Arriving at Broadstone’s Reservoir at 6:30am to the sight of a Barn Owl flying over the wall had me stopping, an unscheduled stop, but worth going after, so getting the gear together off I set.
Willow Warblers were very prominent and seemed to be calling from every bush. Moving further on into the heath, a few Linnets were moving about, no sight of the Barn Owl. Moving further on, Common Whitethroats got my attention, this also brought me into an area where there were a few Blackcaps and a Garden Warbler, good to hear these two confusion species together, still no sign of the Barn Owl, so I moved off back towards the car, picking up on Skylark singing away as I did so. On my way thru I stopped at an area good, in the past, for Grasshopper Warbler, but no evidence of one today.
Getting back to the car, I set off for Langsett, my original first stop of the day, and parked up at the Barns Car park on arrival. The time was now 8:30am, there were plenty of Blackbirds around the car park area, along with Chaffinch, and a singing Blackcap.
Gear together, I set off towards my target species here, seeing Song Thrush, and Oystercatcher, near the dam wall, but no Common Sandpipers’ this morning or Pied/Grey Wagtails. Down in the woods, the target area for today, the sounds of Nuthatch, Robin, Blue Tit and Great Tit. Looking thru the foliage, I eventually caught sight of a Spotted Flycatcher, which was nice to find.
Further into the woods, things became rather quiet in the wood, then a quick movement and I’d found the target bird, a Pied Flycather, male. After watching the male bird for a while, and occasionally losing it, I caught sight of the Flycatcher giving a Great Spotted Woodpecker a hard time, diving bombing, trying to move the Woodpecker on. I eventually traced the Pied Flycatcher and got sight of the female coming and going with nest material, with the male looking on and giving song on various posts, safely keeping my distance
It was time to move on and I found myself down at Manvers lake, looking for the male Garganey which had taken favour with a female Mallard. I eventually found it tucked away out of sight along with the Mallard.
It was then down to Edderthorpe Flash, here I saw plenty of Swallows and Sand Martin moving thru, but no sign of the bird I was looking for, Willow Warblers, Chiffchaff, Reed Warblers, Shelduck, Oystercatchers, a pair of Common Sandpipers, lots of Avocets, Cormorants, but still no sign of my target bird for here. it was now moving on to 4pm, after talking with someone else, who decided to move on after I said I’d been there for an hour and a half and there was no sign of it, he moved on down to Old Moor. I however decided to stop for another thirty minutes, it took about ten minutes before I saw the bird in question, flying in from the right and landing down in front of where I was sitting, Black winged Stilt in the bag and giving good views. It was good to see it, after the one from Frampton where I only saw it from a video I’d taken, and to finish the day, a single Swift went thru.
Langsett Area Birds :Barn Owl, Blackbird, Blackcap, Black headed Gull, Blue Tit, Canada Goose, Carrion Crow, Chaffinch, Chiffchaff, Common Crossbill (H), Curlew, Garden Warbler, Goldfinch, Great Spotted Woodpecker, Great Tit, Linnet, Long tailed Tit, Magpie, Mallard, Oystercatcher, Pheasant, Robin, Siskin (H), Skylark, Song Thrush, Spotted Flycatcher, Starling, Stock Dove, Swallow, Treecreeper, Whitethroat, Woodpigeon, Wren (33)
Manvers and Edderthorpe : Avocet, Blackbird, Blackcap, Black headed Gull, Black winged Stilt, Buzzard, Canada Goose, Carrion Crow, Cetti’s Warbler, Chiffchaff, Common Sandpiper, Coot, Cormorant, Gadwall, Garganey, Goldfinch, Great Crested Grebe, Herring Gull, Kestrel, Lapwing, Lesser Black backed Gull, Mallard, Moorhen, Oystercatcher, Redshank, Robin, Rock Dove/Feral Pigeon, Sand Martin, Shelduck, Shoveler, Swallow, Swift, Teal, Tufted Duck, Willow Warbler (35)
Pied Flycatcher
Garganey
Huddsbirder 