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.

December 2010 - Lakeside still frozen!

Friday 31st: After dropping my sister-in-law off at the railway station I motored on over to the Lakeside to see if anything interesting was about. The thaw that started a few days ago has got rid of any lingering snow but the ice is still covering the lake and substantially thick, although in places, the very slow thaw has begun.

So there are groups of waterfowl spread out on the ice, some slipping as they precariously waddled over the ice. A large flock of Mute Swans and Canada Geese are camped-out by the beach and get fed by people from time-to-time. Black-headed Gulls, Coots and Mallards also add to the throng.

This morning, the mist was lying low and heavy on the lake and still hadn't lifted by 11:30am when I left for home. Although the air is damp, the temperature has risen a few degrees... it's now a balmy +4°c! Over on the far side of the lake, not noted for being seen on the here, were a pair of Shovelers which made a slippery landing but departed after 5 minutes. A small group of Teal were huddled together in a group on the stadium-side of the lake, which is also unusual. Judging by the ice, and although there are large cracks, it still appears to be quite thick and I suspect that it will need another few days of moderate temperatures to melt the ice.

On the way back home, I stopped-off at Cantley Park... nothing much doing there either! So just to get a record snap, I grabbed a photo of the iced-pond.

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.