A late post today due to being on Old Moor until 10:00 this evening ....
It was a nice evening and I spent 20 minutes or so watching 3 fox cubs playing over by the reedbeds near to the owl box.
Other reports taken from the 'recent sightings ' book are:
The Wader Scrape had dunlins, little-ringed plovers, ringed plovers, oystercatchers, redshanks and lapwings .. 2 common terns now have a nest on one of the islands..
Wath Ings had reed warblers, a whitethroat, ringed plovers, redshanks, great crested grebes, little grebes and lapwings.
2 cuckoos could be heard, 1 over by Bolton Ings and the other over behind the Field Pool.
The 2 mediterranean gulls are still on the Mere and the female is now sitting on a nest .. hard to see though as she has built it on one of the islands in the middle of a bush !
The talking barn owl could be seen 'lurking' in the back of the box behind the reedbeds.
Bolton Ings had 2 grey wagtails (presumably on the river), grey partridges and a green woodpecker.
An ermine moth was found outside the Visitor centre.
No recent sights or sounds of the savi's warbler so we are now unsure if it is still around or not.
So .. Sunday arrives again .. it only seem like 7 days since the last one !
Today is of course 'trudge day' and I have walked many miles in order to bring you this report .... Poor me ....
Edderthorpe Flash was the first place I visited ...
Willow warblers, reed buntings, goldfinches, chaffinches, reed warblers, sedge warblers, whitethroats, blackcaps, chiffchaffs and a skylark were all present around the reserve along with a mistle thrush and a green woodpecker. House martins, swifts, swallows and sand martins were all feeding over the water. On the water were, mallards, gadwalls, tufted ducks, shelducks, shovelers, coots, moorhens, mute swans, Canada and greylag geese, redshanks, lapwings, 4 dunlins, 4 ringed plovers and black-headed gulls.
Next stop was Bolton Ings ..
Firstly I walked along Warbler Way .. whitethroats, blackcaps, willow warblers, chaffinches and swifts were all seen/heard here and 2 grey wagtails were on the river near to the bridge.
On Bolton were mallards, gadwalls, tufted ducks, coots, moorhens, greylag geese, Canada geese, mute swans with cygnets, lapwings, oystercatchers, black-headed gulls, a lesser black-backed gull, swifts and house martins were feeding over the water, a green woodpecker was heard and a reed bunting was singing in the reeds nearby.
Over to Wombwell Ings ....
Present here were, mallards, shovelers, gadwalls, tufted ducks, shelducks with 10 ducklings, lapwings with ... 'laplings' ... redshanks with .. 'shanklings' .... Greylag geese, Canada geese, oystercatchers, ringed plovers, black-headed gulls, swifts, swallows, house martins, goldfinches and linnets.
Lastly I returned to Old Moor ..
A list of the flowers present was supplied by Steve in the Visitor Centre ..
Currently on the reserve are; yellow rattle, yellow flag iris, lots of ragged robin, red clover (which is very beneficial to the bumblebees) oxeye daisies, (locally known as moonpennies) birdsfoot trefoil (dingy skippers like this).
Steve also reported that he had actually seen a dingy skipper near to the Themed area..... It was heard to say "Arrrrrrrrr " as it flew past ... honest ...
Breaking with tradition slightly here .. I,m going to give you a list of the birds I saw on Old Moor today but not where I saw them ...
Why not see how many you can find on your next visit ?
So .... Mallards, gadwalls, tufted ducks, pochards, shovelers, coots, moorhens, little grebes, great-crested grebes, Canada geese, greylag geese, lapwings, redshanks, oystercatchers, dunlins, ringed plovers, little-ringed plovers, mute swans, black-headed gulls, lesser black-backed gulls, mediterranean gulls, a common tern, pied wagtails, reed warblers, bullfinches, greenfinches, great tits, tree sparrows, sand martins and swifts were all seen today. A drake kookaburra was also heard ... Well maybe not ...
The 2 mediterranean gulls seem to be quite settled on the Mere (ok .. I gave that one away) and hopefully they may even produce offspring. They were reported to have been seen .. well .. committing certain deeds ... as mummy and daddy birds do .. by one of the local birders.
The savi's warbler is still on site and is still creating much interest .. hopefully it will remain doing so ...
OK .. there endeth today's report ...
Reports are very scarce today ..
Not unlike the savi's warbler I guess !
Happy to be able to report that it is still present and singing well. Views can be tricky at times and it would appear that the better time to try and see it is early morning .. My own view was at 4:45am but that is because I am stupid ..... No need to get there at that time as people were still enjoying views at least 2 hours later.
The 2 adult Mediterranean gulls are still present on the Mere which are always worth looking at ..
Access to see the savi's warbler tomorrow morning begins at 6am and ends at 8am. The bird can be heard from the Wath Ings hide but viewing from there with any real chance of identifying the bird isn't really an option as you may well be looking over at a reed warbler by mistake (as many will have done) ....
More tomorrow ...
Still looking good for the savis warbler, it was singing well this morning and we managed some decent views when it decided to climb high enough in the reeds.
The 2 Mediterranean gulls are still on the Mere and a lesser whitethroat was reported from the Trans-Pennine Trail.
A peregrine falcon was seen from Wath Ings and 2 dunlin were also reported although a location was not submitted.
For anyone wishing to view the savis warbler, the reserve is allowing supervised access to a normally closed area of the reserve. This will hopefully give better views as opposed to trying to see it from the Wath Ings hide. If you phone the visitor centre they should be able to let you know about the meeting times for this
Don't miss it !!!.
If we’d had a red carpet, we’d have rolled it out because we had a very special visitor here today. Old Moor’s Honorary Warden and our longest-serving volunteer, Harold Crookes, turned 90 a few months ago. And while that’s enough to celebrate and being a dedicated RSPB member and local volunteer for 50 years is enough to thank him for, fact is – we might not even be here if it wasn’t for Harold as he was instrumental in getting this part of the Dearne Valley turned into a bird reserve 50 years ago.
Harold says his love of birds and nature probably came from growing up on a small holding in Adwick upon Dearne. Back in the days when the Wath and Bolton Ings areas were dominated by the Colliery, he’d sit on the mudbanks and watch the birds, but says that not many people thought much about conservation and the environment in those days. Not even the region’s wildlife trust of the time thought there was anything in this area worth preserving. It took his persistence and years of hard campaigning with his small band of fellow birders, to finally convince them and it finally became a protected site in 1974.
Through the decades, Harold dedicated himself to campaigning for the area and putting in what must now be, trillions of volunteer hours. Now not only do we have Wath, we also have Bolton Ings and Old Moor- all of which may not have come to pass if not for Harold.
So, in the absence of red carpet, we rolled Harold out instead! He’d not managed to see Bolton Ings since all the excavation was finished some years back. So reserve warden, Dave Waddington (left in picture with Harold) and site manager, Matthew Capper, took him on his very own Landover tour, which he thoroughly enjoyed. It was a real privilege having him here and we wish him all the best and hope to see him again soon.