Dearne Valley Weekender

Old Moor - Saturday 6th February

News of Fridays Red Necked Grebe on the Mere saw me in the Wader Scrape before first light yesterday morning. However despite searching the Mere when enough light allowed sadly the Grebe had left overnight. Birds seen leaving the roost included 45 Cormorants, 49 Goosanders and 4 Little Egrets. The wintering Ruff was on the Wader Scrape but left towards the Main Marsh when a Peregrine flew through. A Barn Owl was still out hunting and there were 12 Goldeneye (5 drakes) on the Main Marsh and 65 Shoveler counted across the site. The rain set in about 8 oclock and after spending an hour in the Bittern hide I sought refuge in the café.

Wombwell Ings - Sunday 7th February

Following news of c140 Pink Footed Geese down on Wombwell Ings I made my way onto the Ings to have a look. The Pink Feet were a great sight and sound, I had a go at counting them and ended up with 184. However they were difficult to count and 192 birds were logged later in the day. There were a couple of Little Egrets present and 2 Great Spotted Woodpeckers were in Broomhill Park.

Adwick Washland - Sunday 7th February

Onto Adwick for my weekly visit where the highlight was 4 Little Egrets together, the regular Little Owl was in it's usual place and a Buzzard was up. Other birds seen included the following:- Shelduck 3, Teal 73, Wigeon 45, Gadwall 29, Shoveler 2, Grey Lag Goose 77, Lapwing 50+, Grey Partridge 2.

Old Moor - Sunday 7th February

Onto Old Moor for the roost but first into the Field Pool East hide with news of a Redshank on there, sure enough it was as was the Ruff. Another new bird for the year was an Oystercatcher on the Mere. The roost was good again tonight with 49 Cormorants coming in and 8 Little Egrets. The Egrets conveniently landed on the Main Marsh first and included a colour ringed bird. At first I thought it was FJ, it wasn't but unfortunately it was too dark to read the ring. We didn't really concentrate on the Goosanders tonight but 39 were seen on the Wader Scrape along with the regular redhead Goldeneye that thinks its a Goosander. On the Main Marsh were a further 20 Goldeneye, 7 drakes, 3 immature drakes and 10 females and 49 Shoveler were busily feeding.

Also seen/heard today at Old Moor were 2+ Bearded Tits and 3 Cetti's Warblers on the Reedbeds.