November 2010 - Old Moor RSPB in the snow

Sunday 28th: It was bitterly cold today! With overnight temperatures dropping to -7, the snow from last Friday night, froze. Still, undeterred, a trip out to Lakeside and Old Moor RSPB was the plan. But first a visit over to the town centre Tesco where there was a faint chance of seeing Waxwings. Unfortunately, no sign at all of the elusive bird that has spread across the country this autumn. It seems that the Doncaster area is a no-go zone for these brightly coloured Scandinavian birds! We did see a Song Thrush perched on top of the clock tower spire above the store and a few Blackbirds, Robin and various members of the Tit family.

So onto Donny Lakeside in search of a Black Redstart that had been seen there yesterday. Well... you guessed, no sign at all. What we did catch sight of, though purely by accident and if we had been paying attention, we would have got a good close view, was a Kingfisher! It had been perched close to us and we watched as it flew at low-level across the surface of the lake to the other shore. A Cormorant perched on a buoy in the middle of the lake, with its beak raised to the sky with indifference! Plenty of other waterfowl; Canada Geese, Mute Swans, Tufted Ducks, Mallards and Pochards.... and of course, the ever-present Black-headed Gulls standing on the frozen lake along with 2 Herring Gulls... oh, and... the Coots.

A twenty minute drive over to Old Moor RSPB through the snowy countryside. It was perishingly cold! At the garden hide were many song birds namely Greenfinch, Chaffinch, Bulfinch, Blue Tits, Great Tits and Long-tailed Tits.

A couple of Pheasants were also in attendance. Over at the Tree Sparrow farm Sandra and myself saw at least two Yellowhammers, with several Tree Sparrows, Chaffinches and several Magpies.

The lakes were frozen and what water fowl were there, were massed together over where the water was still ice-free. Quite a few Wigeon could be seen together with Mallards, 8 Goosanders. a small flock of Golden Plover stood on the ice in a long line facing into the bitting wind.

Interspersed were with the Golden Plover were Lapwings. A fellow birder pointed-out a Peregrine Falcon perched high on a pylon. Well even through the scope I couldn't identify it as it was so far away as the photo shows. But he assured us that it was indeed a Peregrine Falcon.
Walking back to get a cuppa, someone shouted, "Waxwings!" We all looked up but again we couldn't be sure. Now for that hot cuppa tea and home! Though my toes and fingers were frozen... it was a good day out.

September 2010 - Fairburn Ings RSPB

Friday 24th: It's true what they say; "what a difference a day makes"...or two! Last Wednesday, myself and Sandra went to Old Moor RSPB and the weather was warm and even sunny at times... so warm that shirt-sleeves was all that we needed. But today...today here in Yorkshire it was blowing a right old gale! Heavy rain all the previous night only relented at around 8am this morning! A grand day to spend outside watching birds! So fleece and jacket was required but the gloves were left behind and were sorely needed at times. We drove up to North Yorkshire to visit Fairburn Ings RSPB near to Castleford. Setting off early we got caught up in the "rush-hour" traffic but by 9.30am we were parked in a bleak wind swept car park wondering; "is this worth it".

Well we needn't have worried, within the first 30 minutes we had already twitched a Kingfisher at close-quarters that obliged by constantly fishing and gave us around 20 minutes of breath taking views. Marvelling at the antics of Goldfinches, Chaffinches, Greenfinches, Tree Sparrows, Marsh Tit, Coal Tit and others on and around a closely situated bird table. After all this, anything else would be a bonus. Well during our long and wind-swept trek around the NR we were to get that bonus!

On our trek down to the village-end of the lake, the usual suspects were seen; Cormorants (17), Mute Swans (lots), Mallards (quite a few), Coots (too many to mention) but also Shovelers, Gadwalls, two Herons, eight white Geese that were probably farmyard related and Grebes, both the Little variety and Great Crested of which we saw five adults and one adult shepherding three immatures that were probably about 3 months old! But the bonus was another two Kingfishers that flew in front of Sandra and the female Goosander sitting on the bank of a lake that I would have walked right past if Sandra hadn't motioned to me!

Having slogged back to the car (at least 3 miles were covered in total) we ate a hearty bunch of sandwiches and drank tea while watching the Tree Sparrows on the feeders. House Martins wheeled overhead in the steadily bluer skies and out of the blue glided a Buzzard! We watched through binoculars as it slowly wheeled around in the sky - what long wings it has!

We had a quick tour of the feeders by the Visitor Centre and over at Pickup hide we watched in amazement as a Kestrel was mobbed for some 10 minutes by three Carrion Crows! To finish the day, we drove up to Spoonbill Flash, but alas no Spoonbills! Here were lots of dabbling and diving ducks, the usual suspects a Black-tailed Godwit and two other waders that have yet to be identified but what was to be the last highlight of the day was the Kestrel that spent some time in front of our hide hovering and dropping to the ground in its search for food. And we got some good close views as it wheeled in front of the hide...binoculars weren't needed it was so close! But the very last highlight was when we got back to the car and Sandra nervously fed a band of Mute Swans tuna sandwiches!

January 2010 - Old Moor RSPB

Friday 1st: A new year, and what better way to clear the head, than go out for a bracing walk in the freezing cold. At the reserve, all the lakes were frozen solid except for a few small ice-free patches on the largest - the Mere. Getting there at 10:20am, I had a good start and it turned-out to be a cracking day!



Seeking Yellowhammers, I was advised to go to the "play-area" by the Warden, where some had been seen...and sure enough, I saw my FIRST Yellowhammer, a male perched in the hawthorn shrubs a short distance away. A male Greenfinch was perched close by - one of few as the majority of Greenfinches I saw that morning were females! By the "Tree Sparrow farm", a small patch of ground with thistles appeared to be crawling with Goldfinches...I've never seen so many in one place and there were many more! Over at the hide I was presented with the spectacle of passerines of Greenfinch (many more females than males), Goldfinch, Chaffinch, all of which, I lost count as they were in abundance! Along with the former were a couple of Tree Sparrows, 4 Reed Buntings, a Robin, one Dunnock, a Moorhen, several Blackbirds - both male and female, a Stonechat and perched in the hawthorns another 2 YELLOWHAMMERS! There were so many birds that who knows what I didn't see! I'd spent an hour and a half just at this one spot...a great start to the day.

At the Mere, a lake where most waterfowl tend to congregate, I was surprised to see that most of it was still frozen and that only 4 small patches were ice-free where ducks and gulls of various species were unusually crammed together "beak-by-bill"! What I did notice too was that there were no Geese or Swans of any description present. The sight of hundreds of Wigeon and Pochard roaming across the grassland on the far side of the lake, nibbling at the grass made for a fascinating sight. But the highlight was the 7 GOOSANDERS (4 male & 3 female) amongst the various waterfowl packed together in an ice-free area. This is a FIRST for me! The male is easily distinguished from the female by its black head and white body, click RSPB info on Goosanders, whereas the female has a brown head and grey body. Both have bright red legs. Although the Goosanders were amongst all the other waterfowl, I had my scope and saw some good views. The two images below are stills taken from a video.



I then paid a visit to the Wath Ings hide were the lake was totally ice-bound. Nothing at all about except for the Kestrel perched on the bird house alongside the hide. There were also some unusal Sheep grazing closeby. See the image below.






Time was now getting late, the tempreture had dropped noticably and I was hungry and ready for a hot cup of tea. So, walking back to the Visitor Center, I made a short detour towards the Reedbed Hide where I saw and videoed a rather obliging Stonechat (the second of the day) on the fence. To round off the day, while have a cuppa in the cafe and peering through the window down onto the feeders, I got a very good showing of a female Bulfinch together with Blue and Great Tits. So, although it was a very cold day, it was also a very full and fruitful day for bird watching.