Dearne Valley

Another Brief Affair ..

Dave Simmonite — Wed, 19 Jun 2013 16:13:22 GMT

Hello friends ;-)

Here we are again for a daily update of the Old Moor inhabitants ..

Another brief affair today though ..

On the Wader Scrape were 5 little-ringed plovers, a ringed plover and a kingfisher ..

Reported from the Mere were 4 Mediterranean gulls while over on Wath Ings were 2 wigeons, female pochards with broods of 8 and 2 and then a jay ..

A barn owl was seen over by the reedbeds and one of the bitterns plus a chick were also spotted over there..

More I cannot tell ..

Run out have I ..

Hungry am I ..

Have a great evening everyone !

Bert xxx

Happy Gannet ;-)

Dave Simmonite — Tue, 18 Jun 2013 16:27:01 GMT

Hi readers ;-)

I return once more with tidings from the sacred A4 ..

All from Old Moor today :-)

On the Wader Scrape were avocets with young, lapwings, 2 little-ringed plovers, oystercatchers, a great-crested grebe, teals and common terns .. The bittern was seen in flight from here at one point ..

On Wath Ings were a kestrel, a sedge warbler, 2 cormorants, little grebes, pochards with 2 young, shovelers, greylag geese and ringed plovers ..

One of the Mediterranean gulls was seen on the Field Pool along with swifts,swallows and sand martins ..

Reported from the Bird Garden were bullfinches, chaffinches, greenfinches, blue tits, great tits, magpies, woodpigeons, stock doves, collared doves, pheasants, blackbirds and reed buntings ..

Some luckier visitors saw the 4 bittern chicks too !!

Butterflies reported along Green Lane were male and female brimstone, 2 common blue and 2 small heath .. There were also small and dingy skippers seen near to the Wildlife Pond area ..

Finally .. The gannet is well and appears to have gone on holiday !!

More news will follow on this subject ;-)

But for now .. I'm outta here !!

Have a great evening everyone ...

Bert xxxx

Of Gulls And Gannets ..

Dave Simmonite — Mon, 17 Jun 2013 16:30:06 GMT

Greetings readers ..

T'is I .. The infected one ..

Not a lot to tell today from the Sacred A4 but here's what it says ..

The gannet is still on the Mere up to now .. Poor guy doesn't appear to be very well and a constant bombardment by the black-headed gulls isn't going to make it feel much better either ..

On the Wader Scrape were little-ringed plover, ringed plover, 7 avocets with chicks, 3 oystercatchers and common terns ..

Wath Ings had little-ringed plover, tufted ducks with chicks and a yellow wagtail ..

In the Bird Garden were 4 bullfinches, a reed bunting and 2 stock doves ..

A final report was that someone had seen one of the juvenile bitterns in the reedbeds (viewed from the Mere hide) .. Cool !!

And that's all I have for today friends ..

I wonder when the next installment of Summer is due ..

Night everyone ;-)

Bert xxx

Sightings from yesterday at OM....

Nicola_volunteer — Sun, 16 Jun 2013 07:27:26 GMT

Good morning....Yesterday was a bit of a blustery day at OM but the sun was out quite a lot and there was lots to see as usual.

I love oxeye daisies and there's a big clump of them growing near to the garden hide, they are so cheerful, especially in the sunshine!

Wader Scrape - From here there were sightings of avocets with their young, some not too far away from the hide which gave good views with binoculars, dunlin, a hobby was seen flying over, probably trying to catch a swift. There were also sightings of tufted ducks, mute swan, black headed gulls, a magpie, a crow and Canada geese.

Here's a photo of one of the black headed gulls from the Wader Scrape.

From the Field Pool West I took this photo of a mute swan, cygnets and two tufties.

I got chatting to a couple of people who told me they'd had good views of a great crested grebe + chicks right in front of the Family Hide....I missed them but look out for them if you visit today!

There was also a little grebe on the pond near the visitor centre.

There were quite a few sightings of reed and sedge warblers in our various reed beds. I saw two reed warblers flitting around near Wath Ings. Also near Wath Ings there was a sighting of a lesser whitethroat.

It was a great day to see swifts, swallows, house martins and sand martins zooming around, I tried to take an 'in flight' photo of a swift but they were very blurry to say the least...

The people on bittern watch in the morning saw 5 flights all within 10 minutes!

From the garden hide there were sightings of a male bullfinch, a male reed bunting and a collared dove. Ian Butler took this lovely photo of a collared dove. Thanks Ian!

Butterflies I saw were a common blue in front of the Family Hide and a green veined white near the visitor centre.

The wild flowers are still amazing, many of the marsh orchids are now out, someone wrote of them being amazing over by the pylon....

Finally, Mel P took this lovely photo of a lapwing in flight, look out for them all over. Yesterday I enjoyed watching them from Wath Ings.

Have a great visit if you are coming today and why not treat dad to Sunday lunch in our cafe for Father's Day :)

Weekend Photos!

Nicola_volunteer — Sat, 15 Jun 2013 08:07:55 GMT

Hello! It's time to share all your fab photos again, thanks for sharing so many from your visits.

Mike Squires took this photo of a common blue butterfly, very pretty! Thanks Mike :)

If you'd like to find out a bit more about these lovely butterflies then here's the RSPB page about them.

Russ Bridges took this wonderful photo of a hovering bumblebee, maybe white tailed, you can just see a bit of white....what do you think? Thanks Russ!

How about this for a wonderful photo? From Di, a parent bug, a type of shield bug, and she wrote that it's so named because of the female's habit of sitting on her eggs and nymphs to protect them from parasites. Seen near the wildlife ponds. Thank you!

Di also shared another photo and another stunner, a 4 spotted chaser dragonfly doing a fab imitation of a plane! Thank you again Di.

Over to a few bird photos..... 'Pennybun' shared a photo of a sedge warbler she saw near Wath Ings....thank you Penny!

Mel P took this perfectly timed shot of two Canada geese in landing mode! Thanks Mel :)

Trina shared her photo of a cormorant in flight....thank you, it's great!

John Frost took this photo of the spoonbill that's around the Dearne Valley at the moment, thank you John, great to see it in flight.

...and finally for today, another lovely photo from Trina, big aww everyone! :)

Enjoy your visit if you are coming today and we'd love to know what you see :)

Recent Snortings ..

Dave Simmonite — Thu, 13 Jun 2013 17:37:00 GMT

Hi readers ;-)

How are you all today ? .. Well I hope ?

Today's report contains .. Stuff ...

Here it comes now ..

Old Moor to start ..

On Wath Ings were a little-ringed plover, redshank/s, a kingfisher, a yellow wagtail and a sedge warbler ..

Over on the Wader Scrape were a dunlin, avocets with 12 chicks and a Mediterranean gull ..

Butterflies reported were a male brimstone and then a tree bumblebee was also seen .. Another cool insect report was of a Devil's coach horse beetle which was seen along Green Lane .. Scary 'wee beasties' if you've ever seen one !!

A report from Adwick told of 12 house martins which were seen gathering mud, a little egret, 20 redshanks with 'shanklets', 4 avocets, 40 lapwings with 'winglets' and a common tern ..

And that, my friends, is that !!

I need to go for a lie down now as that was really hard work ..

I've got Man Flu ..

;-)

Night everyone !!

Poor Bert xxx

A She Bee Or A He Bee ?

Dave Simmonite — Wed, 12 Jun 2013 16:41:11 GMT

Hello friends ;-)

It's raining .. Summer is back ...

Today I spoke to Titchers when I rang for the sightings .. We decided between us that going to Old Moor was better than going to work .. Made me feel much better ..

Honest ...

Anyway .. here is today's news ..

Old Moor to begin ..

On the Wader Scrape were a greenshank, avocets with at least 2 chicks seen, 5 redshanks, oystercatchers, 5 pochards, 2 shovelers, 9 teal, 3 little grebes, 3 great-crested grebes, cormorants and 8 common terns .. A peregrine was also seen passing over ..

Wath Ings had 2 reed warblers and a yellow wagtail ..

Insecty stuff was as follows ..

Butterflies seen were dingy skipper and orange tip while the bumblebees reported were early (which were seen feeding on the cotoneaster outside the volunteers house) Titchers tells me that the male of this species can be recognised because they are have much more 'lemony yellow' on them than the females do .. Tree bumblebees were also reported and a queen was spotted amongst them ..

Seen on Wombwell Ings were 4 ringed plovers, 2 linnets, 2 red-legged partridges and skylarks ..

Et voila .. Fini !!

Have a great evening everyone !!

Bert xxxx

Wee Beak News ...

Dave Simmonite — Tue, 11 Jun 2013 16:35:32 GMT

Greetings friends :-)

Today's report has a bit more 'meat' on it's bones ..

Here it be ..

All from Old Moor today chaps ..

On the Wader Scrape were a little egret, 2 little ringed plovers, a greenshank, an oystercatcher, avocets with chicks, a ringed plover, 7 common terns, shovelers and teals ..

There were lapwings and a redshank reported from the Field Pool and Mediterranean gulls and a common gull were seen on the Mere ..

Over on Wath Ings were shovelers, a grey heron, swifts, sand martins, a sedge warbler and a reed warbler ..

One of the bitterns was seen in flight over the reedbeds .. It will obviously be a busy time at the moment now that there are 4 'wee beaks' to feed ..

A final report came from the Bird Garden .. Seen here were blackbirds, bullfinches, chaffinches, a female reed bunting, a dunnock, great tits, a magpie, mallards and woodpigeons ..

Aye ..

OK .. I'm away to feed my own 'wee beak' now so I'll catch up with you all again tomorrow ;-)

Have a great evening everyone !

Bert xxxx

Brief Encounters Of The Bird kind ...

Dave Simmonite — Mon, 10 Jun 2013 16:46:50 GMT

Greetings readers ;-)

Had a nice weekend ?

Today's report isn't very long so it won't take long for..

a) Me to type it ..

b) You to read it ..

Here's number a)

All from Old Moor today friends ..

The bittern was seen again today from the Wath Ings hide .. Obviously strayed a bit !

Also from Wath Ings were a merlin which was seen hanging around in a few different areas, a greenshank, sedge warblers and reed buntings ..

On/near the Wader Scrape were 2 whitethroats, reed warblers, sanderlings (no numbers), 6 avocets with 3 chicks, a little ringed plover and 9 common terns ..

OK .. Now it's over to number b)

Have a great evening everyone :-)

Bert xxxx

Yesterday from OM

Nicola_volunteer — Sun, 09 Jun 2013 07:29:00 GMT

Hello again, yesterday was a lovely day, if a bit chilly in the hides, to be at Old Moor. There was lots of sunshine to enjoy and our wild flowers are looking great!

Our bittern was heard booming again yesterday and there was a sightings of the female.

From the Wader Scrape there were sightings of 16 avocet....their chicks were also visible yesterday from the hide through binoculars, very nice to see! For a while yesterday we had good views of a great crested grebe diving in front of the hide and I watched a big tufted duck squabble for about half an hour. There were 3/4 of them chasing each other, squawking and then settling....before doing the whole thing again!

Here's a couple of photos of part of their quarrel.

A definite highlight yesterday was the black tern flying over the Mere. It gave lots of people good views through binoculars. Here's a bit of info about them from our RSPB page.

David Aitken took a photo of it flying over the Mere. Thanks David!

Other sightings from this area were; 4 med gulls, 12 teal, 2 little ringed plover, 8 oystercatchers and a hunting barn owl.

On Wath Ings there were sightings of reed and sedge warblers, 2 redshank, 2 lapwing and lovely to see a cormorant fly in and dry it's wings.

On Green Lane there were sightings of a whitethroat, a chaffinch and a blackbird in full song! The yellow flag iris is blooming along the lane, lovely to see the patterns too, especially in the sun!

The ragged robin is such a pretty pink flower, it's out all over Old Moor at the moment.

I managed to see a 4 spotted chaser dragonfly, very well camouflaged against the gorse!

There were a few butterflies out yesterday, I saw a green veined white and a common blue in the ponds area.

Ian Thompson took this gorgeous photo of a common blue and shared it on our FB page. Thank you Ian :)

I watched another terrific spat on the pond on the way to the Family hide. It was between coots and moorhens and went on for quite a while. Lots of noise and splashing again!

Here's a photo of part of it...

Sightings from Edderthorpe; 85 gadwall, 3 teal, 2 avocets, 9 ringed plover, 4 little ringed plover and 8 redshank.

Finally for today, a very gorgeous photo of a gosling from Russ Bridges, thank you Russ!

Photo Time!

Nicola_volunteer — Sat, 08 Jun 2013 06:31:00 GMT

Hello! We've had great weather this week and it's forecast to be great for another couple of days....long may it last! Children from my school went for a visit to OM yesterday, they thoroughly enjoyed pond dipping, watching birds, bug hunting and the Adventure playground.... If you teach then don't forget we have brilliant field teachers and it's wonderful class trip. Contact our office for details.

So to your photos, thank you again for sharing so many of them, great to see. :)

Ian Thompson shared this picture of a robin with us on our FB page. Thank you Ian!

Di has been taking wonderful photos again and she shared a couple of them in our online gallery on this site. Thank you Di.

First one from Di is this wonderful pic of a common blue butterfly.....another of my favs :)

She also shared this photo of a very interesting looking fly, a scorpion fly. I remember seeing one for the first time near where I live and being fascinated by it, not that I had a clue as to what it was.... it doesn't sting and here's a bit of info about it from

'The Wildlife Trusts' webpage.

From 'stewpid' from our online gallery, this cool photo of a coot chick in all it's glory! Thanks Stew :)

Bridgeman shared this photo of the lovely little grebe, thank you, always lovely to see.

Bob has been out and about at OM and managed to get this photo of a male reed bunting in full song....must have been great to hear, thank you Bob.

The avocets have been showing well with their chicks this week, Alison Connolly took this photo...awwww....thanks Alison!

Mel P also shared one of his avocet photos, he wrote that in this one was protecting the chicks.

Mel also took this wonderful photo of swallows at Wombell Ings, beautiful, thanks Mel :)

Another 'awww' for this photo of a gosling taken by Russ bridges and shared with us on FB by his mum Linda, thank you both.

We hope you enjoy your visit if you are coming this weekend....have fun!

Friday Sightings from Old Moor

Nicola_volunteer — Fri, 07 Jun 2013 15:50:26 GMT

Hello, here are the sightings from OM today...

The spoonbill visited Edderthorpe today and there were also two little ringed plovers seen there.

Seen from the Wader Scrape were 12 avocet, 8 oystercatcher, 4 redshank, 8 common terns and most likely quite a few of the usual suspects!

A male reed bunting was seen from the Field Pool east.

Our bittern was booming today.

A med gull was seen on the Mere along with two lesser black backed gulls and there's a final sightings of a whitethroat on Green Lane.

Gorgeous weather...enjoy :)

Extra Bitternage ...

Dave Simmonite — Wed, 05 Jun 2013 18:18:20 GMT

Hello everyone !!

I can only offer a brief report today due to the fact that it's a brief report .... :-)

Here it is in all of its' briefness ..

All from Old Moor ..

On Wath Ings were a cormorant, a barn owl and reed buntings while over on the Mere 2 lesser black-backed gulls could be found ..

Avocets, a redshank and oystercatchers were seen on the Wader Scrape and a lesser whitethroat was seen along Green lane ..

A sparrowhawk was seen flying over the Wildlife pond area ..

A final report was of the female bittern which was seen in flight over the reedbeds at least twice ..

That's all from the Sacred A4 but an Old Moor report from the Barnsley Bird Sightings Blog told of 4 Mediterranean gulls and a very exciting sighting of the 2 adult bitterns and 4 chicks !!

Thanks very much chaps ;-)

So there you go .. Great news on the bittern front !!

More tomorrow friends ..

Have a great evening everyone ;-)

Bert xxxx

Ali's Skipper ..

Dave Simmonite — Tue, 04 Jun 2013 16:27:20 GMT

Hello friends ;-)

Back am I ..

Today's news comes to you from my mate Ali .. She was very happy today as a result of the nice, shiny weather .. As hopefully we all are :-)

All reports are from Old Moor today ..

On the Mere were a great-crested grebe, mute swans plus cygnets, sand martins, a Mediterranean gull (island 2) and a little gull which was seen passing over ..

Over on the Wader Scrape were 7 common terns, 11 avocets with 6 chicks counted, lapwings and a little-ringed plover ..

A barn owl was seen at Wath Ings along with a redstart, reed buntings, cormorants and a kestyrel ..

Reported from along Green lane were sedge warbler, whitethroat, a lesser whitethroat, linnets and a willow warbler ..

A decent report from the Bird Garden today told of mallards, blackbirds, bullfinches, chaffinches, greenfinches, collared doves, stock doves, woodpigeons, pheasants, reed buntings, robins and blue tits ..

Insecty stuff for today was ..

A 4 spotted chaser dragonfly was seen near to the Wildlife Ponds and then butterflies seen included tortoiseshell, brimstone, speckled wood, peacock and finally, that 'salty seadog' the dingy skipper ...

Poor lad ...

More tomorrow friends :-)

Have a nice evening chaps ..

Bert xxxx

Avocetlets !!

Dave Simmonite — Mon, 03 Jun 2013 17:54:42 GMT

Helloooo readers !!

Have you heard anyone complaining that it's too warm yet ? .. Won't be long now ;-) .. Hosepipe ban soon too methinks ..

Sightings .. Ah yes ..

Here is today's news ..

Old Moor first ..

There were 9 common terns seen on the Wader Scrape along with a total of 9 avocets and 7 chicks .. A Mediterranean gull was reported from the Mere ..

In the Bird Garden were 3 stock doves and a bullfinch and then there were 4 whitethroats seen along Green Lane ..

Wath Ings had pochards, gadwalls, mallards, a redshank, lapwings and 2 kestrels ...

Today's insects reported were;

Bumblebees .. white-tailed, buff-tailed, tree, early and common carder ..

Butterflies seen were dingy skipper, green-veined white, small white, common blue and brimstone ..

Damselflies .. Blue-tailed, large red, common blue and azure ..

A final insect report was of a 4 spotted chaser dragonfly ..

And a final final report is that the little gull is still to be seen on Broomhill Flash ...

Et voila .. C'est fini ;-)

Have a great evening friends ..

Bert xxxx