April 2012 - Lakeside & Hatfield Moors (south)

Sunday 15th: Woke up this morning to bright sunshine so decided to get a few hours, first at Hatfield Moor and then down at Lakeside.

Male Chaffinch under feeders at Hatfield Moor.

Female Greenfinch.

Male Greenfinch.

This Linnet was one of a small group of 6 that flew from the adjacent field to perch on nearby saplings.

Quite a few Oystercatchers around the Moor today.

Above: two photos of a female Reed Bunting. Unusual as females don't normally develop the back cheek banding as the males.

As ever, the Reed Bunting was at the feeders.

This Chiffchaff was very obliging!

Greylag Geese and Goslings.

Above: Can you spot the Little Ringed Plover amongst the Shelducks and Tufted Ducks?

Above: Two pairs of Teal.

Lakeside: After a couple of hours at Hatfield Moor, I drove down to the Lakeside to see if anything new has turned-up.

This Common Coot pair were into nesting.

 Above: two photos of Mallard ducklings. I counted 14 in all. Wonder how many will make it to adulthood.

This Great Crested Grebe pair were clearly in the mood!

 Mallards.

 House Sparrow.

Tufted Ducks.

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!

March 2012 - Hatfield Moors (south)

Thursday 29th: Another warm and sunny Thursday. I took myself up to Hatfield Moors from work in search of Grebes. Only saw a couple of Great Crested Grebes. But there was still plenty to keep my interested. The Skylarks in the field behind me were continually singing as they rose vertically up into the sky and they slowly fluttered down. Swallows and Sand Martins were zig-zagging in the sky over the lake and they plummeting down in pursuit of some microscopic insect. Yes it looks like Spring is here!

What interested me more was the two Lesser Black-backed Gulls in the distance with an egg. Not in itself unusual, though it is the first time I have seen Lesser Black-backed Gulls at Boston Park Lake, no it was the fact that they appeared to be prodding it and were getting some near-aggressive attention from a pair of Oystercatchers! Eventually the Lessers must've got bored because 20 minutes later they flew off leaving the Oystercatchers to prod the egg. The egg didn't belong to either the Oystercatchers or the Lesser Black-backed Gulls. It was more likely that of a Greylag Goose.

Lapwing.

Canada Geese and Greylag Geese.

Canada Geese pair splash landing.

Greylag Goose

Pied Wagtails