Old Moor

I'd been reading about a Little Bittern at Old Moor over the past couple of weeks and planned a trip there on Sunday morning. With little hope of seeing anything of course, i'm really good at missing the 'out of the ordinary' birds when they turn up! I mean I haven't even seen an actual Bittern either so hopes were low.

The weather was much warmer today and there was even a hint of sun, well there was in Leeds, the closer we got to Old Moor the cloudier it got! On a little private access road off to the side of the entrance we spotted a large black rabbit, an escapee I think?

My daughter picked up a spotting sheet and pen from one of the volunteers in the visitor centre. My husband checked on the Bearded Tits but they left a couple of weeks ago. In the garden we ticked off a few things on the sheet straight away and sat watching Squirrels, Bullfinch, Chaffinch, Great Tits, Blue Tits, Woodpigeon, Dunnocks and a Wren. A young Magpie was making a lot of noise trying to get the attention of the adult. 

We paid a lot of attention to the insects as we walked and noticed the lily pads on one of the ponds were covered in flies. I could hear Reed Buntings around the dipping pond and there were several spiders sunning themselves on the benches.

Part of the reserve is closed off from the Bittern Bus Stop to stop the nesting Bitterns being disturbed. They have I think to date 4 juvenile Bitterns that have been counted on the site. Up to date information is on their sightings page here.

No sign of any Bitterns for us though we did see a large group of Canada Geese young that were walking down towards the Bittern hide, they made it there just after we did.

We took a walk around the ponds and saw many damselflies around, the bright blue is difficult to miss.

So on to the Bittern hide, A few people were gathered by the bridge looking in to the reeds and a guy described the Little Bittern call to us and after a few seconds we could hear it in the reeds. Fantastic. I listened for a couple of minutes till it went quiet and then walked up to sit in the hide for a while. We scanned the water and reeds spotting BH Gulls with chicks, Moorhens, Little Grebe, Oystercatcher, Woodpigeons, Herons and a Reed Warbler.

A chap sat in the corner of the hide called out a Marsh Harrier over the far reeds, it was being mobbed by the Gulls and a Heron, That was amazing to watch, only my second sighting of one. We sat a little while longer when the same chap shouted out the Little Bittern was flying in over to the left and there it was!! Granted it was a brief glimpse as it flew over the reeds and down into the reedbed but there was no doubt, what a beautiful bird. I was beyond pleased, my daughter and husband saw it too but there was a little less excitement there!

From the family hide there were plenty more BH Gulls and chicks. We watched an Oystercatcher feeding it's chick. A family of Greylag Geese swam past. There were Sand Martins, Swans, Lesser Black Backed Gulls and a beautiful Little Egret too. 

We stopped to talk to two of the guys who'd been on the bridge by the Bittern hide earlier, they'd missed the Little Bittern flying out. One had taken a photo of a LBB Gull stealing one of the BH Gull chicks.

From the Wader Scrape hide we saw Avocets and a family of Shelducks. A juvenile Pied Wagtail was hunkering down along the waters edge.

I've been here a few times but I don't think i've been at this time of year before, it was ridiculously noisy, mostly from the Gulls who seem to think, rightly so, that everything is a threat.

We ate a picnic by the playground whilst being serenaded by a Chiffchaff. The last stop was the Tree Sparrow Farm, just in time to see a Yellowhammer fly across and land in the trees. Very good timing as that was the last thing to tick off on the spotting sheet!

This was one of the best days birding i've had in a while, obviously the Little Bittern was a highlight but the reserve in general was a delight to walk around. 

Fairburn Ings

I had planned all week for a Saturday morning visit to Fairburn, then it forecast rain.........but I didn't let a downpour put me off! Prepared for the rain I dragged the family out anyway and we were all glad I had (well I think they were glad!).

This was the view from the car on the way there, it didn't improve any. There was a brief stop to get a photo of one of the many Red Legged Partridges in the fields. It's not a bird I see very often.

At the reserve apart from the people in the visitor centre it was just us and one other guy for a little while, the rain must have put everyone else off. It meant that we were able to spend a fair bit of time at the Pickup Hide dodging the rain. It was quiet at first, the feeders off to the side visited by Pheasants, Mallards, Great Tits and a Robin. On the water were a couple of Canada Geese, Coots, Tufted Ducks and a few Cormorants and Herons flying about.

The longer we sat there the busier it got, Reed Buntings, Tree Sparrows, Wren, Long Tailed Tits, Dunnocks, Chaffinch, Blue Tits, Blackbirds. There were Shovelers, Teal and Pochard out on the water now.

A ladybird was hiding out by one of the windows, I think the first one i've seen this year.

The screen feeding station further along the path had been washed away in the floods and is being rebuilt. We heard a Chiffchaff by the Kingfisher screen, the first of many today. No Kingfishers for my today, but my daughter spotted one as she got to the screen before us and bird was flying off out of sight.

Down in the Big Hole a couple of Oystercatchers caught our eye.  We decided to check out the Coal Tips trail, somehow it's something we've never done before. There were Reed Buntings everywhere we walked today, a Pied Wagtail bobbed on the trail in front of us and a couple of Skylark flew up too. There were a couple of Sand Martins overhead.

We spent quite a while watching the trees down toward the moat, picking out the nesting Herons and the numerous Cormorants. A Kestrel sat in one of the trees and there were more Chiffchaffs about and a lone Jay. As we watched behind us came the booming of a Bittern, i'd forgotten one of the staff had mentioned about a Bittern when we first came in, we only heard it a couple of times and of course no chance of sighting it amongst the many reeds. Still it's a great sound to hear.

This was the only fungi I recall seeing today.

Then an exciting moment for me with my first ever sightings of not one but two Green Woodpeckers flying across the banking as you look down towards Lin Dike, they landed in some trees for a few minutes, long enough for us to see they were a male and female. Too far for my camera to get any kind of decent shot though. I don't know how i've managed to miss these birds over the years!

We had to watch our step everywhere, the rain had brought out the worms!

The rain still hadn't let up and we made a pit stop at the visitor centre for a cuppa to warm us up and to try and dry out a little (which was a pointless effort).

A brief walk down to the feeding platform had Tufted Ducks, Black Headed Gulls and Mallards. A bee was flying above our heads. The Avocets are back but over the other end of the lake so we missed those for now.

Lin Dike was next, yet more Chiffchaffs were singing along the path. We sat a while in the hide, chatting to a nice chap about what we'd seen. A Little Egret flew in as we sat there, such elegant birds!

Finally the rain had just about stopped so we walked on a little further towards Hicksons Flash, seeing a couple of Swallows overhead and curlews in amongst the cattle, both mentioned by the chap in the hide so were were looking out.

This Water Cricket was skating around a puddle on the path (thanks to Birdforum for help on the id with that).

All in all we had a great day despite the rain, if you go prepared for it, it's not so bad and for the most part the birds don't care about it!