Hello boys and girls ...
The time has arrived once more for me to display the recent sightings on your computer screen :-)
Here is today's news ... All from Old Moor ...
There was single redshank reported from the Field Pool and there were 7 dunlins seen on the Mere ...
The kingfisher was reported at the far end of the Wildlife Pond just as the path climbs to approach the Mere Hide ...
The Wader Scrape had 3 goosanders, the nomadic egret, a goldeneye, 2 grey herons, lapwings and 3 snipe which were seen passing over ...
The Bird Garden was busy as normal with a great spotted woodpecker, bullfinches (2m + 1f), chaffinches, greenfinches, great tits, blue tits and long-tailed tits .. Doubtless plenty more besides too !
Apparently it's going to get colder !!
I best get knitting again ...
Night everyone :-)
Bert xxx
If you read our blog regularly, you will know that Bert regularly refers to Steve, the Information guy in the Visitor Centre, as "The Dark One" wandering around with his "badly tuned radio". This is his bat detector, which we use on our guided walks, looking for bats around Old Moor. It seems strangely appropriate, therefore, that Steve should have received an award last week which had him dressed in a get up which had him looking strangely like Bat Man!!
Steve and his wife, Pauline, (who regularly volunteers on Steve's events and courses) pictured at Old Moor, receiving his award. Sadly, there was no wind to ruffle his cape, dramatically! :(
Steve is now a Member of the British Naturalist's Association. This means that his field skills and sharing of his knowledge about nature and wildlife, have been judged by the British Naturalist's Association, to be of a suitably high standard to gain this recognition. The Association has 'Fellows' like Simon King and David Attenborough who have been recognised for their international work spreading knowledge about nature.
Steve has received this because of the work he does for the RSPB in delivering talks and courses for various groups and individuals at Old Moor and around South Yorkshire.
On a personal level, Steve is particularly proud to have received this award because he has Dyslexia and was never able to achieve academic standards (all those years ago, when he were a lad!) which allowed him to formally study nature at university, or similar. This 'field knowledge' assessment has allowed him to achieve recognition for all the work that he has put in over the years to develop his knowledge in a non-academic way.
Congratulations go to Steve and we are happy that he continues to share his enthusiasm and spread the word about fantastic nature is!
:)
Good evening viewers :-)
Another Monday is upon us but hopefully we are all still smiling !!
I had a brief chat with Titchers today to see what had been around ..
Here is his reply ..
"Howay canny lad" .. He exclaimed ...
"Errr .. Hi Steve" .. says I .. " Much about?" ..
"Why aye man !!" .... He proclaimed ...
So .. Here is the report in English .. ;-)
There was a male sparrowhawk seen in the Bird Garden and a stoat was reported from Wath Ings ..
The Tree Sparrow farm had 10 reed buntings, 7 yellowhammers and a female linnet ..
The Mere had 6 male and 3 female goosanders, gadwalls, teals, wigeons, mallards and tufted ducks .. A peregrine was seen flying over too ..
There were 4 grey herons seen in the Cuckoo Tree and 3 lesser redpolls were in the Wildlife Pond area ...
The 'Nomadic Egret' was still on the Wader Scrape .. Obviously likes it there !!
And that my friends is that ;-)
More tomorrow !!
Have a good evening everyone ...
Good evening friends :-)
Hopefully those of you who participated in the Big Garden Birdwatch had some good results today ?
I had 2 pigeons and so I decided to go out for the day !!
There was a good list of birds seen at Old Moor and here it is !!
Starting in the car park there were 3 tree sparrows, 4 bullfinches (3m+1f) and 6 greenfinches ..
The Wildlife Pond area had 2 lesser redpolls and the Tree Sparrow Farm had 17 yellowhammers and 15 reed buntings ..
Over on the Mere were 4 goldeneyes (2m+2f), a shelduck, 20+ pochards, 14 goosanders, shovelers and 22 stock doves .. There were also 3 grey herons and 6 cormorants seen on the Cuckoo tree ..
The 'nomadic egret' was seen on the Wader Scrape ;-) and there were 4 redwings seen in the area of the Visitor Centre ..
The Bird Garden had a female great spotted woodpecker, willow tits, 2 male reed buntings and 4 bullfinches (2m+2f) ..
For those of you who still fancy seeing it .. The little owl is still showing at Broomhill .. Nice !!
And there you have it ... All done !!
Have a nice evening everyone ..
Bert xx
Well, it is Sunday morning and I have started my day sat watching the garden for an hour - as I am sure many others have done this weekend.
It is Big Garden Birdwatch again and we want as many people to take part as possible. In fact over 600,000 people took part last year and we'd love to match that again.
Big Garden Birdwatch (or BGBW) started life as an activity for Young Ornithologist Club members in the winter of 1978/9 and whilst the number taking part may have grown out of all proportion to that first event, the basic principle of an hour long garden birdwatch has stayed the same.
It is this that helps to make BGBW not only the largest bird survey of its kind in the world, but also one of the longest and best data sets on the fortunes of common birds that we have. For example, the declines of common species such as House Sparrow and Starling were picked up very quickly by the Big Garden Birdwatch.
So, back to this morning and my hour long vigil. We all have expectations for our birdwatch hour. "There were 12 of these yesterday, will they be here today?" "Maybe the Coal Tit I saw last week will come back?" Or "please let there be birds unlike last year when they seemed to set the clocks for BGBW weekend and disappear, never to return until Monday morning!"
How did I do? I saw all my usual suspects and had the bonus of a juvenile Sparrowhawk tazzing round in circles after a Great Tit that completely out-witted it. It perched on the garden gate, making it the first Sparrowhawk that I have ever seen landed in the garden in 10 years!
My garden is small and open, surrounded by an old Mill and the ground at the moment is covered in snow (out in deepest darkest Peak District) but I have habitat nearby and lots of RSPB bird food to tempt them.
My scores, in order of maximum numbers seen at any one time, were:
Chaffinch 7Blue Tit 5Wood Pigeon 3Great Tit 2Blackbird 2Magpie 2Long Tailed Tit 2Sparrowhawk 1Collard Dove 1Dunnock 1Wren 1Jackdaw 1Robin 1Nuthatch 1
Maybe not the numbers of birds I might expect (maybe the sparrowhawk dampened their courage). And several notable absentees - the flock of siskins that usually winters along the river are absent this winter (maybe due to a good larch crop in the nearby plantations). And since an outbreak of trichomoniosis a couple of summers back, the once common Greenfinches are gone. House Sparrows have recently found my garden and this morning? Well, I could hear them chirping away but could I get one in the garden...? Grrr!
But that is the beauty of Big Garden Birdwatch. And because I send in the results every year, my own little insights make up part of a much larger picture that helps us target our efforts and research to get the best for our birds and wildlife.
It is now 9.40am and the day is still young. There is still time to do your count or better still, pop down to Old Moor and join in our BGBW event!
And do, please, let us know how you got on....
Happy Counting!
Matthew