Orgreave Lakes

Another chance to go out and do some birding at long last. I thought I might get a couple of patch ticks when 20 mins before I arrived Mark tweeted that he had a a SEO and a couple of YLG. Sadly I connected with neither, despite searching through the gulls desperately. A juvenile gull had me for a moment, as it appeared to have a pale rump. Sadly in photos though it was not a clear rump, and the bird was just a Herring Gull. There were a few adult Herring Gulls but they were distinctly pale and it was possible to rule out YLG without even seeing the legs themselves. There were quite a large number of Lesser Black-backed Gulls, the majority of which were adults.

-Lesser Black-backed Gull

Other birds on site of note included an impressive number of Redwings feeding on the berries at the south side of the site. There was a massive flock of around 50-100 Linnet with a couple of Goldfinch feeding on the thistles. I though I had heard twite, and saw the birds calling but they only called once and I could get nothing more on it, and as such I do not intend to make anything of it, whatever they were.

Species List:
Orgreave Lakes: Blackbird, Black-headed Gull, House Sparrow, Carrion Crow, Kestrel, Woodpigeon, Lapwing, Skylark, Goldfinch, Magpie, Long-tailed Tit, Canada Goose, Greenfinch, Redwing, Jackdaw, Pochard, Mallard, Grey Heron, Graylag Goose, Coot, Gadwall, Wigeon, Starling, Feral Pigeon, Tufted Duck, Meadow Pipit, Common Gull, Linnet, Teal, Mute Swan, Jay, Lesser Black-backed Gull, Shoveler, Herring Gull,

Orgreave Lakes

Sadly I have been unable to get out birding as much as I would like, but when the weekends come around there's not been anything to twitch, and so the patch has been the only thing on the agenda. Its been a little slow but there's been plenty of birds and that's all that's needed after a hard week in uni.

Highlights included a nice female Goosander, as well as plenty of other wildfowl, especially Pochard. An approachable stonechat was only the second I have ever seen on patch, and the same is true of a pair of Siskin that flew over. I also got to patch tick Redwing, as there were a large number 'seeping' in the bushes at the south end of the site. Overall a nice day out with a patch tick and a host of other birds to show for it. 

-Stonechat

-Redwing

Species List:
Orgreave Lakes: Kestrel, Skylark, Magpie, Blackbird, Black-headed Gull, Long-tailed Tit, Blue Tit, Wren, Carrion Crow, Jay, Lapwing, Common Buzzard, Canada Goose, Graylag Goose, Coot, Pochard, Teal, Mallard, Tufted Duck, Woodpigeon, Goldfinch, Grey Heron, Linnet, Stonechat, Feral Pigeon, Cormorant, Goosander, Reed Bunting, Gadwall, Lesser Black-backed Gull, Herring Gull, Mute Swan, Redwing, Siskin, Greenfinch, Great Tit, Robin,

Updates

Apologies for the lack of activity recently. Its been pretty much all deadlines since arriving back at uni for my third and final year.
The Library has been pretty nice Peregrine wise, with at least one bird still chilling around the rooftops that can be seen from the fourth floor. Its been pretty awesome, though I've not seen it nail a pigeon, which is something of a disappointment.
Apart from that there has been nothing much. I have been down to Orgreave Lakes a couple of times but each time has been a pretty familiar set of species and as such not really worth writing a piece on. A few quick highlights:
30th September for a quick afternoon look. Had to collect insects for my field course but I managed a few bits and pieces, such as Bullfinch and a very late calling chiffchaff. Also a Kingfisher which was nice.
10th October and back down mainly to try and catch insects but also to see if there was anything about. As I was leaving I got a couple of nice things, first a Peregrine flew over the grassland and then a Snipe flew overhead and over the river. Not too shabby.