May 2012 - Old Moor RSPB and Hatfield Moor YWT

Sunday 6th: A bright and sunny day, albeit a bit cool when out of the sun. A visit out to RSPB Old Moor NR near Barnsley and an early start to get there for 9am. Sandra joined me today and straight away she was spotting the Bullfinches, Greenfinches et al in the bird garden. A Wren was singing loudly as they always do, flying to and fro from it's nest in a shed. It looked as though it was carrying food and presumably there were chicks in the nest. A Great Tit was also busy gathering food from the feeders and returning to a nest box as can be seen in the photo below.

Above: Male Bulfinches always look resplendent in their peach, white, grey and black plumage.

Above: Canada Geese with some of the Goslings

Male Greenfinch

A female Mallard Duck with her chicks.

Male Reed Bunting singing loudly from a high perch.

Tree Sparrow.

Above: Twitch of the Day - this Lesser Whitethroat was in full song in the bracken. We followed it up and down the lane. The photo was taken from inside the hide.

A sure sign of Summer - Willow Warbler

Above: A male Blackcap was in full song from his perch with a male Greenfinch higher up.

Above: Coming a close second to the twitch of the day is this Common Sandpiper. This caused quite a stir in the hide as they tend not to be so common!

Later in the afternoon we took the short drive out to Wombwell Ings. A satellite reserve of Old Moor. Sandra saw a couple of Kingfishers which, of course I missed. Lapwings were there also with chick, Graylag Geese, Canada Geese and Tufted Ducks. A Grey Heron flew over and tucked in a quite spot was a single Avocet.

As time was getting late we drove back towards home and a quick visit to Hatfield Moor (south) and Boston Park lake. Here we encountered 5 Yellow Wagtails as seen below and plenty of low flying Swifts and Swallows. In fact the Swifts we flying so low that we almost had our hair parted several times!

This was a very good day out. Three different venues visited, sunny and three cracking bird species seen!

May 2010 - Kirkmoor Planation Wood & news from the Garden

May 2nd: Strolling around my local wood, I can see that the Summer migrants have now arrived. I saw 3 male Blackcaps singing in different territories though no females. So, do the males return before the females and stake-out territories before the females arrive later? Answers would be appreciated. Of course, the early arrivals, the Chiffchaffs have laid claim to territories as long ago as late March and are in full voice! Willow Warblers are also back and their familiar song can also be heard. At least two have taken-up residence in the wood. Another question that intrigues me: do these migrants such as Blackcaps, Chiffchaffs and Willow Warblers return to the same site after flying 3,500 miles from Africa year after year? Or is it just chance that brings them to this little wood on the outskirts of Doncaster?

Bluebells now carpet the wood and for two weeks or so will provide a vivid blue colour to the wood. The local residents such as Chaffinch, Wren, Robin, Blackbird and Wood Pigeon are as usual, fairly abundant. For such as small wood, it certainly contains a large variety of wildlife.

Meanwhile, in our garden, the birds are in full flow. The pair of Wood Pigeons that nested in the conifers, produced one fledgling. But after making its maiden appearance, was frightened by a local Squirrel and has not been seen since!

The Blackbirds - specifically the females - are constantly visiting the kitchen for mealworms, so much so that Melanie has now rationed them as we don't expect another delivery until Wednesday 5th! Once we open the back door then it becomes a constant procession of female Blackbirds (3 different individuals), 1 male Blackbird and a small group of House Sparrows!

Over this Bank Holiday weekend, Melanie could easily spend the entire day supervising the birds! She has to limit each bird to a reasonable number of mealworms as they tend to empty the bowl and leave none for the next visitor.

The female House Sparrows seem to be more forward than the males (who wait outside by the doorstep) and will fly in and hover waiting for the moment when they can seize the odd mealworm from under a Blackbirds beak! There has already been one Blackbird fledgling, that Mel photographed last Friday, but alas, this morning (Monday) she discovered its remains in the flower bed. Just the beak, a poo-pellet and some feathers are all that was one a Blackbird. It looks like the neighbourhood Sparrowhawk is back on the scene!