Is that a Seahorse?
The fourth field trip of the season took us again across the Pennines into Yorkshire, this time south of the M62 to RSPB Old Moor near Barnsley. Another old mining site with the Visitor Hub, once part of Old Moor Farm, dating back to 1755. Old Moor became the flagship site in the Dearne Valley post mining restoration project and was originally used by birdwatching ex-miners over 30 years ago.
Ten hardy souls made the trip, even with the threat of a wet day, arriving in the car park at 9:15am, giving plenty of time for a brew and to be ready for the site opening at 9:30am. A Cormorant was our first flyby of the day, later followed by a Herring Gull, the trees flanking the car park were adorned with many passerines including a trembling of Greenfinch, Goldfinch and Chaffinch.
Our first destination was by the Visitor Hub as an early pitstop was taken, here we added Blue, Great and Long-tailed Tits to the tally. As the forecast had changed from the previous day with rain now forecast for the afternoon we decided to head along the western side of the reserve as there are fewer hides in which to shelter from the rain. We set off along the Discovery Trail and quickly encountered a distant flock of small birds; an inspection of the Alder trees they adorned revealed them to be Goldfinch with a single Siskin left sat atop an Alder as the Goldfinches alighted. Next a deceit of forty or so Lapwings passed by, the noun originating from the Lapwings tendency to feign injury when threatened. Surprisingly, this our only wader of the day.
We soon arrived at the first hide, the Bittern Hide, where we were greeted by an early downpour so we camped down until the shower passed. The hide giving great views over the northern half of the reserve added twenty species to the trip list, including three Marsh Harriers, forty plus Great Black-backed Gulls with a sprinkling of Lesser Black-backed Gulls. Wildfowl included Gadwall, Shoveler, Pochard, Wigeon and a flyby pair of Greylag Geese.
Next, we headed past the Bittern Bus Stop onto the Reedbed Path towards the Reedbed hide in search of Bearded Tit, it was not to be our day though they had been seen in previous days. The Reedbed hide whilst giving close views of wildfowl and a great view of a perched female Marsh Harrier that was joined by a male only added Little Grebe to the days total. The return journey along the same path however proved far more fruitful, first we had a male Stonechat at the clearing in the reedbed where on our previous visit a screen was in place. Whilst watching this active passerine we were entertained by a pair of Kingfishers and a showy though distant Cetti’s Warbler.
Lunch was calling so we headed back towards the Visitor Hub as a dark cloud moved in, calling in at the Bird Garden Hide, an octagonal open hide giving great views of garden birds especially for photographing, with some of the group consuming lunch in the presence of our feathered friends. Here we added Song Thrush, Reed Bunting, Dunnock and Wren to boost the numbers, these joined by Pheasant, Greenfinch, Redwing, Chaffinch, Blue Tit, Long-tailed Tit to name a few.
Lunch soon passed and the rain abated so it was time to explore the eastern side of the reserve, our first port of call was the Lookout, this proved a disappointment as the large windows were full of condensation and so opaque. We quickly moved to our next stop, the hide overlooking Field Pools West, here we added Sparrowhawk, Pied Wagtail and surprisingly Moorhen.
We then took the northern path of the Green Lane Loop, after a few yards our attention was averted to continuous bird call, this of Swift, a look up revealed a Swift nesting platform and a recording on continuous play, even in winter. A few yards further along the path we were overlooking the Mere and a target species for the day was in front of us on a small island, this being a first winter Caspian Gull. A few pictures were taken as the rain started to fall before a quick march ensued to the Wader Scrape hide. The Wader Scrape hide gave even better views of the Caspian Gull, albeit a little far.
A valuable skill of birdwatching in a group is the ability to describe where a bird you have seen is, “it’s over there in that tree” with a forest opposite is not that helpful, so when it was proclaimed that there were several Lapwings on the opposite side of the Mere, a better description was needed as a quick scan with the binoculars produced no Lapwing. When the words “they’re below the seahorse in the trees” were uttered, everyone new exactly where to look, “genius description” was proclaimed, if only the ornithology was as good as the description, they were Teal!
As the afternoon pressed on and light began to fade, we made our way to Wath Ings hide, a tree covered island known as the Heron and Egret Roost in Willow Pool was to our left, with a long outcrop separating Willow Pool from Wath Ings to our right. The outcrop entertained many Wigeon, Mallard, a pair of Shelduck and a parcel of Linnets. A distant strange duck was observed from this hide but on the water in front of Wader Scrape hide, this was identified as a female Goosander and goes to show how quickly species can appear.
A move back to the windows overlooking Wath Ings with its small island in front contained four gull species, Great Black-backed, Lesser Black-backed, Black-headed and a new one for the list, a single Common Gull, that was not there five minutes before. An excellent time to admire the sheer size differential of the world’s largest Gull. At this point, even with all the water and reeds on the reserve we had not yet seen a Grey Heron, a scan of the far bank of Wath Ings produced six in a row stood in the reed bed.
It was now time to make a retreat to the car park as the light was fading and the car park closed at 4pm, so we headed along the southern path of the Green Lane Loop passing the Field Pools East and the Field Pools West. Field Pools West are flooded fields managed with waders in mind; a wide patch of landscaped mud separates the path from the pools and contained several hawking Pied Wagtail. Bullfinch, Coal Tit and passing Jackdaw were the final additions to the list that totalled 54 species.
I hope you have enjoyed reading about our day out and if you fancy a walk with like-minded folk of differing birding experience, why not join us on a future outing, for more information get in touch at the email address below or ask any of the Committee members.
Keith Williams
Fieldtrips Organiser
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