Huddsbirder

I arrived  at Old Moor for 9:30am and parked up on the first row in the car park where I could easily see the feeders across in the hedgerow, there was plenty of birds flitting about Tree Sparrows, Greenfinches, Goldfinches, Redwings, Blackbirds, Collard Doves, Pheasants, Blue Tit, Great Tit and Bullfinches so plenty to see before hitting the reserve.

At the visitor centre feeders more of the same species as could be found near the car park with Long tailed Tit, Chaffinch, Woodpigeon and Robin were added to the list.

My next port of call was the Wader Scrape hide were no waders were seen but it was good to see a number of Goosander, Wigeon, Teal and Shovelers.

Due to a text about a Diver on the local gravel pits I made a quick call in at the Tree Sparrow Farm to see, Dunnock, Reed Bunting, Tree Sparrow and Greenfinch

It was bye bye Old Moor and hello Sands Lane Gravel Pits at Mirfield (or now known as Ladywood lakes) I hadn’t parked the car up before I saw the Great Northern Diver from the road, nice bird in partial summer plumage, along with the diver were Cormorant, Great Crested Grebe, Black headed Gull and Common Gull, Tufted Duck, Mute Swan, Coot and Moorhen

Day List [In no particular order] :-Blue Tit, Great Tit, Long tailed Tit, Chaffinch, Greenfinch, Bullfinch, Goldfinch, Tree Sparrow, Redwing, Pheasant, Woodpigeon, Collard Dove, Robin, Dunnock, Starling, Blackbird, Magpie, Crow, Cormorant, Black headed Gull, Common Gull, Teal, Mallard, Wigeon, Gadwall, Goldeneye ♀, Shoveler, Coot, Moorhen, Lapwing, Reed Bunting, Canada Goose, Mute Swan

Sands Lane :- Great Northern Diver, Black headed Gull, Cormorant, Tufted Duck, Mallard, Coot

Female Blackbird

Great Northern Diver (Record Shot)

Has you can see from the blog its been a while since I’ve been out and about so I decided to grab the bull by the horns and a couple of hours at Old Moor. The day was dry, fine, bit of a chill in the wind but it was nice, no gloves needed.

Our first course of action was down to the new viewing area for the Bitterns, the Bittern hide has now been removed, the Reedbed Screen has been removed and placed across the, what was the pathway to the Bittern Hide at the path junction, the path beyond this has been dug up and is now flooded and there is now no access beyond this point. The birds we saw around this area were Kestrel up on the first pylon seems to be a favourite perching place, Tufted Duck, Coot, Moorhen,Gadwall and Mallard on the open water.

Of course the place to see most water birds is at the Family Hide here we could see lots of Lapwings but no Golden Plovers with them, Cormorants, Mute Swans, Wigeon, Gadwall, Teal, Canada Geese, Little Grebe, Linnets hopping between the islands, Black headed Gulls flying around making their usual noise.

On then to the field pool hide but this was full so we diverted to the Wath Ings hide here we found more wildfowl and a single Redshank.

Our final call was at the Tree Sparrow Farm and here we found Long tailed Tit, Redwing, Blackbird, Chaffinch, Bullfinch and Starling

Mute Swan from Field Pool Hide

A two-week break in Dorset, relaxing, photography, nature watching and sleeping, you can see the trip details at the TRIP tab > DORSET > September 2013. The highlights of the trip were the moths we trapped inc. Canary-shouldered Thorn, Pink-barred Sallow, Angle Shades, Frosted Orange etc,

BATS, Common pipistrelle, Soprano pipistrelle, Noctule, Serotine all near the cottage.

Badger, Stoat, Little Egret, Cettis Warbler, Small Copper are just a few of the highlights .

Pictures can be seen on Flickr a few landscapes as well as the nature shots {PRESS}

Autumnal Rustic

Here we are again on the last day of August with the weather having turned windy and a bit on the chilly side we were not expecting many insects out today and we were right, three Dragonflies 2 Common Darter and a fine Common Hawker along with 2 Emerald Damselflies. 

So it was over to the birds to steal the limelight and they sure did, we settled straight into the Wath Ings hide and were greeted with a feeding Spoonbill, a little bit distant for the camera but I did manage a couple of record shots before it flew off into the willow trees and staying there thru out our stay in Wath Ings hide. Along with the Spoonbill we saw Golden Plover, Lapwing, Grey Heron, Green Sandpipers, Common Snipe, Swallows, House Martins, Ruff and Dunlin being the highlights. On then to the Wader Scrap hide were we were lucky to find a Wheatear and even saw the star of the show at Old Moor this week the Night Heron, although distant, so 3 new birds for the site in one day. Another great thing for the day was all the Buff tip caterpillars about.

Old Moor Bird List

Buff tip Caterpillars

Common Hawker

Had a couple of hours wonder around a local nature reserve today near the Bretton area with a fellow pentaxian on insect watch and photo shoot, always breezy here at the Bullcliffe sit and is always hard to pin down insect species. There were no Dragonflies and Damselflies about a few Butterflies species encountered Peacock, Small White, Large White, Common Blue, Speckled Wood, and a Small Skipper along with a very nice Silver Y Moth. Shieldbugs were on my hit list for the day it took me a while but find one I did stuck in a bramble patch and hard to get to as well, a few photos followed before I left the Hairy (sloe) Sheildbug to go it’s own way once again. Rather a lot of crane flies were on hand as was a very nice Phantom Crane Fly which allowed me to take a few photos of it. Along with the crane flies a few Common Green Grasshoppers

Phantom Crane Fly

Hairy Shieldbug

Small Skipper

Sorry it’s been a while since I’ve posted it is of course the busiest time of year for me here is our weekend trip report to the Rutland Water area beginning Friday the 26th of July, Link here PRESS,  or you can go by via the Trip report tab at the top and scrolling down to Rutland then moving over to July 2013, Thanks for reading Huddsbirder

Yellow and Black Longhorn Beetle

Back down to Old Moor on insect watch thanks to the brilliant weather we have been having, it wasn’t an easy decision 😉

On arrival with were greeted by Common Blue Damselflies which out numbered the Blue Tailed and Azure. Four Spotted Chasers were about along with Brown Hawker, and Southern Hawker, all good be found around the ponds. Down on Green Lane we came across a Common Darter

Butterflies and Moths were numerous with Ringlet, Meadow Browns, Small Skippers, Large Skippers, Small Tortoiseshells, Small and Large Whites, Gatekeeper, and Narrow Bordered 5 Spotted Burnets

Birds of the day included Reed Warbler, Reed Bunting, Sand Martins, Oystercatcher, Avocets, Redshank, Tufted Duck, Black-headed Gulls, Lapwing, Starlings, Mute Swan, Mallard, and Tufted Duck

Ringlet Butterfly

Four Spotted Chaser

A change of venue this time and a day trip out to Tophill Low Nature Reserve and a chance hopefully of seeing some of the splendid insects that have been reported this week. We arrived at 10am just in time for the wardens morning walk around the reserve, a free event  might I add, bliss to a Yorkshireman.

It wasn’t long before the warden pointed out a Pyramid Orchid and then we soon encountered or first beetle a magnificent Golden bloomed Grey Longhorn Beetle [Agapanthia villosoviridescens] followed shortly by a Yellow and Black Longhorn Beetle [Rutpela maculata], Damselflies were encountered along the footpaths mainly Azure and Common Blue, many Ringlet and Meadow Brown Butterflies in the long grasses, we soon made a first stop at the a hide to see Kingfishers going to and fro along with Teal, Gadwall, Mallard, Shoveler, Mute Swan,  and Reed Bunting. Out second stop produced the breeding pair of Little Ringed Plover along with Black-headed Gulls, Magpies, Herons and Crows. Or last hide was to see the breeding Marsh Harriers and whilst we were waiting for them to show we watched Four Spotted Chasers and Emperor Dragonflies, finally the female Marsh Harrier put in a brief appearance, the walk was soon over but we did end on a brief Sparrowhawk as it darted into the trees on our way back to the car park for lunch.

After lunch we a had a brief walk out to the other half of the reserve where we encountered a Figwort weevil [Gonus scrophulariae] , Soldier Beetles [Rhagonycha fulva], Cardinal beetle [Pyrochroa serraticornis] , Scorpion Fly Sp. along with Large Skipper, Red Admiral and Speckled Wood Butterflies

Day List :-

Reed Bunting, Reed Warbler, Chiffchaff, Blackcap, Blackbird, Marsh Harrier, Sparrowhawk, Buzzard, Little Ringed Plover, Tufted Duck, Teal, Mallard, Gadwall, Cormorant, Grey Heron, Common Tern, Kingfisher, Moorhen, Mute Swan, Canada Goose, Greylag Goose, Common Whitethroat, Four Spotted Chaser, Emperor Dragonfly, Azure Damselfly, Common Blue Damselfly, Blue tailed Damselfly, Meadow Brown Butterfly, Ringlet Butterfly, Red Admiral Butterfly, Speckled Wood Butterfly, Large Skipper Butterfly. Black and Yellow Longhorn Beetle, Golden bloomed Grey Longhorn Beetle, Click Beetle Sp, Soldier Beetle, Figwort Weevil, Cardinal Beetle, Heliophilus pendulas Hoverfly, Scorpion Fly Sp.
Figwort Weevil

Pyramid Orchid

Had a stroll around the local quarry for a couple of hours hoping for some Dragonfly action, was a bit upset when I looked to find no water on the large ponds or where the large ponds should have been, only found one small one with water but no dragons at all, found a Ringlet butterfly which was a little bit of compensation being first of the year and very fresh. Hoverflies were about but due to winds were not stopping for long, so wasn’t able to ID, other action included Yellow Shell Moth along with Common Carpet Moth, no other butterflies only Ringlet.

Birds about were a few Common Whitethroat, Chiffchaff, Chaffinch, Kestrel, and Robin.

I have started using flash more now for insect shots, still in the experiment mode but here’s a couple of pictures to look over

Ringlet Butterfly

Hoverfly

A bit of a change due to a couple of hours spare so it was somwhere more local and the camera with macro lens came along too. On our walk thru to the dragonfly pond we picked up several sightings of Small Heath and Dingy Skipper Butterflies on the wing, a Small Yellow Underwing Moth and beetle species especially soldier beetles I did manage a photo session with a Cantharis rustica. Moved on then to the pond where we saw Four Spotted Chasers (3), Red Damselflies, and Azure Damselflies. We also managed to find a Clouded Border Moth

Soldier Beetle [Cantharis rustica]

Clouded Border Moth

Four Spotted Chaser