Welcome
This website is a diary/log of the wildlife seen in and around our local patch at Rawmarsh near Rotherham, South Yorkshire. In particularly, our back garden which is used as a site for observing the daily visible migration/movement of bird's through the Rawmarsh area. We will also include sightings of our outings/trips further afield.
On this page, there is a 'Recent Sightings' section giving details of wildlife sightings for particular areas in and around Rawmarsh. There is also a 'Recent photos' section of interesting photographs taken by the author, and links to archived records and photos.
To enlarge an image - just click on it.
Any questions, comments, or ideas for improvement would be welcomed, as would interesting records or photographs from the area. Thanks!
Recent Sightings
Sunday 7 February 2010
High Street Cemetery - (08.00-09.00hrs)
No chance of any skywatching from the back garden this morning due to the low cloud so I walked to the cemetery area to check for any woodland birds and to see if any Woodcocks would reveal themselves.
No luck I'm afraid with the Woodcock, despite tramping through some ideal habitat.
A few woodland species were visible in the gloom with the usual Willow Tit revealing its presence with its distinctive 'chay,chay' call and a couple of smart male Bullfinches were disturbed along the stream.
A slow walk up the cemetery didn't really inspire but a calling Nuthatch was a nice addition to the February List and a couple of Goldfinch buzzed around.
With the first week of February out of the way the local monthly list has crept upto a respectable 60 species. Not a bad start really considering the amount of time that I've actually spent birding (around 5 hrs) and there are a few more easy ticks waiting to 'go into the book'.
Saturday 6 February 2010
Thrybergh Tip - (09.45-12.15hrs)
It was with some relief that we found the lake ice-free at last with good numbers of ducks and 'things' busily feeding.
Although the weather wasn't very good with low cloud and mist it was a decent couple of hours birding and a good opportunity to add a few 'waterbirds' to the February local list.
Great Crested Grebe: 1 on river
Little Grebe: 2 on river
Cormorant: 2 flew N.
Grey Heron: 4
Mute Swan : 8
Wigeon: 1 m (Year tick) See Photo
Gadwall: 44 (very high count)
Teal : c25
Mallard: 14
Shovelar: 2 m
Tufted Duck: 5
Pochard: 2 fem
Goosander: 1 redhead N.
Kestrel: 1
Water Rail: 1 calling
Moorhen: 10+
Coot: 30+
LBBGull: 1 N.
Green Woodpecker: 1
Song Thrush: 1
Long-tailed Tit : 10
Willow Tit: 1
Coal Tit: 1
Jay: 1
Lesser Redpoll: 11
Bullfinch: 3
Reed Bunting: 2
Year Lists Update:-
Rawmarsh Area - 82
Thrybergh Tip - 67
February - 59
Friday 5 February 2010
New Stubbin Old Pit Site - (15.30-16.45hrs)
A very pleasant late afternoon walk around the area. we managed to add a few species to the February list and a new species to the local year list.
Red-legged Partridge: 6
Grey Partridge: 3
Kestrel : 1
Pheasant: 3
Lapwing: 22 N
Stock Dove: 1 SW
Green Woodpecker: 1
Mistle Thrush: 1
Fieldfare: 1 SW
Redwing: 1
Coal Tit: 1
Goldfinch: 10
Yellowhammer: 5
Rawmarsh Area Year List - 81
February Bird List - 35
Monday 1 February 2010
Back Garden
With the mornings getting noticeably lighter and the start of a new month I decided to venture outdoors for a quick look before work to get our February local bird list up and running.
The first bird into the notebook was a Dunnock quickly followed by a Blackbird and Starling and pleased to say a couple of trickier species also made it into onto the list with a Fieldfare and Yellowhammer overhead just before 8.00am.
A quick count up revealed a total of 27 species were seen in just 45 minutes, not bad at all really.
I popped home at lunchtime for a quick bite to eat and picked up a high flying Common Buzzard heading west 13.10hrs.
February Local List - 28
Hopefully February will produce a couple of local surprises with Shag and Iceland Gull seen over the Rawmarsh area in previous years.
Finding a local Jack Snipe will also be a priority and hopefully a few skeins of Pink-feet will be picked up heading from Norfolk to the the Lancashire mosses around half-term.
So a few February predictions. A local Short-eared Owl is long overdue and a Stonechat would be a good bet on Stubbin. Perhaps Thrybergh Tip could pull in a scarce grebe, swan or duck.
We shall have to wait and see!
Sunday 31 January 2010
Thrybergh Tip - (07.45-08.45hrs)
The last day of January so I decided I best head to Thrybergh Tip for an early start in the hope of picking up a couple of year ticks.
I wasn't surprised to find the lake still frozen so once again I made my way down to the River Don to have a look along this very productive stretch of river and pleased to report that a couple of ticks were available.
Mute Swan: 6
Cormorant: 2 N
Heron: 2
Shelduck: 2 on the river (See Photo)
Teal: 29
Gadwall: 6
Shovelar:1 m on ice (See Photo)
Tufted Duck: 26
Goosander: 7 S
Kestrel: 1
Reed Bunting: 1
Rawmarsh Area Year List - 80
January - 80
All in all a pretty good month with some decent sightings, particularly, early on.
Saturday 30 January 2010
Back Garden
The only noteworthy sighting during a brief check on the skies was a couple of Cormorants N 09.15hrs.
Thursday 28 January 2010
Back Garden
Opportunities for any birding during the week are few at the moment but now that the evenings are lighter till around 5.00pm we do have a few minutes late afternoon to do a bit of sky-watching.
Not a lot today with a Cormorant NE, a Kestrel overhead and a flock of c45 Fieldfares headed west 16.10hrs.
Sunday 24 January 2010
Back Garden - Vis-Mig - (07.45-09.45hrs)
Woke up to a very colourful sunrise (See Photo) which was a bit of a bonus considering the dreary, grey skies of the last few days.
So it was a bit of a shame that the birding wasn't very exciting with little appearing to be on the move.
Best of the meagre haul were 4 Herring Gulls and a single GBBGull south and a handful of Fieldfares over. A Pheasant was heard calling from the Stubbin area. That's it I'm afraid.
Back Garden Year List - 47
Saturday 23 January 2010
River Don, Aldwarke - (08.00-08.30hrs)
Our first local twitch of 2010 found us 'down by the riverside', that is the River Don at Aldwarke, to have a look for the female Pintail that has been around for a couple of days.
No problem locating the bird but actually taking a shot was a bit more problematic with the bird spending most of its time in the waterside branches. (See Photo)
Over the last 10 years this stretch of the River Don has attracted some decent records with the redhead Smew in January 2003 probably the highlight.
Accompanying the Pintail were a fine drake Pochard (See Photo), a female Tufted Duck and c10 Teal with a Grey Wagtail feeding nearby.
Thrybergh Tip - (08.45-11.45hrs)
I was hoping for an ice free lake but was a bit miffed when I saw that the lake was still 90 per cent frozen with only a small portion of water available around the marshy areas.
Plenty still going on again this morning though and I added a few more species to the Thrybergh year list and one species to the local year list.
Mute Swan: 6
Cormorant : 1
Greylag Geese: 6 NE
Gadwall: 6
Teal: 55
Tufted Duck: 14
Sparrowhawk: 1
Peregrine: 1 m again 09.00hrs
Common Buzzard: 1 over
Water Rail: 1
Common Gull: 1 ad on ice
Herring Gull: 4 N
GBBGull: 1 ad S.
Stock Dove: 4
Green Woodpecker: 1
Great Spotted Woodpecker: 1
Skylark: 2 E
Kingfisher: 1
Song Thrush: 1
Mistle Thrush: 2 over
Long-tailed Tit: 11
Willow Tit: 1
Siskin: 6
Lesser Redpoll: c30
Bullfinch: 4+
Reed Bunting: 1
Year List Updates
Rawmarsh Area: 78
January List: 78
Thrybergh Tip: 60
Sunday 17 January 2010
Back Garden - Vis-Mig - (07.30-10.00hrs)
A brighter day thankfully, with a chance at last to do a bit of back garden sky-watching. We didn't do too bad with 36 species recorded in or from the garden.
Moving Birds:-
Cormorant: 1 N
Sparrowhawk: 1 over
Kestrel: 1 over
Lapwing: 21 N
Common Gull: 4 N
Herring Gull: 9 NW
LBBGull: 2 N
GBBGull: 1 N
Stock Dove: 4 S
Skylark: 1 N
Meadow Pipit: 1 SE
Redwing: 5 SW
Fieldfare: 5 N
Linnet: 1 N
Garden Bird Year List - 46
A group of 36 Goldfinch 09.00hrs was a garden record.
It's amazing what effect the milder temperature has had in only a couple of days with birds such as Wren, Starling, Blue Tit and Song Thrush heard singing today.
Saturday 16 January 2010
Thrybergh Tip - (14.30 - 16.45hrs)
We were a trifle disappointed when we arrived to find that the lake was still frozen over with just a few marshy edges free from the ice.
So it was off to check the River Don once again but there wasn't much doing today with only small numbers of ducks around but high numbers of Coot were counted and the 'best' had to wait till last.
Great Crested Grebe: 1 on river
Cormorant: 5 N
Mute Swan: 16 on river
Teal: 47
Gadwall: 9
Goosander: 5 S.
Peregrine: 1 m S low over the lake 16.15hrs
Pheasant: 4
Coot: 72 on river (Very High)
Water Rail: 1 calling 16.40hrs
Common Gull : 1 fw S
Stock Dove: 4
Little Owl : 1 calling from Steelworks
Jay : 3
Long-tailed Tit: 10
Lesser Redpoll: 25
Goldfinch: 4
Bullfinch: 4
Reed Bunting: 1
Year List Updates
Rawmarsh Area/January - 76
Thrybergh Tip - 54
Wednesday 13 January 2010
Back Garden
Aplogies for the lack of updates over the last few days but the cold, grey weather has put a bit of a hold on observing the local bird world. Hopefully, things should be brighter by the weekend and we should be able to report something of interest.
I managed to have a look in the back garden at lunchtime and saw around 5 Chaffinch, 3 Greenfinch and a couple of Goldfinch along with 2 Mistle Thrushes.
Thanks to Toni for the report of a Snipe flushed on Stubbin on Friday last week. Thanks for the e-mail
Sunday 10 January 2010
New Stubbin Old Pit Site - (15.00-15.50hrs)
The year list is coming on nicely but a couple of 'commoner' species are noticeable by their absence. So after a bit of thought we came up with a couple of likely local spots where we could possibly pick up a Little Owl, Woodcock and Red-legged Partridge.
Stubbin was our first port of call, where all 3 species could be found on a good day.
We walked along the stream and our first bird flew out of a large, ivy clad tree, a superb Little Owl . A great start!
A party of 4 Partridge were flushed and as usual disappeared over the hedge. We managed to locate them and they turned out to be just Grey's (See Photo). Still a good sighting though these days.
High Street Cemetery - (16.00-16.45hrs)
The area at the bottom of the cemetery does have a decent bit of marsh along the stream which has attarcted a few Woodcocks and the odd Snipe over the years.
We picked up a couple of Willow Tits and a calling Green Woodpecker and after a good 20 minutes of stomping around we flushed a Woodcock .
I suppose 2 out of 3 isn't too bad.
Rawmarsh Area year List - 75
Saturday 9 January 2010
Back Garden
Not a lot to set the pulse racing today with a couple of Common Buzzards east 09.50hrs the highlight.
Rawmarsh Shopping Centre
A Grey Wagtail , our first locally of 2010, was seen in flight 10.15hrs.
Rawmarsh Area Year List - 73
Thursday 7 January 2010
Thrybergh Tip (10.00 -12.00hrs)
Our first visit in 2010 and a bonus visit really with RCS closed for business for another day.
We were greeted to a very frozen lake and surrounding area (See photo) but the bird life on offer, particularly on the River Don was exceptional once again with 50 species recorded during the visit. A great start to the Thrybergh Tip year list and apologies for the rather poor record shots.
Full List:-
Great Crested Grebe: 2 on river (See Photo)
Cormorant: 2 on river
Mute Swan: 3 on river
Canada Goose: 1 on river (See Photo)
Gadwall: 10 on river
Teal: 5 on river
Pochard : 52 on river (See Photo)
Tufted Duck : 94 on river
Goosander: 3 N
Sparrowhawk: 2 in area
Common Buzzard: 2 over wood
Kestrel: 1
Grey Partridge: 4 in field
Water Rail : 1 seen & heard on riverside
Lapwing: 19 on ice & 42 SW
Kingfisher: 1 on river
Green Woodpecker: 1 calling
Fieldfare: 18
Redwing: 12
Willow Tit: 1 in tit flock
Lesser Redpoll : 4 with Siskins
Siskin: 6
Bullfinch: 4
Reed Bunting: 1
Year List Updates:-
Rawmarsh Area - 72
Thrybergh Tip - 50
January - 72
High Street, Rawmarsh
A skein of 31 Canada Geese headed south 15.10hrs
Wednesday 6 January 2010
Back Garden - Vis- Mig - (08.00-10.00hrs)
Another 'no-school' day meant another welcome opportunity for a bit of sky-watching and pleased to say we did rather well with 3 species added to the back garden year list and 2 species to the Rawmarsh year list.
Once again birds were on the move with a flock of 47 Lapwings SW, a flock of 35 Goldfinch NE, a single Linnet SW, a Cormorant N and the best sighting of the morning, a flock of 17 Canada Geese N. 10.15hrs (See Photo)
All in all a productive couple of hours birding.
Year List Updates:-
Rawmarsh Area - 64
Back Garden - 45
Tuesday 5 January 2010
Back Garden
No school today so we all had a opportunity to have a decent look at the birdlife that we attract to the garden feeders.
As expected due to the weather conditions there was a flurry of activity all day with birds making repeated visits.
The highlight was a Fieldfare that perched in the top of the tree briefly 09.15hrs before departing. Upto 6 Chaffinches, 8 Goldfinch, 3 Greenfinch, various Great, Blue and Coal Tits along with a supporting cast of Wrens, Robins and Dunnocks spent most of the day in and around the garden. (See Photos)
Monday 4 January 2010
Back Garden
A case of quality rather than quantity today with a couple of decent fly-overs picked up over the garden.
Our first local Common Snipe of the year flew SW 12.20hrs followed by our first sighting of 4 Common Buzzards drifting down the 'ridge' together from Wentworth 12.40hrs.
Rawmarsh Area - 62
Back Garden - 42
Sunday 3 January 2010
Back Garden - Vis-Mig - (08.00-10.00hrs)
Another bitterly cold morning with a decent movement of Gulls and Fieldfares the main feature.
Moving Birds:-
Heron: 1 over (See Photo)
Mallard : 2 E
Lapwing : 23 SW
Golden Plover: 27 SW
Herring Gull: 41 S (largest party 16)
GBBGull: 22 S (largest party 11)
LBBGull: 3 S
Stock Dove : 1 NE
Skylark : 1 SW
Fieldfare: 210 SW (largest party 120)
Redwing: 3 SW
Siskin : 1 SW
Year List Updates:-
Rawmarsh Area - 60
Back Garden - 40
January local list - 60
Saturday 2 January 2010
Back Garden - Vis-Mig - (07.45-09.45hrs)
A very good start to the back garden 2010 year list with a decent total of 35 species seen.
Moving Birds:-
Heron:- 1 SW
Sparrowhawk: 1 over
Golden Plover: 8 NW
Common Gull: 3 SE
LBBGull: 2 SE
Herring Gull: 38 SE
GBBGull: 6 SE
Meadow Pipit: 1 SW
Fieldfare: 24 SW
Redwing: 2 SW
Yellowhammer: 1 N
The usual suspects were seen around the feeders with 3 Chaffinch, 5 Greenfinch, 10 Goldfinch and a Song Thrush the highlights.
Back Garden Year List - 35
Rawmarsh Year list - 58
New Stubbin Old Pit Site (17.15-18.15hrs)
Following a tip-off from Toni we had a walk in the dark around the Stubbin area to check for a Tawny Owl and a Barn Owl that have been seen or heard on a couple of occasions over the last couple of weeks.
During the next hour we located a total of 3 calling Tawny Owls , with birds heard down Chapel Walk, in trees near the football pitch and a bird calling some distance away at the High Street Cemetery. Unfortunately, there was no sign of the Barn Owl. Thanks Toni
Rawmarsh Year List - 59
Friday 1 January 2010
Aldwark SF/River Don, Eastwood 07.45-10.30hrs
Birding from dawn to dusk today and no where better to start the 2010 local year list when the temperature is well below zero than checking the River Don and the old sewage farm area at Aldwark.
Plenty going on from first light with over 45 species recorded in the first 2 hours.
Highlights:
Heron: 2
Cormorant: 6+
Mute Swan: 15 over (See Photo)
Gadwall: 2
Teal: 10
Goosander: 2m 1 f (See Photo)
Kingfisher: 1 flew up river
Great Spotted Woodpecker: 1 seen and heard
Chiffchaff : 1 bird seen and heard well for 5 mins in the willows
Thrushes: All 5 common species seen
Bullfinch: 3
Reed Bunting: 2
Rosehill Park (12.30-13.00hrs)
Popped back home for a bite to eat and a warm cuppa and then we walked to the Park.
There were plenty of families around which seemed to make finding the target species a bit more of a challenge but eventually we located a couple of Nuthatch (See Photo), a single Goldcrest , a Pied Wagtail , a Coal Tit and a very welcome Treecreeper .
Overhead a couple of Herring Gulls flew south and a Sparrowhawk buzzed the tit flock. The year/monthly list had increased to 52.
Not bad for just 30 minutes birding.
New Stubbin Old Pit Site (13.30- 15.30hrs)
The last location of the day was pretty quiet but we still added another 5 species to the list.
The regular Meadow Pipits (5), Skylarks (24) and Yellowhammers (4) all performed admirably as usual and a couple of fly-over Golden Plover and GBBGulls were picked up.
We had intended to continue onto the High Street Cemetery for a dusk vigil but that will have to wait for another day.
I couldn't resist taking a photo of the late afternoon sunset looking west from Haugh Road. Pretty good!
Looking forward to some back garden sky-watching tomorrow.
Rawmarsh Area Year List - 57
January list - 57
Thursday 31 December 2009
Review of 2009
So here we are once again, the last day of 2009.
Birding wise a pretty good year with the highlight probably a record 90 species recorded in or from the back garden during the year. Some interesting vis-migs during the year with a fly-over Bean Goose in February and a decent wader passage during August.
I reckon that the magic 100 is possible with a bit more effort ie earlier morning vis-migs particularly during the main migration periods of April/May and September/October.
We achieved a very respectable 122 species around the local patch of Rawmarsh, Aldwark and Thrybergh Tip and we will be putting in the hours, patchwork birding, once again in 2010.
Thrybergh Tip is a superb, if underwatched site and we recorded 99 species during 2009 though I do believe that probably something in the region of 130 is possible with a few more regular visits planned for 2010.
Finally, I hope that everyone will to continue to ENJOY their birding and we wish you all a happy and bird-filled 2010.
Happy sky-watching!
Wednesday 30 December 2009
High Street
A Meadow Pipit has been present for a few days spending most of it's time on the grassy bank and in the gardens just up from the Methodist Church.
Tuesday 29 December 2009
Back Garden
Not much time for birding today what with shopping and painting and so only a couple of sightings to report.
A mixed flock of 26 'large' gulls, mainly Herring with a few GBBG's flew south 14.00hrs and a party of 13 Long-tailed Tits moved briskly along the hedge 13.30hrs.
To see more records visit the Archived Records section.