This was a good trip, the weather for a change this year started out cold but very bright until we reached Old Moor when it became a bit cloudy but we still had plenty of sunshine.
First stop was the garden hide as a regular willow tit had been mentioned but it failed to show whilst we waited but bullfinch were regular visitors. There was a lot of activity around the feeders, a wren gave us close upviews, someone saw a weasel. It started to get a bit congested in the hide so we went for a walk around the reserve
Old moor is not a large reserve and it did not take us long to do the circuit, we watched a female marsh harrier patrolling the reeds, the peregrine managed to evade us, it was seen to take a coot and procede to much it in view of a hide.
There were seventeen goosanders that Les and I could see, we then headed back for a coffee and after that back to the garden hide. We were lucky enough to get a look at the willow tit, the first one we had seen for years,Gary a fellow group member spotted the regular sparrowhawk watching the feeders from a tree about 150 yards away which kept the birds away for a while but in the end their stomachs ruled they should return and the sparrowhawk quickly made an appearance missed it’s lunch and then proceeded to sit quite close to the hide and preen which soon flooded the hide with photographers.
We next went to the ‘Tree sparrow farm’ a nearby feeding area where we saw tree sparrows, yellowhammers, numerous bullfinches, a redwing, lots of reed buntings and a magpie that sat next to the ‘blind’ we were using and ignored all the camera clicks.
Next stop the bittern hide which was notable for a lack of bitterns, no surprise there but we did see the ‘rare for the area’ great crested grebe which brought a few wry smiles
Last stop was the garden hide again but the sparrowhawk was still posing so we wandered back to the coach for the journey back
Wren
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