Spring is over and summer well into full swing (although you wouldn’t know it looking out of the window today), and my Spring birding wishlist has ended up with a respectable 8/10. As a reminder the birds were:
Redstart – found at the abandoned farm buildings at Rocher Head.
Woodcock – at least two seen on the SBSG nightjar walk.
Spotted Flycatcher – found by accident in the Loxley Valley, and several seen at Agden since.
Cuckoo – heard at Wharncliffe Heath, but sadly no sightings.
Grasshopper Warbler – heard at Redmires, but sadly no sightings.
Barn Owl – Cheat! Seen at Blacktoft Sands.
Lesser Whitethroat – Heard on two occasions since at Old Moor.
Wood Warbler – found at Wyming Brook on a number of occasions.
The two I didn’t get were whinchat (which I thought would be an easy one at Agden Side) and yellow wagtail. The latter I’m going to leave as the one that got away, as I never got round to visiting eastern Sheffield which is the only place round here I was likely to find one.
Whinchat, however, I’m refusing to give up on, and I’m still hoping to see one before they all disappear again. If anyone knows any reliable sites let ke know…
Also an unforgivable omission from my yearlist is pied flycatcher, as a trip across to Padley Gorge earlier in the Spring would have been a pretty much guaranteed certainty. So my main mission over the next few days is to find a pied fly, despite the fact they’ll be near impossible to find now the trees are in full leaf and they’re quiet after breeding. Wish me luck!
Sheffield Wildlife 