Print pageSeasonal highlights
Each season brings a different experience at our nature reserves. In spring, the air is filled with birdsong as they compete to establish territories and attract a mate. In summer, look out for young birds making their first venture into the outside world. Autumn brings large movements of migrating birds - some heading south to a warmer climate, others seeking refuge in the UK from the cold Arctic winter. In winter, look out for large flocks of birds gathering to feed, or flying at dusk to form large roosts to keep warm.
Spring
Spring is a special time at Bolton Ings, when lapwings and redshanks come to breed on the reserve. Listen out for their calls and keep your eyes to the skies for their spectacular breeding displays. The reedbeds hold sedge and reed warblers, new in from Africa, while garganeys and pochards swim in the water beneath.
Summer
The warm days of summer bring dragonflies out and about, with banded demoiselles a particular highlight. These iridescent green and black damselflies flutter over the surface of the water. The reedbed warblers will be feeding chicks and kingfishers whizz to and fro carrying fish for their young. Broods of ducklings can be seen feeding with their mothers.
Autumn
Breeding birds disperse from the Dearne Valley but it's not quiet for long, as migrating birds use the wetlands as somewhere to stop off and feed up. Look out for birds such as green sandpipers, greenshanks and golden plovers which have bred in the north, possibly even the Arctic. Little egrets hunt for local fish.
Winter
The valley is a busy, noisy place in winter, as teals and wigeons which may have hatched in Russia use it as a safe haven for feeding and resting. You might also see smart goosanders looking for fish in the deeper waters and cheeky stonechats perching on plant stems. In the grasslands, graceful roe deer can often be seen browsing.