Thirty-two members
set off from Stockport for the society’s May trip to Potteric Carr, Yorkshire.
On the coach journey over Woodhead we spotted a number of Red Grouse adjacent
to the A628 and Simon Gough had a Snipe sat on a fence post. Parties of
Swallows passed over the tops, following the coach into Yorkshire.
 |
| Canada Goose (Alan & Glo) |
Potteric Carr is
managed by Yorkshire Wildlife Trust and was last visited by the society in
2013. There have been some changes since our last visit, with a new visitor
centre, incorporating a café, adjacent to the car park. The building in the
middle of the reserve that housed the café on out last visit is now an
Education Centre. The new facilities and the wider facilities on the reserve
were very good.
As soon as we had
set foot out of the visitor centre and into the reserve we were greeted by
warbler song: Blackcap, Chiffchaff and Willow Warbler were all immediately
heard. A very confiding Willow Warbler sat close in a small tree giving a
two-toned contact call (Chiffchaff have a single note contact call and usually
a flicking tail). On the large pond in front of the visitor centre was an
assortment of wildfowl including Tufted Duck, Mallard, Canada Goose with Coot
and Moorhen. A pair of Herring Gull were menacing a couple of Lapwing.
 |
| Lapwing (Alan & Glo) |
Walking on to an
area of reeds we quickly picked up on the song of Reed Warbler and picked out a
couple of Reed Bunting surveying the area from high vantage points. In the
adjacent scrub we found Common Whitethroat and, in a flowering Hawthorn bush, a
Lesser Whitethroat. It sang loudly and gave occasional good views.
Moving on to the
Birch woodland we picked up more of the commoner species including Great
Spotted Woodpecker, Mistle Thrush and singing Coal Tit. A Roe Deer gave good
views and we heard a distant Cuckoo calling.
 |
| Roe Deer (Alan & Glo) |
Moving back to the
scrub and wetland areas we had good views of a singing Garden Warbler and of a family of Long-tailed Tits with black faced youngsters chasing the
adults wanting to be fed. A visit to Beeston Hide produced a couple of male
Pochard in the open water. Through the day we predominantly saw male birds so
hopefully the females were on eggs somewhere nearby.
Walking on to
Piper Hide we added Little Egret to our day list and some members heard booming
Bittern, a bird calling from the adjacent Huxter Well Marsh. A number of
members had views of a bird in flight later on (including one being mobbed by a
Buzzard) and a lucky few had excellent views of one very close to the hide by
the West Scrape. West Scrape also held a couple of Little Ringer Plover,
Redshank, Shelduck and an Avocet.
 |
| Little Ringed Plover (Alan & Glo) |
The viewing
platform for the East Scrape produced good views of Sedge Warbler and a
Sparrowhawk passed overhead. Walking on we found Common Sandpiper in the
margins of one of the ponds. Cetti’s Warbler seemed plentiful with most areas
of the reserve recording their explosive loud song.
Members had a few
Common Terns over the pools and there were good numbers of Swift and Sand
Martin around. Many of the pools held Little Grebe with occasional
Great-crested Grebe. Tufted Duck, Mallard and Gadwall were found on most bodies
of water. We also had excellent views a Water Rail, washing and preening out in
the open.
A Marsh Harrier was seen by a lucky few, but the day belonged to the warblers with song following us around as we explored this large reserve. A total of nine warbler species were seen and heard.
 |
| Coot (Alan & Glo) |
Birds seen:
| Mute Swan | Little Ringed Plover | Whitethroat |
| Greylag Goose | Lapwing | Lesser Whitethroat |
| Canada Goose | Common Sandpiper | Sedge Warbler |
| Shelduck | Redshank | Cetti's Warbler |
| Mallard | Snipe | Reed Warbler |
| Gadwall | Black-headed Gull | Willow Warbler |
| Shoveler | Herring Gull | Chiffchaff |
| Pochard | Great Black-backed Gull | Wren |
| Tufted Duck | Lesser Black-backed Gull | Great Tit |
| Red Grouse | Common Tern | Coal Tit |
| Pheasant | Woodpigeon | Blue Tit |
| Little Grebe | Cuckoo (H) | Long-tailed Tit |
| Great-crested Grebe | Swift | Magpie |
| Cormorant | Great Spotted Woodpecker | Jay |
| Bittern | Sand Martin | Jackdaw |
| Little Egret | Swallow | Rook |
| Grey Heron | House Martin | Carrion Crow |
| Marsh Harrier | Pied Wagtail | Starling |
| Sparrowhawk | Grey Wagtail | Chaffinch |
| Buzzard | Dunnock | Linnet |
| Kestrel | Robin | Goldfinch |
| Water Rail | Song Thrush | Greenfinch |
| Moorhen | Mistle Thrush | Bullfinch |
| Coot | Blackbird | Reed Bunting |
| Oystercatcher | Garden Warbler | |
| Avocet | Blackcap |
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