Adwick Washlands (am)

Little Egret 1, Mallard 120, Teal 26, Shelduck 1, Lapwing 30, Golden Plover 9,  Redshank 4, Snipe 1, Jack Snipe 2 D (Waddington), Buzzard 1, Redwing c100, Fieldfare c200, Skylark c40 feeding in stubble fields.

Rabbit Ings

A cold misty day saw 3 Short Eared Owls hunting from 13.05hrs on the north west bank! (Mick Birkinshaw)

Valley Park, Cudworth

Chiffchaff calling and seen. 

Bolton Ings - 4th November

A cold one this morning, 0c at 8 oclock and only 3c at 11.30, little wind and quite misty. Very quiet birdwise, a single Goldeneye my first of the winter being the highlight. No limping Oystercatcher, very few Geese and no raptors at all seen. A few more dabbling ducks than last week but the Pochard never came out of the reeds. Full list:- Grey Heron 4, Mute Swan 9, Canada Goose 28, Comorant 8, Great Crested Grebe 1, Little Grebe 3, Mallard 23, Gadwall 61, Shoveler 15, Teal 13, Tufted Duck 24, Pochard 20, Goldeneye 1, Coot 216, Moorhen 16, Lapwing 10, Snipe 4, Black Headed Gull 32, Common Gull 2, Green Woodpecker 2, Great Spotted Woodpecker 1, Jay 4, Fieldfare 15, Redwing 30.

Wintersett Roost

A further immature drake Scaup was found on the Park Lake in the afternoon, whilst the gull roost produced at least 220 Herring Gulls and this rather splendid 1st winter Caspian Gull on the rock wall in front of the hide.

Broomhill for an hour this morning

Coot 160 - which isn't a bad count for such a relatively small area.
Little egret 1, which disappeared into the dike at the back of Broomhill.
Snipe 4 feeding in front of the hide.
 
Then down to Little Houghton Marsh. Birds = nought.
Not even a jack snipe.

Sunday - Wintersett

All the usual stuff is still here. American Wigeon and Scaup on the Botany, Egyptian Goose 3 and Common Scoter on the country park lake. A new find today is a cracking drake Mandarin on the Top Res across the road from Botany. Five Water Rails were calling from reedbeds this morning.

Rabbit Ings

E mail from Mick Birkinshaw:

I can confirm that tonight 5 that's FIVE S.E. Owls were present.  Mark Waller from Tadcaster came over for a second days viewing and saw 5 at the same time. There have been that many visitors I ran out of milk tonight at Cafe Monckton!!!

The fabulous photos below were supplied by Claire Wright and Ron Marshall.

Wintersett Saturday 3 November

Another very good day here at the Res;- Egyptian Goose 3 on the CP, American Wigeon the drake started the day on the Botany before moving to the CP for the rest of the day, Wigeon 105, Pintail 1CP, Shoveler 73, Goldeneye 37, Scaup 1juv started the day on the Botany before moving to the low lake and ending the day on the CP, Common Scoter 1 juv CP, Goosander 9, Gadwall 115, Great Crested Grebe 58, Snipe 11, and in the gull roost this evening;- Yellow-legged 2, Herring 136, LBB 113, GBB 9.
And the morning vis-mig from the hill produced;-  Pink-feet 460 in 5 skeins, Merlin 1, Wood Pigeon 4455 south, Fieldfare 1155 south-west, Redwing 376 s-w, Starling 1100 west, and Brambling 10 west as the highlights.

Brampton Bierlow

Brambling : 2 W over Cliffe Road (am).

Rabbit Ings Update

E-mail from Mick Birkinshaw

I saw 2 Short Eared Owls tonight at 4pm, but what's interesting is the people coming to see them, Dave Standish was there, Gents from Hemsworth, Shelley, Ron Marshall from Barnsley and someone from Tadcaster.

Mark from Tadcaster came in for a cuppa. I like to invite anyone who comes to call in and say hello and have a chat and a cuppa at Cafe Monckton!

 

I want to see where people are coming from and see their photo's to put on our website.

Rabbit Ings

3 Short Eared Owls quartering over the reclaimed spoil tip this evening. (Dave Standish)

2 Common Buzzards over Storrs Mill Wood this morning.

Waxwings at Park Springs

Seen from my work place window, a flock of 50+Waxwings flying past heading towards the general area of Edderthorpe.

Also, earlier in the week a Woodcock flew across the road and down past the Sash warehouse at Ferry Moor.


M Doveston

Old Moor

6 Goosander, Old Moor at dusk. Also c2,000 Golden Plovers, 3 Green Sands (Jeff Wragg).

A Great Spotted Woodpecker at Brickworks Pond - Jim Thompson

Wintersett 02.11.12

All usuals still present.
Anglers CP: Common Scoter 1 juv,  Pintail 1, Egyptian Goose 3,  GOOSANDER 4 redheads.
Also flying: Comma 1.
Wintersett - Botany Bay: American Wigeon 1 drake and  Scaup 1 female/immature still present.

The Edge

Very little change from the previous two days with species and their numbers about the same on both Broomhill and Bolton. A skein of c150 Pink Footed Goose flew north west at 10.55am. The number of Jays and their foraging trips have been less evident today and may indicate the acorn source  in Bolton on Dearne is running out. The surprise of the day was a Small Tortoiseshell Butterfly on Bolton Ings.

Carlton Marsh

Tuesday 30th October Merlin (male) 11.48hrs (D.M. Smith)

This morning - Water Rail, Kingfisher, 45 Lesser Redpoll, 6 Siskin, Buzzard, Little Owl & 2 Cormorant north. Also 1 Migrant Hawker. (DMS)

Dusk- Cackling Goose, Red Legged Partridge & Tawny Owl calling, c75 Redwing in to roost, 2 Coal Tit & 1 Goldcrest. Water Vole swam in front of hide.

Adwick int morning

Lots of pools of water dotted about, and considering it looks good, there's not many ducks about e.g. no wigeon, gadwall, shoveler and only an handful of teal; even though the site looks capable of holding hundreds.
Now whether this is a result of food webs not yet established or maybe human disturbance - who knows. There's definitely evidence of human disturbance as a guy with a dog walked straight across the meadow today. This caused a confrontation with a birder (not me) on site that got a bit tasty. The sooner the RSPB get the signs and fences up the better for all concerned.

So to sum up - Teal 20, Shelduck 1, Redshank 1, Lapwing 27, Grey lag 100+, Canadas 200+, Mute Swan 1, Mallard c6, Snipe 1, Kingfisher 1. Sparrowhawk seen to catch a blackbird on Crane Well Lane.

Little Egret 2, which look absolutely fabulous as they fly from pool to pool over people walking on the footpaths. Hopefully the general public are appreciating these lovely birds.

The only news I have today from Old Moor is 2 Goosander, Green Sandpiper and a skein of c220 Pink-feet east at 15.35.

Elsecar

Elsecar Reservoir - 61 Mallards, 1 Teal, 11 Great Crested Grebes, 2 Grey Herons, 8 Moorhens and 9 Coots.

The Edge

Broomhill Flash mid AM- Birds present included 2 Grey Heron, 7 Cormorant, 2 Great Crested Grebe, 1 Little Grebe, 8 Mute Swan, 26 Gadwall, 23 Tufted Duck, 13 Teal, 6 Mallard, 1 Pochard, 5 Common Gull, 1 LBB Gull, 6 Grey Partridge, 2 Red Legged Partridge, 5 Snipe,1 Kestrel and 1 Little Owl.

Bolton Ings late AM- On the open water were 19 Cormorant, 4 Grey Heron, 3 Little Grebe, 1 Great Crested Grebe, 2 Mute Swan+1 Juv, 50+ Greylag, 28 Gadwall, 15 Tufted Duck, 11 Pochard, 9+ Shoveler, 1 Goldeneye, 7 Common Gull and 1 LBB Gull. Also present were 5+ Jay, 2 Grey Wagtail, 2 Green Woodpecker, 2 Kestrel, 1 Sparrowhawk and 2 Bullfinch. Winter thrushes were not as evident today.