28th March. Gullfest

With the continuing lack of summer migrants a couple of decent gulls on the patch have been most welcome.  A Little Gull on the river, found by a dog walker, on Tuesday has been giving cracking views as it picks away at the surface in an almost phalarope fashion. With a couple of adults last year there's still time to find another.

Gulls seem to be the only things on the move at the moment and I've scrutinised the large gathering black-heads every morning, hoping to pull out a Med', without success.  This morning whilst scanning the bank I picked out a beautiful adult Iceland Gull among just a handful of 'big' gulls and a couple of hundred BHGs.  Unfortunately it didn't stick around long seemingly vanishing before I could get the other birder present on it.

26th March. Back in the Freezer.

At the back end off the last weekend things were starting to look up on the patch, a Rock Pipit on Sunday morning indicated that things were finally starting to move and with clag conditions predicted for Monday it could only get better.

Arriving on-site early Monday morning the only thing apparent was that the birds just weren't happening and after an hour I headed for the office for a day of desk bound drudgery. A few tweets from Jonny at Pugneys (though he too was at work) suggested that things were moving with Avocet, Black- tailed Godwit and Kittiwake all through there. The clag conditions continued through the day with Kittiwakes seemingly everywhere, except in Sheffield.  My planned 6 pm finish got cut to 4pm (thank you whoever came up with the idea of flexi time - surely a birder?).

Almost jogging from the bus , the fear that some bounder might get in before me and steal what was rightfully mine drove quickly to the two lakes. I needn't have worried no-one else was daft enough to venture out and there sat in the middle of the large lake in all its pure white headed glory was my target a cracking* adult Kittiwake.


*taking things into context Kittiwakes are as rare here as Med' Gulls





The good birds kept coming with 31 Whooper Swans, that I only just missed seeing from the bus, calling noisily as the cruised up and down the lake before heading off on the next leg of their north-bound journey.

Then, when things were going all spring like it suddenly plunged us back into deep winter.

I couldn't get out Saturday but made up for it with a 3 hour session the following morning. With a good six inches of snow covering the ground most of the birds had reverted to winter tactics. The previous territorial song flighting Sky Larks were back in small flocks and the Lapwings had given up strutting around the 'plains'.  As I walked through one of the small young plantations a Short-eared Owl took flight, immediately attracting attention from the Carrion Crows. Presumably a new bird as I hadn't seen any of the winter birds since January.

Given the weather conditions the chances of any true spring migrants seemed fairly unlikely so I was quite surprised when I picked up a couple of Little Ringed Plover walking around in the snow with a group of Ringed Plover and shortly after another two LRP's and a Jack Snipe flushed from the edge of the large lake was only my second on the patch. A Peregrine on the 'plains' was unbelievably my first of the year.  All in all not a bad few hours but a bit of sun wouldn't go amiss. Given the current weather forecast this could well be the first March that I haven't seen a Sand Main

17th March. All Crust and No Filling

Blogging isn't coming naturally at the moment, mostly due to the lack of birds, plenty of birding just nothing very interesting and partly due to the lack of birding gossip.

Looking back it's been almost 2 months since I wrote anything remotely bird related and it's time to get my mojo back ready for (fingers crossed) the greatest spring on record. So here goes:

Way back at the end of January, the internationally (apparently the Dutch liked it so much that they set up their own challenge in February) renowned Foot It challenge finished and with it most of my winter birding enthusiasm.  I've toyed with the idea of resurrecting it for April/May but it's not likely, though I wouldn't rule out a one off day challenge.

Bird of the year.

The patch has so far been well below par, though I guess this was bound to happen sooner or later and the more I think about last years birds the more I realise what a special 12 months it was. To put it into context I'm almost 20 species behind where I was this time last year with such bonus birds as Smew, Iceland Gull and Little Owl all blank spaces on the list.






Disaster struck in early February when my long standing loyal Sigma 50-500 went off to photographic heaven or the Council tip to be precise.  An unfortunate incident involving the ground and some general wear and tear made it uneconomical to repair and worse still it was clear that given the latter deterioration aspect the insurers wouldn't pay up for a new one, so I had to. I opted for the image stabilised 150-500 and so far I'm very happy with it.

I nearly deleted this Barn Owl shot, but the noise and blur of the wings and background really accentuate the ghostly appearance - well I like it anyway. Incidentally this Barn Owl, at Pit-house West was my first at Rother Valley.










The only real chance I've had on a proper subject was a group of Waxwings that favoured  the ASDA (other supermarkets are available) at Handsworth. Laying on my belly for some shots raised a few eyebrows from carrier bag laden shoppers.

 However, highlight of February was seeing the legendary John Shuttleworth perform at the Buxton Opera House.  He didn't disappoint with classics such as can't go back to savoury, smells like white spirit and my personal favourite two margarines on the go.

With the apparent extension to this winter early migrants have been non-existent, but a Rock Pipit this morning reassured me that spring really is just around the corner....

27th Feb. Goodbye Old Friend

I haven't blogged for a while but chucked a draft post together this morning moaning about what a crap month I'd had blah blah blah.  I was going to add some more dross to it this evening but received some terrible news that made my small troubles pale into absolute insignificance.

The news this evening was that Yorkshire birding stalwart Russell Slack had passed away after losing his battle with cancer.


I have some happy memories of birding with Russ, when he first came to Sheffield Uni' in the mid-Eighties. Being a couple of years older than me and my then birding mate we looked up to him and were inspired by his enthusiasm, student tales of charming members of the opposite sex (that failed to inspire me to progress my education) and his seemingly ever present smell of Patchouli Oil and long curly locks.

During this time Russ and I would regularly bump into each other at Thrybergh Country Park usually seeing very little, in fact the highlight of a few years visits was a summer-plumage Spotted Redshank that circled the reservoir then left. It was only a few months ago that we were laughing about that and how crap Thrybergh was (and it still is). On another Thrybergh visit I was sat next to Russ when he was shit upon by a Swift which gave us much hilarity and a short discussion on the likelihood of an apus shitting on you - of course statistics were very much Russ's bag.
My first Spurn visit was courtesy of a field trip organised by Russ and I saw my first Subalpine Warbler and Brent Goose!

I've used the word inspiring a couple of times already but to me as a 16 year old birder Russ was like a big brother during those distant Thrybergh days and truly did inspire me to get out birding.

Russ you were a bloody good bloke and you will be much missed R.I.P mate though the memories will live on.

6th February 2013. I Don't Feel Like Dancing...

I got an email this evening, that almost had me choking on my enchiladas (Mexican dish not a small furry animal in case you didn't know). I'm not sure whether I'm supposed to be posting it on here but it did say circulate it amongst like minded individuals - or something like that.

The email originated from a television production company looking for a group of 5-7 birders for a new program for Sky 1.  "Oh no not more shit made to look birders even nerdier?" I hear you scream. Let's face it anything that features birders will at some point make us look like a bunch of sad twats. History proves this with the recent dire attempt Twitchers a Very British Obsession and the almost as bad The Big Year (though not a documentary it was still awful).

So what is this new idea for a ground breaking TV show?

You'll never believe it.......

BIRD WATCHERS WHO CAN'T DANCE

Alan Partridge's brain storming session in this clip is clearly far from fantasy! I can just imagine it now....

But who could forget this gem, where even the normally camera shy me makes a cameo appearance at 3:23 (black T-shirt)..

30th January. The Age of The Train......

During the early 1980's the late multiple sex offender Jimmy Savile would pop up on our screens during the Corrie ad break with the phrase "this is the age of the Train" encouraging us all to 'let the train take the strain' - though at the time I suspect the only thing straining on Savile's train were the fifteen year old girls making for the emergency cord!  As it happened (sorry) it certainly wasn't the age of the train, shortly after they were privatised and the whole network fell into terminal decline. 

Fast forward 30 years and Jimmy is rotting in Hell and the age of the train is eventually upon us. I got a whiff of the proposed HS2 route a week or so before it was announced and didn't really appreciate the impact that it would have.  On the face of it it's route through South Yorkshire isn't too drastic, though it looks as though we'll lose some mature woodland in North Sheffield. The route passes through the whole of the Rother Valley skirting the edge of  Rother Valley Country Park then passing through Woodhouse Mill, Orgreave, Treeton and Catcliffe on a massive viaduct at speeds of up to 360kmph and around 8 times an hour each way!!  Of course this is a long way off and by the time it's completed (assuming it's done on time) I'll be 60! The route looks a pretty done deal, though there could be some minor amendments, and on the whole I reckon South Yorkshire will come out of it relatively unscathed - though the affect of the ancillary works could prove more disruptive.

Looking at the both routes from Birmingham i.e. Manchester and Leeds there's an awful lot of birding sites that it speeds through e.g. Rostherne Mere, Swillington and Wintersett.  The potential economic benefits to the North are apparently massive, but at what cost to the environment?

The route through Orgreave, Treeton and Catcliffe

Penultimate Foot It

Typical Northern Tundra.

I was struggling today with a feeling of general apathy. My fortnightly Friday off and I really couldn't be bothered with any kind of birding so sat trying to write a Foot It article for Bird Watching Mag whilst keeping an eye on the garden feeders. Not a thing landed on the feeders - the cat staring at them out of the window didn't help and the article was waffle, which is where this post is heading! The offer of going shopping was the final straw and I reached for the boots, bins, scope and tripod and set off on the four miles to Orgreave. My best chance of picking new birds up was most likely ducks or gulls as the lakes at Orgreave, unlike the adjacent waters, are not frozen. However despite being more Pochard and Wigeon there was nowt else. Whilst scanning one of the plantations a the Starlings erupted as a Merlin shot through them scattering them all over the place, presumably the bird I saw on a in the car visit a couple of weeks back. Walking around the now muddy edges of the small lake I flushed a dozen or so snipe then bird of the day (month) a Jack Snipe. Not a Foot It tick but a patch tick and only the second recorded here, the first being just last weekend. I can't see there being many other foot It attempts this weekend and I certainly won't make my personal goal of 100 birds and 100 miles, but you never know. Mark

Essential supplies have been key to Foot It survival.

13th January. Another 8 Miles

I didn't have time for any Foot it attempts this morning so opted for an hour or so on the patch, I'm also taking part in the Patch Birding challenge and can't afford to miss out on some of the key January species, particularly as the weather turns colder. Unfortunately I spent most of the time pursuing another group of Hare coursers.  However mt reward was a fem/imm Merlin as it pursued a couple of Meadow Pipits before settling on a post on the 'Plains' exactly the spot where I'd had one last January.

Back to the Foot It challenge and Jo and I spent the afternoon walking to Pit-house West and RV.  A full 8 mile round trip which was more notable for the shear dearth of birds, though I did see the duck whose name we shall not speak taking me up to 86 and 102.4% Annoyingly Pete and Roy had an Oystercatcher, Caspian Gull and Grey Partridge at Orgreave, all of which would have been very useful indeed.



Nice to see a Buzzard feeding on worms in a field next to the busy A57. Twenty years ago I'd have given it more than just a passing glance, and probably taken some better photos!

Having passed my target with relative ease (though I have been lucky) I'm  now thinking that with continued luck I could hit 100 by the end of the month and having now clocked up around 48 miles I'm also aiming for 100 miles.

6th January. Leg It...

My third Foot It venture yesterday and I decided to make it a big one, a great big 15.59 mile (that's what the GPS said when I got back) round trip taking in a variety of habitat from mature woodland, farmland, heath (well the nearest thing that we have to it) a reservoir, reclaimed mining areas and a couple of subsidence flashes.

Leaving the house I struck Foot It gold, just 100m from the front door, with a species that I've never seen in the Rother Valley during 30 years of birding the area - Nuthatch!  Obviously this wasn't on my target list, they just don't occur around here, even in the most mature woodlands.  A great start and exactly what this challenge is about, finding out what's on your doorstep.

I'd actually added another doorstep species earlier in the day with a Tawny Owl calling at 2am starting the day on 58 species.  Given the saturated ground this was going to be a walk in wellies, so I had a plentiful supply of blister plasters.

The first few miles was fairly sterile soggy arable farmland. I picked up a few easy species namely; Skylark, Fieldfare, Stock Dove and the target species here Red-legged Partridge.  I failed to pick up Grey Partridge here and everywhere else today.  Walking through to Ulley I got Bullfinch, Goldcrest and Green Woodpecker. The target species here was Tree Sparrow and tweeting the semi-resident ranger the afternoon ensured that the feeding station was stocked up and I duly connected albeit with just one.  A text to a former Ulley birder gave me a tip off for Long-eared Owl, it just so happened that I was stood in the exact spot when he rang me and some one of the harder target species was on the list.

Dropping down towards the River Rother and Blue Man's Bower I crossed a field with three sheep, well two sheep and a very inquisitive ram.  After an initial sniff at my bag, presumably drawn to my delicious pie, his inquisitiveness turned to aggression and a couple of firm strikes to my side had me legging it across the field! I only picked up a Lesser Redpoll between Ulley and Blue Man's Bower but added Water Rail at Bolehill and Little Grebe at Catcliffe Flash before having the last few hours of daylight at Orgreave.

I knew the patch wouldn't let me down and I was right. The Red-crested Pochard that I'd found on a non-Foot It visit the day before was still present and a Short-eared Owl posed for me on a post, unfortunately I'd left the camera at home so had to settle for a woeful phone through bins shot. A few big gaps in the list were filled namely; Common Gull, GBB Gull, Linnet, Meadow Pipit and a conscience easing Shelduck - the RV bird although wild is too fond of the plastic ducks.

I could have gone to another nearby site for Snipe and Jack Snipe but decided to leave them for next weekend.  The journey from Orgreave to home is 3 miles and usually takes a few minutes in the car, however this time I would have to do it on foot to validate the whole day.  It's not only 3 miles it's also uphill all the way. By the time I got home I was hurting but Jo had the bath run and the tally at 77 species was well worth it.

I only had an hour to spare this morning so had a short walk around the woods behind the house succesfully picking up Treecreeper and Buzzard.  Unfortunately the two Caspian Gulls on the patch this evening were car assisted so it looks like next weekend will involve carting the scope/tripod around.

26th December. Boxing Day Hunt...

Boxing day is traditionally the day of the year when everyone and their granny go out into the countryside for a walk, trying to kid themselves that by doing that they can wholly justify the previous days calorie overload. Obviously Orgreave was over run when we arrived mid-morning, mostly with dog walkers going abut their own business. However, at the edge of the 'plains' I noticed a couple with an inordinate amount of dogs and moving in an all too familiar way. Clearly their business was hunting Hares! As they moved around the edges of the young plantations at least three Hares sprang free immediately pursued by two Lurchers whilst another two strained on the leash while their master broke into a trot.  Too distant to photograph we moved to a position where I could get closer - the hunt was on.  After scrambling to the top of the hill I came upon them less than a 100 yards away, sat the camera on the tripod and pointed it at them! Instantly they knew I was onto them as they gave me a friendly two-fingered wave.

Unperturbed we carried on pursuing them, keeping a good distance between us as they moved away their faces away turned from the camera.

Based on the fact that I had never seen them here before I guessed that they had probably come by car. We watched which direction they headed - they had now restrained the dogs and were just 'walking' them - and left for our car to get to where I suspected they had parked. When you've observed scum like this regularly you get a feel for how they behave and what kind of vehicles they use - always wrecks! Quickly taking the registrations of the likely vehicles just in time before they appeared at the exit. No surprises what vehicles they got into, as we drove innocently past them - RESULT.  All details and photos have now been passed to  the Police, I doubt there's enough evidence for a prosecution, but enough for a knock on the door from plod! A very exhilarating Boxing Day hunt, we also managed a Short-eared Owl, two Waxwings and an impressive 44 Whooper Swans heading low south east.

Rather worryingly if the law preventing hunting with dogs is repealed by the current Government this behaviour will become legally 'acceptable' though objectionable to the majority.

I took this photo back in November of a Hare that had clearly not been quick enough......