Dearne Valley

Dingy It Is ....

2013-05-21T17:51:36Z

Hi readers ;-)

T'is sighting time once again ..

Of the recent kind of course ..

All of today's reports are from Ye Olde Moore ..

Beginning with the Mere ..

Reported from here were an avocet, oystercatchers, lapwings, 2 lesser black-backed gulls, 4 Mediterranean gulls and a little gull ..

Over on the Wader Scrape were more avocets, 2 turnstones, shovelers and teals ..

Wath Ings had oystercatchers, a common sandpiper, little grebes and pochards and there were 2 redshanks seen on the Field Pool ..

On Green Lane were a sedge warbler, a reed warbler and a whitethroat and then a kestrel and a peregrine were seen over by the reedbeds .. More reedbed action was provided by the male bittern as he was booming frequently throughout the day and the female bird was also seen in flight ..

Today's butterflies were 3 dingy skippers, brimstone and orange tip ..

Poor things .. I wonder why they are called 'dingy' ?

OK .. Finished for today am I ;-)

Have a great evening friends !

Bert xxxx

The Return Of The Spoonbill ...

2013-05-20T16:19:48Z

Hello friends ;-)

Another Monday slowly disappears and my holiday draws one more day closer :-)

Myself and Treespers will be 'howay' to the coast again on Friday ... I have Monday off too !!

Here is today's news for you guys ..

There was a whimbrel reported from Wombwell Ings to begin ..

On Old Moor there were 2 bullfinches seen in the Bird Garden and on Green Lane were a whitethroat, a sedge warbler and a reed warbler ..

On the Wader Scrape were 2 turnstones, 4 avocets, 3 oystercatchers and 2 common terns ..

Reported from the Mere/Wath Ings were a little gull, 3 Mediterranean gulls and a common gull ..

A final report was of the male bittern booming throughout the day ..

He likes to do that .. ;-)

I made a note of every time he boomed while I was doing a 'bittern watch' the other day and looked like running out of paper !!

Ah yes .. The spoonbill has also been seen today at Adwick so it appears that it's still loitering although we aren't sure where it goes when it disappears from the local area though ?

So .. All done for today folks ..

Have a nice evening everyone ..

Bert xxxx

Sunday...and again!

2013-05-19T16:51:00Z

Well, was at OM this aft and sightings book gave me a telling off for not taking it's photo yesterday... so how could I resist?

Here it is in all it's glory! :)

First half of the page!

...and the 2nd bit......

...and a photo from me, bit chuffed to get a photo of a sedge warbler from Wath Ings :)

...and an orange tip butterfly in the ponds area :)

Hope you had a fab Sunday... see you next weekend :)

Saturday Sightings....sort of :)

2013-05-19T06:44:46Z

The 'sort of' in the title means that I completely forgot to take a photo of the sightings book as I normally do....so, it's from memory!

The first thing I heard as I got out of my car was the bittern booming! Paul P was on bittern watch yesterday and took this fab photo. Thanks Paul :)

In the Garden Hide I saw.... a robin, male and female bullfinches, chaffinches, m/f mallards, a male pheasant and pair of great tits chasing each other around near the hide....

John Frost took this photo of a robin. Thanks John :)

I heard....lots of noise in the bushes and boxes around the Tree Sparrow Farm....chicks to be fed!

As I was on the way down the path to the Family Hide I got chatting as you do, then a pager went off, little gull just in front of the Family Hide...guess where I went next!

Little gulls are very cute, no doubt at all. It had landed in the mud so close to the hide, it flew around, came back, stayed for a bit and then flew off again. Here are a couple of photos I took.

Also from the Family Hide I saw a redshank, black headed gulls, a moorhen and a little rabbit ...

Just outside the Family Hide there was a male blackcap flying back and forth giving an alarm call, we couldn't work out why.

From the first Field Pool hide I saw 2 chaffinches, many sand martins zooming over the water, a great crested grebe, a little grebe and 2 Canada Geese.

Here's a photo of the great crested grebe, beautiful birds :)

The Canada Geese were comical to watch, they kept flying at each other...this one seemed to nearly land on top of the other...much squawking and splashing!

On the way down to the Wader Scrape the bog bean is flowering, the gorse is very fragrant and there was a sedge warbler singing. There were also many swifts, martins and swallows flying overhead, some so close that it seemed they might have flown straight into me! Thrilling :)

There was a pair of pintail showing from the Wader Scrape yesterday, too far for a photo but great views in binoculars! Here's the RSPB page about them for info and what they look like should they still be there today.

Also from the W/S were the Canada Geese with goslings... growing up fast but still very gorgeous!

Right in front of the hide was this lovely lapwing.

I also saw, tufted ducks, lesser black backed gulls, there were avocets, greylags and all the usual suspects.

On our FB page Eric said he'd seen a kingfisher as well as the bittern...how fab!

Next I went to Wath Ings and again heard, but didn't see, a sedge warbler. I loved Wath Ings yesterday, there were just so many sand and house martins, swallows and swifts zooming around, an absolute pleasure to watch...a definite highlight of my day!

I also caught a few glimpses of a sedge warbler flitting around the reeds right in front of the hide.

From my memory of the sightings book there was also a peregrine seen.

The bog bean is also flowering around the ponds area, here's what to look out for.

The cowslips are still flowering and definitely brightened up the grey day we had yesterday.

There were a pair of mallards in this area and I took this photo of the male, also enjoying the cowslips it seemed to me :)

That's it for today, please do add any more sightings from yesterday that I have missed...

Enjoy your visit if you come along today, our cafe does a great Sunday lunch!

Weekend!

2013-05-18T06:20:00Z

Hello, it's the weekend again so today's blog, as usual, is full of your fab photos!

There have been quite a few interesting 'landings' from birds this week. On Wednesday we had turnstones, dunlin, grey plover, bar tailed godwits (black tailed godwits are our more usual visitors) black necked grebes, arctic terns plus all the usual birds you may find at OM...pretty good day to visit if you went on Wednesday! I've put links in the bird names to the RSPB webpage about them if you'd like a bit more info.

The Barnsley Bird Sightings blog has a few photos from Wednesday on it if you fancy having a look!

Jason Fisher shared his photo of the two black necked grebes, fab to see, thanks Jason!

Jason also took a photo of one of the visiting arctic terns...thank you again! :) Terns are so graceful to watch, another of my favourite birdie things... I have quite a few!

John Sanderson sent me a couple of photos from his visit this week. Big wow to this wonderful shot of a male pheasant, stunning! Thank you John :)

Our bittern watch is still in place, Paul P was on a watch in the raised hide in the reeds ( by invite via Kate only, not for general access) and had a few bittern sightings. He shared this photo of one he saw in flight. Thank you Paul!

Russ Bridges has been visiting again and taking more fab photos... here's one he shared (via his mum Linda) on FB...a landing shelduck!

From our gallery on this site, 'Stewpid'... uploaded a wonderful photo of a sedge warbler taken near Wath Ings... thank you 'Stew!'

There's been a report of a little grebe with chicks.... big awww if you get to see them, just gorgeous, especially when the chicks are being carried around by their parents! Ian Butler took this photo of a little grebe, thank you Ian. :)

Coots have been at war again.....Alan Foster shared this photo with us, thanks Alan!

Barbara Heron shared a couple of photos of her visit on our FB page. Thank you Barbara!

Firstly a linnet..

And secondly another of the 'big aww...' photos of the little goslings stumbling along. :)

Finally this week, such a gorgeous photo from Margaret Ryles, thank you Margaret, definitely brought a smile to my day :)

We hope to see you at OM this week, light rain forecast today but we have hides!

Enjoy your visit if you do come along and we'd love to see your photos...

Raptorfest ...

2013-05-17T16:27:45Z

Hello friends ;-)

Friday at last .. All good things come to those who wait apparently ?

Today's news is a '2 pronged' affair .. One prong belonging to Titchers and the other one to Tree Sparrow ..

Here is the Titchers version ..

Old Moor first ..

There was a pink-footed goose on the Wader Scrape and 4 Mediterranean gulls seen on the Mere ..

A common tern was reported from Wath Ings and there were 3 male and a female bullfinches in the Bird Garden ...

A no-fixed abode was of a greylag goose who had 8 wee goslings ;-)

Over on Wombwell Ings were a pink-footed goose (same one?) and a whimbrel while over on Broomhill Flash was a hobby ..

And so to prong number 2 ..

Treespers was on Bittern watch today and was accompanied by 'Eagle Eye Wad' the Old Moor Warden ..

Here is how they fared ..

The female bittern was seen a total of 6 times and the male bird was booming regularly ..

A 'cream crown' marsh harrier was seen passing over at around 2pm and a hobby was seen catching a swift while being harassed by a sparrowhawk .. How impressive is that !!

There has also been an immature female peregrine hanging around and 2 common buzzards were seen over Bolton Tip ..

Little grebes were seen carrying fish into the reeds to feed youngsters and there are still 2 great-crested grebes present too ..

A final report from Treespers was of a jay which she spotted near to the Wildlife Ponds ..

I reckon that 'prong 2' was easily the winner there ;-)

Wish I had eagle eyes ..

Mine will slightly less reliable by the end of this evening .. :-)

Have a great weekend everyone !

Bert xxx

Back .. I think .. ?

2013-05-16T16:17:50Z

Quick !! .. Get the sightings on before the Website throws another 'wobbly' !!

Hi readers ;-)

I'm back once more to shower you with sightings ..

Only a small umbrella required today though ..

Starting with Old Moor ..

A common buzzard was seen passing over and then there were 4 Mediterranean gulls seen on the Mere along with numerous sand martins ...

A total of 10 avocets were reported from the Mere and 3 common terns were also present ..

On Wath Ings were a black-tailed godwit and a late pink-footed goose .. Not 'late' as in dead .. 'late' as in 'how come it's still here?' ;-)

The male bittern was heard booming in the reedbeds and then along Green Lane were blackcaps, a whitethroat, siskins and a sedge warbler ...

Butterflies today were 3 orange tip, 3 green-veined white, 3 brimstone and 4 peacock ..

There was also an alderfly and a female common blue damselfly (which was lilac in colour) .. I'll pass on that one ..

Ask me one on sport ..

Finally, there were male and female yellow wagtails seen on Wombwell Ings and a peregrine falcon was seen over Broomhill Flash ..

OK .. Done am I ..

Have a great evening friends ;-)

Bert xxx

Website Woes ..

2013-05-15T16:15:58Z

Greetings readers ..

Apologies for the lack of news yesterday but I was unable to get on the RSPB Website ...

Sick it was ..

Some good stuff today though !!

A red kite was seen passing over Bolton Ings late morning which was doubtless great to see ;-)

On Old Moor were ..

Wath Ings had 6 sanderlings, 15 turnstones and 3 gadwall ..

There were 2 black-necked grebes seen on the Mere along with 4 Mediterranean gulls ..

A total of 3 grey plovers were reported from the Wader Scrape along with avocets and shovelers were seen on the Field Pool ..

Today's no fixed abodes were numerous dunlins, 2 bar-tailed godwits, 6 Arctic terns and a wood sandpiper (which I think was a 'flyover')

The male bittern was heard booming in the reedbeds and the/one of the female bitterns was seen flying around on numerous occasions throughout the day ...

A pretty good day for the lucky visitors I reckon !!

Me ? .. Well I just went to work ...

Aye .....

Have a great evening everyone ;-)

Bert xxxx

Was That Summer We Just Had ?

2013-05-13T18:14:47Z

Hi readers ..

Back am I ...

A nice 4 days holiday was had with some good stuff seen too :-)

Speaking of stuff being seen .. Here's today's report ..

Old Moor for starters ..

Flowers seen were ladies smock, birdsfoot trefoil, red clover and hawthorn .. Butterflies present were orange tip, large white, green veined white and brimstone ..

Thanks Titchers !

Bird stuff now ..

On the Wader Scrape were ringed plover, 2 little-ringed plovers, a sanderling, a dunlin and 6 avocets ..

Wath Ings had a pink-footed goose and another little-ringed plover was seen on the Mere ..

There were 4 wheatears seen on the Field Pool and a peregrine falcon was seen passing over the reedbeds .. One of the bitterns was also seen flying over the reedbeds and booming was also heard from the male bird ..

A hobby was seen over Bolton Ings which is great !! .. Unless you are a hirundine !!

A female wheatear was seen on Wombwell Ings and a final report was of a 1st Winter little gull which seems to have been traveling a wee bit as it was seen on both Broomhill Flash and Bolton Ings ...

There was also a common tern and an Arctic tern seen on Broomhill Flash (as per Barnsley Bird Sightings Blog) ..

So there you have it for today friends ..

Have a great evening everyone ;-)

Bert xxxx

Yesterday at OM, sightings and photos :)

2013-05-12T06:18:00Z

Hello again, I had a lovely few hours at OM yesterday and had a few 'firsts; for me this year. I heard a cuckoo, loved watching swifts zooming around, really saw sand martins doing the same, so many from the Field Pool hide, I saw my first bluebell this year and my fav, first time this year, the bogbean in flower, so lovely.... :)

I took a photo of a bluebell near the garden hide and failed to notice there was not only a hoverfly on it but another tiny creature too!

It's that time of year that many people wonder if it's a sedge or a reed warbler they are hearing....i say hearing because it's very difficult to get a good look at either as they flit around in the reeds.

Alan Foster took this wonderful photo of a sedge warbler near Wath Ings. Fab shot Alan, thank you!

If you want to hear their calls then have a look at the RSPB pages about them, sedge warbler and reed warbler

My way of ID'ing them is that the sedge warbler has a very distinct eye stripe, more feather colours and a more 'raspy call.' To me, the reed warbler has more tuneful song with lots of variation in pitch and is more of a 'little brown job' than the sedge....hope that helps!

Yesterday in the garden hide there were sightings of a robin, bullfinches, pheasants and chaffinches.

Russ Bridges took another lovely pic, this time of a robin with a full beak! Thanks to Linda for sharing it with us on our FB page.

On the Wader Scrape there were sightings of 16 avocet, 1 dunlin,6 little ringed plover and ringed plover, 12 redshank and a common sandpiper.

Mike Squires took this fab photo of a redshank displaying...thank Mike! Mike wrote this, it seemed to him that it was 'in all his finery - like a 17th century courtesan bowing to his Queen!'

I agree! Unfortunately once again, she wasn't impressed and turned her back....

On the Mere there were 4 med gulls and 3 lesser black backed gulls.

Our bittern watch 'bus stop' is now in full swing. I went yesterday to have a look and met Dave and Ron who kindly let me take their photo in it. Thank you both!

This is what the whole thing looks like from the back.

As I got there they told me they'd just seen the bittern flying across the reeds...next week I'm going to be on bittern watch in the hide in the reeds...pretty excited about doing that! This year's bittern watch stop has seats and a roof as well as a sightings board for you to write on, info about our bittern story so far and photos.

Here's a sequence of photos of a bittern booming, sent by Kate our assistant warden and taken by our remote camera in the reed beds.

In the first photo you can see the male taking in a big breath.

In the second you can see that his chest is swelling up!

In the third he starts to put his head down which is a sign he’s going to boom.

In the fourth one you can really see how he swells up prior to releasing his boom!

He then brings his head up to release the boom!

From one of the Field Pool hides there were sightings in the book of a linnet, redpoll and a goldfinch.

Also on the Wader Scrape were 2 Canada geese with goslings and 2 greylags with goslings.

Here's a photo of one of the Canada goslings before they took shelter under their parents from a quick shower!

On Wath Ings I saw mute swans flying and splashing over the water. Always a great sight to see these large birds in flight. Here's a photo I took.

Finally for today, a photo of a little grebe with a fish...much splashing!

Enjoy your Sunday! :)

This past week in photos at OM...

2013-05-11T06:06:05Z

Hello! It's weekend blog time again which means lots of lovely photos and I'm going to start with the plant world of OM this week.

One of my favourite plants has started to flower at OM....the bogbean! It has such delicate feathery flowers...Mike Squires took this lovely photo of one he saw, thanks Mike!

Look out for it in the ponds area and on the walk down to the Wader Scrape.

'Bridgeman' took this lovely macro shot of a dandelion, stunning colour, thank you!

Now for the spider world, Grant Brooke shared this photo on our FB page, thanks Grant!

Ian Butler took this great macro of a zebra spider...love these little spiders, thanks Ian! Wooden posts are good places to spot spiders :)

Grant also shared this photo with us of a hoverfly, one of the bee mimics, it provoked a bit of a discussion as to which bee mimic it actually was and it was decided that it's Eristalis intricarius. Fab photo again Grant, thank you.

Last Monday, as I said earlier this week, I was on a bit of a mission to take a decent brimstone butterfly photo. I later found I'd got one in flight :)

Margaret Ryles shared this photo with us on FB, wonderful close up of a grey heron, thanks Margaret!

From the Barnsley Bird Sightings there were reports of sightings of a grey plover, whimbrel and a peregrine. Take a look at their photos here.

Linda Bridges shared another photo taken by her son Russ on our FB page. Such a lovely photo of another favourite...little blue tit with a mouthful of flies, thanks Linda & Russ!

Ian Fearn took these photos of a pair of mallards, they made me smile, thanks Ian :) It seems to me as if 'Mrs' is after a bit of attention but was being ignored!

Keith Webster shared this photo of a willow warbler in the sun, thanks Keith, very nice!

Lapwings are amazing, definite sky acrobats! Here's a photo I took of a lapwing just in front of the Family Hide.

Finally for today, a gorgeous great crested grebe taken by Mel P, thank you Mel, beautiful photo :)

Have a great visit if you are coming this weekend and we all look forward to any photos you'd like to share with us.

My email address is on the board to the left of the door if you'd like to email them or we're on Facebook and Twitter as well as our page on this website for photos.

Enjoy :)

Our sand martins and their bank!

2013-05-10T17:10:00Z

Hello! As you might know already, we have a sand martin bank. You can see this from the Family Hide on the right hand side, or from the left hand side of the Wader Scrape. They are beautiful little birds, in fact they are the smallest Europeans hirundines...( the collective term for swallows and martins.) They are incredible flyers who fly mainly over water, snapping up invertebrates on the wing. A couple of times in the last 50 years there has been a drought in Africa, where sand martins go for the winter. This then caused a European population crash. Read more about the sand martins on the RSPB page here.

Our assistant warden Kate gave me this info....

Sand martins, it seems are quite fussy and don’t like it wet or drafty. So we have taken measures to counteract this by draft proofing the holes with Persian carpet and foam on the inside! Each hole has a flap on the side so we can monitor the nest and the wooden flap also helps form a seal around the hole so no drafts get in! Each hole also has sand from a local quarry which has been sieved by our volunteers so it gets rid of all the big stones and rocks and its quite fine. The birds then build a nest on the sand against the back of the chamber (the back of the chamber is lined with the carpet!) and some birds have more elaborate nests than others. Some nests are a work of art with feathers curved around the hole and carefully places grasses, moss and feathers. Others are a bum-scraped hole with a few bits of grass and small duck feathers!!

The banking is made out of breeze blocks with terracotta pipes as the nest chambers. There is an anti-predator shelve below the lowest holes to stop them jumping up into the holes. The moat around the banking also acts as a good anti – predation method. The roof is wooden with a plastic lining and pea gravel on the top.

Here are a few photos.

Laying the foundations.

Half finished...

Putting in the chambers...

Inside, down the middle...

And a sand martin chick, aged nine days + :)

More info from Kate!

Sand martin breeding figures.

2011 – The Family Hide side had 2 holes occupied with 3 broods in total. One pair had 2 broods the other only 1. The wader scrape side was more popular, with 8 holes occupied and 12 broods in total. 4 pairs second brooded and 4 only had single broods.

By holes occupied, we presume they are a pair and if they 2^nd brood that it’s the same pair having another brood in the hole. Although we haven’t proved it in our banking, pairs can triple brood, We suspect a triple brood if a hole is newly occupied next to a hole which had a second brood in. The nest holes can get very dirty and full of parasites and bugs so pairs will switch holes if the parasite burden gets too much.

We monitor the sand martin banking from inside and outside and compare what we see. So far we have found out that by looking at the amount of activity on the outside of the banking (birds flying in and out of the holes), you often get a higher figure for occupied holes than looking on the inside of the banking. So last year, we recorded birds going in and out of 62 holes on the wader scrape side and 44 on the family hide side, but this only corresponded to 5 holes from the whole sand martin bank used!

2012 – The Family Hide Side of the banking had 1 hole occupied and there was one brood fledging 3 chicks. The wader scrape side was more successful with 4 holes occupied and 6 broods in total. 2 pairs had 2 broods in them and the other 2 only had 1 brood in them. Each brood had 4-5 chicks fledge successfully. The total number of chicks for last year was 30 – we rung 27/30 of them. We didn’t ring the 3 chicks from the family hide side as they had already fledged when we got to them!

So, if you are in either of those two hides, keep your bins pinned to the bank, you are quite likely to see sand martins flying in and out, or peeping out or just 'hanging' in front of one of the chambers...

Enjoy, gorgeous to watch!

All change....

2013-05-09T16:23:33Z

The weather.... all change, brollies & waterproofs out this eve.

So here are the sightings from OM today courtesy of Titchers-Steve.

Wath Ings - we had a cuckoo, a common sandpiper, a little ringed plover, six avocet and a sedge warbler..... and the usual suspects no doubt too!

Wader Scrape - we had sightings of a hobby, common sandpiper, 4 Med gulls, 3 dunlin, 1 ringed plover, 6 little ringed plover, 5 redshank and a common tern.

On Green Lane there were sightings of 3 whitethroat and 3 reed warblers.

Steve saw a lesser whitethroat and a whitethroat in the main car park area. There was also a blackcap seen on the TPT.

In the courtyard Steve was telling how lovely it is to watch all the blackbird squabbles, nests, chicks, worms, squabbles...!

Butterfly sightings today were a speckled wood (staff car park), I saw one near the raised pond on Monday, and orange tip and there was a small red damselfly seen as well.

That's it for today...and here's a photo from Mel P, big awwww everyone :)

Recent Writings ...

2013-05-08T18:15:27Z

Hello readers :-)

Holiday Eve again for me .. Yippeee !!!

As mentioned yesterday, I won't be back now until Monday so you may have to amuse yourselves for a bit ..

So to today's news ..

Old Moor first ..

A large red damselfly was reported from the courtyard area for a start ... Very nice !

On the Wader Scrape/Wath ings were 2 common sandpipers, 2 little ringed plovers and 6 avocets ..

A sedge warbler was seen in the area around the dipping pond and there were whitethroats and a reed warbler seen along Green Lane ..

Reported from the Mere were a redshank, lapwings, oystercatchers, great crested grebes, a mistle thrush and a willow warbler ..

Swifts, swallows, sand martins and house martins were all reported today but no location offered for these .. Could be all over I guess !

There were 2 kestrels seen over near the reedbeds and a cuckoo was heard singing ..

A report from Wombwell Ings was of red-legged partridges, grey partridges, skylarks, 9 ringed plovers, 5 avocets, a redshank, 3 little ringed plovers, 4 dunlins, reed buntings and a kingfisher ..

There .. All done for today friends ..

Tomorrow, myself and Treespers are off to sunny Flamborough again !!

Best steer clear of the cliff edge if the weather report is anything to go on .. We only have 1 parachute !! .. No idea what Treespers is going to do if a strong blast comes !!

I'll obviously be fine ;-)

Have a great evening everyone ...

Bert xxx

Bittern News and 2013 viewing arrangements

2013-05-07T20:29:45Z

Hi everyone

I'm very pleased to say that for the second year in a row, we have breeding Bittern at RSPB Old Moor. Activity clearly suggests that we have a female feeding young chicks.

This is clearly excellent news and we now need to instigate our plans to allow as many people as possible to have the opportunity to see a Bittern whilst at the same time ensuring the best possible chances of their success.

So, from tomorrow morning, we have taken the decision to again close the reedbed trail from the switch back just after the wildlife ponds.

This is very much a precautionary principle and is led by the fact that last year, the reedbed trail became so popular that the female started to amend her behaviour and this is the last thing that we would like to see happen again.

In time, I think the cache of a Bittern sighting at Old Moor will drop and the amount of reed at Old Moor and Bolton Ings will increase so as to make this decision null and void, but for now it seems the best course of action.

So, what are we doing to facilitate a sighting?

Firstly, last years gazebo and plastic chairs are being replaced by an altogether grander affair. Our wonderful reserve team are building a viewing screen complete with roof and seating to give you a semi permament base to sit and watch for feeding flights.

We will staff this from time to time but in general it will be unmanned. However, there will be sightings boards and interpretation and we will encourage visitors to record any of their sightings (which we will then note at the end of each day).

Given the nature of the species, this will again offer the best chance of seeing a Bittern as they fly across the reedbeds.

The viewing area should be in place and complete by the end of Thursday.

Secondly, and this is new for 2013, we are prepared to offer some special viewing opportunities.

Away from the public part of the reserve, we have a special Bittern monitoring hide, staffed every day, that allows us to track the Bittern activity throughout the breeding season. This hide is raised on stilts and provides an unrivalled view of the reedbeds and the birds.

This year, we have decided to trial a limited number of places to accompany one of our monitoring staff or volunteers to the forward hide to spend a shift with them and help to record any activity.

There are 20 slots available initially on a first come first served basis.

If you are interested, you need to be able to dedicate a morning or afternoon and be able to climb the ladder to the hide (I'm afraid it is designed for monitoring bitterns not public access!). You are more than welcome to bring camera equipment with you.

If you would like to put your name down, then you need to email katie.thorpe@rspb.org.uk and if you are one of the lucky ones, Katie will get in touch to discuss details and time slots.

Based on how well this initial pilot goes, we will see if it is feasible to release more slots as the breeding season progresses.

I hope that we can welcome you to Old Moor and Bitternwatch 2013 in the near future!

Regards

Matthew