North Cave Wetlands

One of my favourite places to visit is the Wetlands, we managed to go when it was dull and damp but it was worth it! My husband decided to get a bacon sandwich and cuppa from the Wild Bird Cafe on site before we walked around . The lady there told us a Bittern was on the island so I went onto the platform but it had ducked down out of sight.

There's a Bittern there somewhere!

Lapwings

There were lots of Robins, House Sparrows and Tits around the viewing platform. Before we left the Bittern put it's head up again and we had distant views. We walked on to the East Hide and had a better view of the Bittern, it was still distant and quite hidden but still the best views i've ever had of one! We watched until it flew off into the reeds near the Turret Hide.

Bittern! 

There were a lot of smaller birds in the trees - Tits, Finches Song Thrush, my husband spotted a Treecreeper and a little further along a Marsh Tit was in the tree with a second at the feeders. 

Robin

Treecreeper

Tree Sparrows & Goldfinch

Long-tailed Tit

From the Turret hide we saw lots of flighty Lapwings, a small flock of Redshank and lots of Teal, a couple of Wigeon amongst them, a few Shelduck too and a single Little Egret.

Redshank

Teal

Lapwings

Little Egret

Walking further round we heard a Cetti's Warbler calling in the reeds and there were lots more Teal on the water too.There was a Yorkshire Wildlife Trust event in the Crosslands Hide and it was very busy so we didn't stay there long instead spending a little time watching Cormorants and Oystercatchers from the South Hide. 

It had been drizzling for most of the walk and we were feeling pretty damp and chilly by now so were glad to get back to the car and warm up! 

A very good visit especially seeing the Bittern and the Marsh Tits!

Swillington Ings Bird Walk

On Sunday morning we joined a bird walk run by the Swillington Ings Bird Group, it was open to everyone and it was quite a large group that headed off. I'm recognising more faces now, it's good to see familiar ones and everyone is quite friendly! 

We started off from the hide and walked around to Astley Lake, which was full of Lapwing, Gadwall and Gulls. A few Common Terns were flying around too. A Common Sandpiper was on one of the islands, my daughter after watching it through a scope decided it looked like it was twerking!

It started to rain a bit as we moved on but it didn't last long thankfully and then the sun came out and it warmed up a lot. As we walked on to Lemonroyd lake a Kestrel flew over and hovered a couple of times nearby. 

At the lake, scopes were set up and Pintail ducks found at the far end, I've been a couple of times when they've been here and never managed to find them, so I was pleased to see several, granted they were mostly bottom up! A new bird for me. 

As we were focusing on the ducks one of the guys suddenly realised there was a Bittern on full view across the side of the lake! Amazing, only my second sighting and again at St Aidan's, almost everyone in the group saw it apart from a few people who hadn't quite caught up with the group. It did wander back into the reeds and didn't appear again whilst we were there.

You can just about see the Bittern in this shot!

We walked up to look over the ridge and furrow. seeing a beautiful Marsh Harrier, Curlew and a Snipe too. Then a Wheatear was spotted and after a bit of direction everyone managed to see it. Thank goodness for the grazing cows, great for using a guide!! A Little Egret, Heron and Little Grebe were on the Reedbed at the other side of the path.

The views here are always stunning

Back towards the causeway now and on a path we'd not explored before, which lead up to a view over the main lake. A nice little spot, which has a feeding station too and when it's quiet it can be good for the small birds including Willow Tit (thanks for that tip!), we'll come back another time to see what we can find. While we were there though we had a great view over the lake and quite a distance around. Birds of prey were the stars of the show though, with Buzzards in the distance, Sparrowhawk, the Marsh Harrier and another new bird for me - a Hobby! 

It had got quite warm by now we were being buzzed by Butterflies and Damselflies. I'm not sure on what species of Damselfly but the Butterflies were Speckled Wood, Whites and a Small Copper too. 

Walking back towards the hide now I spotted a little creature running across the path - a newt! A Smooth one I believe, it ran into the grass at the side. I looked them up later and didn't know that they come out of the water to hibernate, so maybe that's what it was doing?

I realised I hadn't taken many photos during the walk but then I also realised we walked a lot quicker than we usually do (which is why it always takes us so long to walk around anywhere........we're so slow)!

We had a good morning and I saw two new birds and found out a little more about the site. Thanks to everyone involved, it was well worth doing and we really enjoyed it. 

Fairburn Ings

I'm a bit late with this one but other commitments meant I haven't had chance to touch a keyboard (apart from at work!) until now!

On Thursday last week Chris Packham visited Fairburn as part of his UK wide Bioblitz, each place visited has done their own blitz with the results showing wildlife across the country. Fairburn recorded over 600 species on the day, which is pretty impressive. It brought out the crowds and it's certainly the busiest i've seen it! The local news and press turned out, giving it coverage on the evening news, which was good to see.

We had a little wonder and a lovely ten minutes or so watching the dragonflies by one of the ponds including a constantly on the move Southern Hawker, the noise from the wings was amazing, it was joined by a female a couple of times, that one did rest and I managed to get a photo but I didn't do so well with the male! I'm no dragonfly expert but there was attempts at mating but I don't know how successful they were. 

We saw quite a few small red dragonflies, generally staying just ahead of us on the paths, I think they're Ruddy Darters.

The butterflies were out in abundance again, i'm not sure if i'm imagining it but it seems to be a bumper year so far for them, maybe due to the heat?

I saw this tiny little butterfly near the Spoonbill viewing point, at first I thought it was a Common Blue but on closer inspection realised it's a Brown Argus - a new one for me.

Meadow Brown

Brimstone

Small Copper

There were a lot of Gatekeepers around

Speckled Wood

This Barred Yellow Moth was on the visitors centre

A Ruby-tailed Wasp

We took a look at the Spoonbill nest but the Teaspoons have started to move about now and we just saw one of the adults. A couple of Sedge Warblers were in the reeds in front of the viewing point. 

I managed to miss the Green Woodpecker again as it flew across the pickup hide, I was watching a couple of Greenfinch off to the side! Also seen were Tree Sparrows, Chaffinch, a lot of Jackdaws, Lapwings, Little Egret, among others. I also spotted a very yellow warbler too but it was gone before I could get a proper look at it, Willow perhaps?

Tree Sparrow

Chaffinch

Greenfinch

Young Pheasant

Blackbird

It was lunchtime by now and we went off in search of chip butties, possibly not the wisest things to sit on your lap in this heat but they were good! 

A half hour stop by St Aidan's proved a very good idea as I finally saw a Bittern, in flight across the reeds along Astley Lake, very pleased i've only ever heard them before. It was mobbed by a couple of Herons as it dropped back down into the reeds. Perfect way to end the day!

Grey Heron

Fairburn Ings

We spent a couple of hours at Fairburn on Sunday afternoon, right away spotting a couple of Red-legged Partridge in the fields nearby.

The feeders around the reserve were busy with the usual birds - Tree Sparrows, Chaffinch, Greenfinch, Goldfinch, Tits (though we missed Willow), Dunnock, Mallard, Pheasant, Robin and a Nuthatch too.

I'd read about two Spoonbills being seen at the reserve so we headed up to the Coal Tips trail to see if we could spot them. On the water we saw Common and Black-headed Gulls, Shoveler, Greylag Goose, Coot, Moorhen, Gadwall, Tufted Duck, Little and Great Crested Grebe. 

We head a Bittern booming in two different places at the far end of the trail, an amazing sound, one of them sounded quite close and I scanned the reeds a while but saw nothing. We also spent a while scanning the trees down on the moat for the Spoonbills and had a moment where we thought we'd seen one but it was a Little Egret, we did see plenty of Cormorants and Herons. We did found out the Spoonbills hadn't been seen all day. In a field off to the side a Buzzard flew across and we saw one again as we were heading down off the Tips.

As we stood at the top a Kestrel flew up and hunted quite close by initially almost at head height, such a beautiful sight. 

By the Kingfisher viewing point I head my first Chiffchaff of the year, no Kingfishers this time though we did see a fish jump down the stream!

The wind was bitter walking around so we finished off with a hot drink in the visitors centre and spoke to one of the volunteers we'd seen on the trail before taking the scenic route home.