good sniff…

The perfect place to raise young is a precious thing and certainly worth defending. For many birds that means a suitable nest site; a good supply of food; few predators and no rivals.

So this afternoon at Old Moor, when two pairs of great crested grebe squared up to each other on Wath Ings, things got heated very quickly.

Both pairs faced each other and positioned themselves low in the water but with crests, wings and…

Hello again, apologies but I don't have many sightings today but I do have news.

The sightings that I have are via Twitter and not the book.

From Dave Simmonite at Old Moor  - news of a red kite flying over the Wader Scrape at 2:40pm.

Chris Harris told us of a sanderling on the Wader Scrape this afternoon...lovely little birds too and of a hobby over the Mere.

John Seeviour was at Bolton Ings and gave us the following…

If you drew a graph of number of visitor bittern sightings at Old Moor against time, for most weeks of the year there’d be a handful. But, right now, at the start of the second week of May, the graph would change. There would be a sudden increase in sightings; the gradient of the plotted line would rise as things in the reedbeds heat up.

Whilst it’s not hard at the moment to hear a male bittern booming at Old Moor…

End to end sunshine; birdsong; butterflies; some first rate wildlife encounters; and – the best bit – a bank holiday weekend. It just doesn’t get any better than that!

I am glad to report that Old Moor’s car park was full to over-flowing as scores of visitors dropped in to enjoy an incredible late spring day. And what sights there were…

In an unusual move, let’s start with today’s butterfly…