Seeing the Short-eared Owls again recently at Rabbit Ings (formerly New Monckton Colliery tip) I was reminded of the first time I saw one here during a ringing session in the spring of 1979. It was probably one
of 8 that frequented Carlton Marsh from October 1978 to May 1979.
Two years later two were seen at Monkton again on November 24th 1981. (Peter Senior, John C. Clarkson) During the following year up to four were seen together between January and April 1982 with one more in October the same year. (Alan Winset). As far as I know there hasn’t been anymore until the present time.
Mick Birkinshaw and the Groundwork Dearne Valley Trust seem to have created the right balance of open space for wild flowers with small areas of woodland and wetland rather than going down the road of planting vast numbers of trees, which has happened on most reclaimed spoil tips. So I hope we can all look forward to seeing Short Eared Owls, Wheatears, Stonechats, Skylarks, Meadow Pipits and the like for many years to come.
The Phragmites reedbeds at the base of the southern end of the old pit tip held large numbers of Corn Buntings and Reed Buntings during the late 1970’s. Phil Wordsworth, Keith Bannister, Peter Senior and myself ringed 52 Corn Buntings and more than 600 Reed Buntings here until flooding made the reedbeds unworkable after 1982. For all our efforts we controlled two Reed Buntings that were both ringed in Lancashire, and a Pied Wagtail that was ringed in Durham
3 comments:
As a relative newcomer to birding it's good to hear how things used to be, and even more heartening to know that SEOs are returning to an area where they haven't been seen for decades.
Hi Cliff
I must point out that Rabbit Ings was created through the Rabbit Ings Project by White Young Green designers and the work done by Carillion and other partners, not Groundwork Dearne Valley, we are the landowners managing agent, the landowner is The Land Trust. The projects intention was to be sympathetic to what was already on there and create more grassland, wetland, woodland etc, to slightly increase each type of habitat. They have planted 36,000 trees and at the moment we have perfect habitat for the seo's. When the woodlands eventually mature we will still have a lot of open grassland but will it be enough to help seo's? We also have meadow pipits, skylark and yellowhammer in good numbers breeding on there. It's all a question of balance really and we have a site here that at the moment that has a good balance, only time will tell how it will pan out but while I'm here I will try my best to make the site one of the best the Land Trust has. I think with this pit stack being the last one to be regenerated in the area, lessons have been learned over the years about how they should be restored which makes Rabbit Ings an excellent site for wildlife. I have ideas and so have the Land Trust, on how we can improve the site, for grassland birds, wetland birds and woodland birds plus all other creatures that live on and visit Rabbit Ings. Oh and plants!!
A daunting task maybe but one I am wholeheartedly committed to.
Mick Birkinshaw
I stand corrected Mick, keep up the good work
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