Padley Gorge

After a dismal week weatherwise, I took a trip to Padley Gorge on Sun 14^th just gone to meet up with a few friends old and new for a spot of birding… and we had another dismal day weatherwise!

But, the company was good!

Anna, Cherrypie and digi-birder have already given their version of the day's events, Pete may well do in the near future, and only John is a non-blogger, but I’ve had the pleasure of his company on previous outings.

We arranged to meet next to the ice-cream van at about 9:15, but due in part to a petrol-stop, but mostly to not being able to get my body into gear, I thought I was going to be late.

Also the Sheffield Half-Marathon was scheduled to take place that day in Sheffield (you don’t say!).

I’m usually pretty good with directions but I seem to have some sort of mental block with Sheffield, and I could only think of one seldom-used option to enable me to avoid the city centre.

But I missed the turning, and promptly headed fully down the Parkway to Pond’s Forge!

Ah well… at least they’re doing a lot of reconstruction and renovation in Sheffield at the moment, so the road system changes almost daily, and the playing-field was somewhat levelled as no-one else had any idea where they were going either!!!

I negotiated the city centre, passing an awful lot of police and marshals, some of whom seemed to be redirecting a vehicle in front of me onto another route.

I, erm, drove by them and just kept going.

Anyhew… I arrived at out meeting point spot on time, and – phew – wasn’t last. A last minute change of arrangements meant that Pete had had to make a detour to pick up Anna.

This gave me chance to get acquainted with Cherrypie, and reacquainted with John – and to actually find out his name. (I’m sure he’s told me before… I just don’t pay attention sometimes!!!)

Diane soon joined us, and was last to step back as the rest of us “nominated” the expedition leader.

At our rendezvous point we were being watched by a Robin and a few Swallows flew over.

We walked down to Burbage Brook and made our way towards the woodland, quickly accumulating Blue Tit, Great Tit and Chaffinch.

Even though the weather was pretty grim, there was decent amount of birdsong and John, who’s pretty decent at this sort of thing, soon picked up a Redstart.

Further into the trees we got excellent views of more than one Treecreeper, whilst Coal Tits could also be seen foraging in the canopy. In the mirk a Carrion Crow flew over.

One of the target birds, and fortunately (on account of the weather) a guarantee as much as these things can ever be, was our next sighting, Pied Flycatcher. This part of the Gorge is a mini-stronghold for the species.

Special nest-boxes suitable for the Pied Flies have been positioned in the woods to bolster the number of breeding sites and give them a bit of a “leg-up” against the other woodland species. With some success it seems.

It took a little while before we all got a look, but eventually we were all successful, and I was lucky enough to catch sight of both male and female.

(I didn’t bother with my camera, but the following average-ish photos are from a similar visit last year.)

This target achieved, we moved on to try for another, but this time, entirely due to the weather conditions (and nothing to do with the tour guide!), we dipped on the Ravens.

Nevertheless, en route we added Meadow Pipit, and as we approached the Raven location we were met with a very loud and aggravated cuc-ooo call from (guess what) a Cuckoo.

I figured he would probably stay in the trees, but in fact a few minutes later the unmistakeable silhouette of said bird flew across the dank skies in front of us, with a much smaller bird in hot pursuit.

Pete couldn’t tell what the pursuer was, (tut!), so we perhaps miss out on a Mega there!!!

Anyway, lunch time was approaching, and so we decided to head back to the cars and make our way on to the Rising Sun. We were able to add Tree Pipit and Pied Wagtail before reaching the cars, and then Swifts, Jackdaws and House Martins from the pub car-park.

OK, so only 17 species (if I haven’t missed any!) on a somewhat truncated day, but it was a nice little get-together and I think our (fairly) newbie birder friends had a decent time.

Oh, and I had the Potato Skins and the Loin of Pork. Yummy!

Hatfield Moor

Recently, on my journey home from work, I noticed a new-looking sign for a Nature Reserve I hadn’t previously noticed.

I made a quick reccy, and it looked promising, and so, on the May Day Bank Holiday, I took advantage of the opportunity to pay a visit.

Well, I guess you never know what to expect from a new birding place, and so I also had a “plan B” in case plan A wasn’t great.

I needn’t have worried. Hatfield Moor turned out to be a very decent way to spend the best part of seven hours.

As I pulled along the approach road, I saw a vivid flash of yellow alight on the fence. Brilliant, a Yellowhammer… always a pleasure.

As I slowed down to have a decent look, the Yellowhammer only turned into a Yellow Wagtail… now that’s not a bad start!

I parked as surreptitiously as one can, and gathered up my camera from the boot, decided against the converter on account of time. Meanwhile, the waggy had flitted to a treetop just to the other side of the approach road. Nothing ventured, nothing gained, I guess. All in all, I’m pretty happy with the single shot I got of the beauty.

Oh, and while we’re at it, I heard a Yellowhammer whilst taking the pic.

I continued on to the car-park, and took advantage of the first hide which overlooks the first lake… Boston Park Lake, I think.

For the record, not much of the habitat is natural, but like many reserves, has been reclaimed after previous industrial use.

In this particular case, English Nature have acquired this land (in 1999) specifically as it forms part of the Humberhead Peatlands – and is of national and international significance as a low-level peat moor.

Anyway, first look over the lake offers up a few of the usual suspects; Tufted Duck, Mute Swan, Canada Goose, Mallard, Black-headed Gull and Coot.

Also swimming amongst what appear to be tree-tops, the Great-crested Grebe of the day.

Then I see the sand bank on the far shore, and sure enough, I notice a number of martins flying over the water. Yep, Sand Martin – dozens of them. Only my third sighting ever – believe it or not!

A couple of Oystercatchers fly in, but that’s about all the action for the lake, so I decide to follow one of the paths.

Back in the car-park, I as buzzed by more Sand Martins and also a few Swallows.

Overhead, my first Swift of the season, and then it’s time to tune the ears in to the birdsong going on all about.

It’s not particularly quiet, as the reserve backs on to a longer standing reclaimed stretch of water used by a jet-ski club, and also is (today) directly underneath Robin Hood approach.

But the birds don’t seem to care and there is much lusty singing. A Wren (or six) is giving it what for in the shrubbery, along with the first (few) of many Chiffchaffs.

As a birder the question is sometimes asked which bird means “summer” to you. I think for me it is the Chiffchaff. I miss them when they’re gone!

Also making one hell of a racket is at least one Green Woodpecker.

OK, that’s not my best photo of a Green Woody, but it’s not my worst! Actually, come to think of it, it is my best photo of a Green Woody – room for improvement there then!

There is much warbling going on, and Chiffchaff aside, I have major crises of confidence when it comes to identifying warbler song. I shouldn’t, but I usually need visual confirmation. Fortunately, that was to come quickly for my first Blackcap of the season and the day. Likewise the Willow Warbler, although the better photo came later.

A Woodpigeon flew over – the only one I saw, I think, before I noticed a scurrying Moorhen, and a big fat Greenfinch.

The walk continued along the western edge of the reserve, and my next encounters were Blackbird, Long-tailed Tit, Goldfinch and Chaffinch.

The reserve was clearly bigger than I expected, and I was beginning to bemoan the lack of signage, but shortly, and guide post appeared, and I was heading towards the northern tip, catching a Dunnock and Carrion Crow en route.

The north of the reserve opens out onto Ten Acre Lake – which apparently covers much more area than its name suggests.

Here, I added amongst others. Magpie and Little Grebe.

This particular path is an “out-and-back” so it was time to retrace my steps. As such, I put my head down a bit, but still was able to add Robin, Great Tit and Pied Wagtail.

Just before reaching the car-park again, it is possible to go off on a number of loops around the southern part of the reserve, which I decide to do.

There’s more to Hatfield Moor than just birdlife, and especially so in the direction I now followed.

Before reaching the first of the peat rides, the path wended its way through a woodland area, and I was able to get a photo of one of the Chiffchaffs.

Trust me, it is!

On to the dark peat moor. To be honest, not much of this is my cup of tea, but I was pretty impressed with the good number of these fellas that were flitting about. I think it’s some sort of Tiger Beetle.

The moor itself, well worked by the looks of it, is fairly barren in bird terms, but at the right time there is, apparently, a good selection of raptors that make forays over the peat.

A brief flypast from the martins and swallows was all today’s action.

A mound within the peat moor apparently contains the remains of a WWII bomber that didn’t make it back to base at the former RAF Lindholme airbase.

I guess the war created more than its fair share of tragedies, but this one may be even more so, as the airbase can barely have been more than a mile away.

Trees flanked the ride, and so there was the occasional musical relief from the woodland community, and towards the end more woodland and familiar song came into the mix.

A right turn, ad I am now heading past Badger Lake (or something like that) and I pick up my first Greylag Geese of the day, and also a stunning male Reed Bunting.

Another hide overlooks this lake, and a view across the water brought a fair flotilla of Mute Swans and Canada Geese, as well as some more Little Grebes.

A short time spent here and the finally back toward the car.

As I said earlier, warbler song ID is not even close to my strong suit, so although I was fairly sure I had heard a few before, I was pleased to visually confirm my first Whitethroat.

Pheasant, Rook and Lapwing were the final additions to the day’s list, although the partridges “got away”, tearing past me without me able to determine their accent.

Then back to the car… a bit of Kraftwerk for the short journey home and what can I say? Not a bad day!