Huddsbirder

I thought I would start with the Avocet from today’s visit to Old Moor, these have breed at Old Moor for the first time this year we say two chicks today, I believe the first was hatched on the 20th, lets hope they make it to full size apprantely the Black Headed Gull chicks are having a hard time from the Lesser Black Backs that are about

Avocet

On leaving the visitor centre we firstly paid a visit to the feeders like you do here there were the usual bird species about that now seem to have settled done into breeding the ones we saw were Bullfinch, Collard Dove, Woodpigeon, Magpie, Blue Tit, Great Tit, Willow Tit, Greenfinch, Goldfinch, Dunnock, Robin. We finally left the feeders behind to find a good assortment of Damselflies nearby, we spent quite a while here taking a good number of photos the species we saw Azure, Common, and Blue Tailed

Azure Damselfly

Note the ‘U’ shape on the above Damselfly on segment two, one down from the body, this is on the Male Azure you’ll have to look on my Flickr site to see whats on the Females.  Moving on we finally caught up with a few more bird species from the family hide namely the above Avocet Dunlin, Ringed Plover, Gadwall, Little Grebe, Redshank to name a few highlights but no Med Gull for us today.

After dinner it was the turnof Butterflies namely Common Blue they did seem to be the ‘Common’ butterfly of the day but we did see Large White and Orange Tip

Common Blue Butterfly

Female Bullfinch

Todays Species List :-

Things have been quiet this week but the finding of a Lime Hawk Moth lifted the spirits on one of my early morning walks to work.

Lime Hawk Moth

Caterpillar of the Brown Tailed Moth

Swallow

Here we are again back down at Old Moor which is becoming more like home at the moment the first birds seen today were the Common Swifts overhead and plenty of them to great to see these back and then Whitethroat from the car park hedges. We made our way inside and to the feeders which at the moment held very little bird life except the odd Bullfinch, Collard Dove, Woodpigeon, Pheasant and Tree Sparrow so it was into the reserve and the family hide being our next port of call hearing/seeing on the way Willow Warbler, Coot, Mallard and Linnets overhead. Settling into the hide the Mediterranean Gulls were soon located amongst the Black Headed Gull colony fighting its corner again with the intrusion of the Black Heads. Scanning about we picked up Redshank, Lapwing, Sand Martin, Swallow, Tufted Duck, Great Crested Grebe, Gadwall, and Canada Goose. It wasn’t long before we were off again and making our way down to the Wader Scrape hide along Green Lane hearing Lesser Whitethroat, Whitethroat and Sedge Warbler singing from dense cover keeping out of the full force of this high wind today, from the hide we picked up a couple of waders notably Grey Plover in full summer dress and with Avocet along side, here was also saw a couple of Common Terns. Other wildlife today including Gypsy Marsh was Dinky Skipper, Orange Tip, Green Veined White, Large Red Damselfly, Azure Damselfly

Wildlife List for Today :-

Common Whitethroat, Lesser Whitethroat, Reed Warbler, Sedge Warbler, Willow Warbler, Chiffchaff, Bullfinch, Chaffinch, Greenfinch, Goldfinch, Linnet, Collard Dove, Woodpigeon, Tree Sparrow, Magpie, Jackdaw, Crow, Tufted Duck, Gadwall, Teal, Mallard, Shelduck, Redshank, Avocet, Grey Plover, Lapwing, Common Tern, Black Headed Gull, Mediterranean Gull, Canada Goose, Sand Martin, Common Swift, Swallow, Pheasant, Coot, Moorhen, Starling, Large Red Damselfly, Common Damselfly, Green Veined White, Orange Tip, Dinky Skipper

Azure Damselfly

Large-Red-Damselfly

Our first port of call was at Broadstones Reservoir hopefully to catch out the Grasshopper Warbler that had been reported but you guessed it he didn’t show but plenty of Linnets kept us entertained. We moved off then to the Langsett area calling firstly at Carlecotes Ponds for Tree Pipit but the wind was too much so we did plan B, into the Little Don Valley area here we did see Tree Pipit, Buzzard, Kestrel, Pied Wagtail, Mistle Thrush and Song Thrush including young ones in the car park along with Great Spotted Woodpeckers

Song-Thrush-Langsett

 We moved off for dinner at the Bank View Cafe and after decided on a trip over the Strines hoping to see some raptors but didn’t but we caught up with Tree Pipit again

Langsett Area List in no order:- Whitethroat, Willow Warbler, Chiffchaff, Linnet, Pheasant, Kestrel, Pied Wagtail [Yarrelli] Mistle Thrush, Song Thrush, Tree Pipit, Meadow pipit,Reed Bunting, Blackcap, Swallow, House Martin,Goldfinch, Greenfinch, Chaffinch, Blackbird, Robin, Woodpigeon, Great Spotted Woodpecker, Buzzard, Wheatear, Oystercatcher

We had arranged to meet some friends at Potteric Carr for three O’Clock so it was there that we ended up and on parking in the overflow car park we were met by a Whitethroat singing from a nearby bush. We had only planned an evening walk around the reserve but on entering the reception we saw most of the action was down at West Scrap Hide so it was there we went and stayed till about 6:30pm. There were Butterflies in abundance Comma, Peacock, Brimstone, Orange Tip, Red Admiral, Green Veined Whites and plenty of unidentified whites. The birds we saw from West Scrape hide were good these included six new reserve birds for me namely Wood Sandpiper, Common Sandpiper, Green Sandpiper, Bar Tailed Godwit, Pied Wagtail and White Wagtail [taking my tally now to 94] other waders included Ringed Plover, Little Ringed Plover, Dunlin, Redshank, and Avocets, warblers we saw included Reed Warbler and Whitethroat.

Potteric Carr list in no order :- Whitethroat, Lapwing, Pied Wagtail [yarrelli], White Wagtail [alba], Common Sandpiper, Avocet, Bar Tailed Godwit, Wood Sandpiper, Teal, Gadwall, Shelduck, Ringed Plover, Black Headed Gull, Great Black Backed Gull, Sand Martin, Mallard, Green Sandpiper, Mute Swan, Swallow, Shoveler, Starling, Dunlin, Little Ringed Plover, Great Tit, Blackcap, Magpie, Tufted Duck, Reed Warbler, Greenfinch, Goldfinch

Green-Sandpiper

Common-Sandpiper

Red-Admiral-Potteric

Hope you like the new look to the site, still playing/refining areas so let me know what you think, thanks and do revisit and please leave comments so I know you are there

Its been a great Easter weekend both weather wise and bird wise with a final list tally of 91 species seen or heard the list can be seen by clicking the LIST LINK

The Old Moor day list in no particular order :-

Lapwing, Blackbird, Common Redshank, Little Ringed Plover, Ringed Plover, Avocet, Little Grebe, Great Crested Grebe, Gadwall, Teal, Tufted Duck, Mallard, Shoveler, Green Woodpecker. Crow, Black headed Gull, Mediterranean Gull, Woodpigeon, Sand Martin, Lesser Whitethroat, Sedge Warbler, Reed Bunting, Moorhen, Coot, Pochard, Willow Warbler, Chaffinch, Cormorant, Common Tern, Bullfinch, Magpie, Greenfinch, Pintail, Goosander, Oystercatcher, Tree Sparrow, Starling, Pied Wagtail, Jackdaw, Brimstone, Orange Tip, Dinky Skipper, Large Red Damselfly

A Couple of Pictures from the day :-

Common Redshank

Dinky Skipper

Had to post this missed it during the winter when I didn’t see it but caught up with it over the Easter Weekend Coal Tit photos

After dinner a walk down along the causeway with more Marsh Harriers, Black Headed Gulls, Lapwing, Reed and Sedge Warblers but Blackcap was a new one for the day and Buzzard over head. The final walk was on to the Eric Morecambe and Allen Hides this was a good walk seeing Common Whitethroat, Lesser Whitethroat, Willow Warblers and Sedge Warblers finally adding some waders to the list from the hides Avocet, Black Tailed Godwits, Common Redshank, Spotted Redshank, and Knot

The Day list in no particular order :-

Black Headed Gull, Great Black backed Gull, Mediterranean Gull, Sheldduck, Teal, Gadwall, Shoveler, Mallard, Pochard, Tufted Duck, Lapwing, Canada Goose, Greylag Goose, Mute Swan, Marsh Harrier, Robin, Blackbird, Dunnock, Chiffchaff, Blue Tit, Great Spotted Woodpecker, Sedge Warbler, Reed warbler, Blackcap, Oystercatcher, Goldfinch, Reed Bunting, Greenfinch, Bullfinch, Marsh Tit, Nuthatch, Magpie, Willow Warbler, Wren, Pheasant, Great Crested Grebe, Common Buzzard, Coot, Moorhen, Common Whitethroat, Lesser Whitethroat, Spotted Redshank, Black tailed Godwit, Swallow, Common Redshank, Avocet, Knot, Wigeon

A couple of record photos from the day :-

Mediterranean Gull

Meditteranean Gull with Black Headed Gulls

Sedge-Warbler

The day stared with running thru a couple of Patch sites before going out to Old Moor the first port of call was Cheesegate Nab in the hope of Ring Ouzels moving thru but alas all we got sight of were Wheatear [Video Link], Willow Warbler, Chiffchaff, a few Carrion Crows, a Cormorant gave us a fly thru. We moved off towards the Ingbirchworth area to find more Wheatears Meadow Pipits, Pied Wagtails and a couple of Grey Partridge legging it down the road a move to Ingbirchworth Res. gave us nothing new for the day so it was onto Old Moor RSPB near manvers.

On arrival we decided to go along warblers way to hopefully  hear and see some warblers fresh in from migration what we did see were Bullfinch, Chaffinch, Goldfinch, Greenfinch, Long Tailed Tit, Chiffchaff, Willow Warblers, Blackcap and Whitethroat at the hide, Bolton Ings area, Black Headed Gull, lesser Black Backed Gull, Great Crested Grebe, Pochard, Gadwall [Video Link], Teal, Mallard, Mute Swan, Shoveler, Tufted Duck. After dinner at the Gannets Cafe it was on to the reserve to see more of the same with Redshank, Little Ringed Plover, Dunlin, Green Sandpiper, Wigeon, and Reed Bunting

Starling

Goldfinch