Todays plan was to head down to Old Moor to catch up on some Dragonfly action, Old Moor seemed to be having a good start. An early start it was with a stop off around Langsett Reservoir, a local site within the HBW recording area, arrived at about 6am to the sound of Blackbirds, Robin, Blackcaps, and Song Thrush. Out of the car park and on down to the dam wall, picking up on Canada Goose and Mallards on route. Along the dam wall I found, a couple of Pied Wagtails and four Common Sandpipers, a photo stop off, a few Black headed Gulls were about and a distant call of a Cuckoo on the moors.
Down at my first site, Chaffinch were noisy, along with a couple of Chiffchaff, took a while to find a Spotted Flycatcher, Blue Tits were the ones using the various nest boxes, not the birds i was looking for. Great Tits were seen, Oystercatcher at this point was a heard only, and a Roe Deer was a nice encounter.
On the way back to the car Blackbirds, Song Thrush and Mistle Thrush were looking for food in one of the fields, a nice opportunity to see them together. Back along the dam wall, Common Sandpipers were still about along with the Pied Wagtails, nearer to the car park Dunnock and Greenfinch were in the surrounding tress, with a Collard Dove flying around and a Wren bursting out its song in a nearby bush, a Nuthatch and Great Spotted Woodpecker in the car park. A three hour visit, it was time for breakfast at the nearby Bank View café, before my journey down to Old Moor, to chase the Dragons.
It was 10am when I arrived at Old Moor. It was still a bit chilly, I was hoping for it to get a bit warmer for me to be able to find the quarry I’d come for today.
It took a while to find what I was looking for, but eventually, I found a few Damselflies near the Bittern Shelter. Common Blue, Azure, Blue tailed and Large Red Damselflies, all in one area. Around the pools, there was no action at all, so I came around and down to the Bittern hide, finding a pair of Azure Damselfly on the approach path, photo stop. There was a small area of teed just off the path , here, there were a couple of Four spotted Chasers , doing what Chasers do, a photo opportunity, they were close in, around here there was also an obliging male Holly Blue Butterfly.
I had another look around the pools, I drew a blank. I then decided to move on down to Wath Ings to see the Black winged Stilts. On my way down, I stopped off at the Toyota platform to look for Red eyed Damselfly. They were easy to find, resting on the nearby lily pads.
I moved on, then took in the new pathway down to Wath Ings, hoping for Hairy Dragonfly on route. Sadly, no Dragonfly about, I did find a Garden Warbler.
Plenty of birds from the Wath Ings hide, including the pair of Black winged Stilts, but at a distance.
After Wath Ings, I was soon back on the pools looking for dragonflies again. I found somemore Four Spotted Chasers on a different pool, along with very brief views of Hairy Dragonfly and a female Broad Bodied Chaser.
A successful day with my Dragonfly targets meet, let down early morning with the target bird species
Langsett List : Blackbird, Blackcap, Black headed Gull, Blue Tit, Canada Goose , Crow, Chaffinch, Chiffchaff, Collard Dove, Common Sandpiper, Cuckoo, Curlew, Dunnock, Great Spotted Woodpecker, Great Tit, House Sparrow, Jackdaw, Long tailed Tit, Mallard, Mistle Thrush, Nuthatch, Oystercatcher, Pheasant, Pied Wagtail, Robin, Song Thrush, Spotted Flycatcher, Treecreeper, Willow Warbler, Woodpigeon, Wren
Old Moor Bird List :- Avocet, Bittern, Blackbird, Black winged Stilt, Canada Goose, Crow, Cettis Warbler, Common Tern, Coot, Cormorant, Dunnock, Gadwall, Garden Warbler, Goldfinch, Greylag Goose, Herring Gull, Jay, Kestrel, Lapwing, Lesser Black backed Gull, Little Grebe, Mallard, Moorhen, Mute Swan, Oystercatcher, Pied Wagtail, Pochard, Reed Bunting, Reed Warbler, Robin, Shelduck, Shoveler, Starling, Tufted Duck, Woodpigen
Butterflies :- Brimstone, Common Blue, Dingy Skipper, Holly Blue, Small Heath, Speckled Wood
Dragonflies :- Azure Damselfly, Blue tailed Damselfly, Broad bodied Chaser, Common Blue Damselfly, Hairy Dragonfly, Large Red Damselfly, Red eyed Damselfly
Huddsbirder 