First call was down to Wombwell for the other members of the crew for toady’s outing, it was minus 5 degrees, I hate cold. our first port of call for the day was to Manvers Lake for the Great Northern Diver, an excellent bird giving fantastic views, Great Crested Grebe, Little Grebe, Pied wagtail, Pochard, Tufted Duck, Mandarin ♀, and Cormorant, were all added to the day list, the surprise however at Manvers were the group of swimmers in the lake, brrrr!
On then to target birds two and three at Crosspool in Sheffield, this again was a close encounter with our first target bird here, Waxwings, there was around about Fifty birds giving excellent views, plenty of people viewing and taking photos. After the waxwings we moved on then to the famous Crosspool Tawny Owl, once we found the tree, the Owl was easily found, sat out at the hollow, sunning itself in the winter sunshine. After a few snaps, we were again on the move, this time down to Ramsley Moor and Leash Fen for the reported Great Grey Shrike. There was a small crowd on arrival, which makes the job of finding the bird a little bit easier, it hadn’t been seen for at least Thirty minutes before our arrival, we waited, eventually giving itself up, in a different place, and distant, but we got good scope views.
On then to our last port of call RSPB Old Moor, we’d have about an hour and a half on arrival to find Bearded Tit and hopefully Bittern. We ventured down to the Reedbed Hide to stake out our quarries, we looked, but to no avail with the Bearded Tit, there was the usual wildfowl around Coot, Moorhen, Tufted Duck, Gadwall, Cormorant and fly thru Marsh Harrier and Grey Heron. Time was rolling on and hope was fading, I was scanning over the top of the reeds in the vain hope of a Bittern, when something caught my eye, there it was flying over the top of the reeds, a single Bittern, that will do nicely, ending a grand day out.
A video of a few of the birds seen, Great Northern Diver, Waxwing and Tawny Owl….Press THIS
The Days Bird List ; Barn Owl, Bittern, Blackbird, Black headed Gull, Blue Tit, Buzzard, Canada goose, Crow, Chaffinch, Coal Tit, Common Gull, Coot, Cormorant, Gadwall, Goldfinch, Great Crested Grebe, Great Grey Shrike, Great Northern Diver, Grey Heron, Herring Gull, Jackdaw, Lapwing, Little Grebe, Long tailed Tit, Magpie, Mallard, Mandarin Duck, Marsh Harrier, Moorhen, Mute Swan, Pied Wagtail, Pochard, Robin, Rock Dove/Feral Pigeon, Rook, Shoveler, Snipe, Starling, Stock Dove, Tawny Owl, Tufted Duck, Waxwing, Wigeon, Woodpigeon (44)
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