Potteric Carr - Wet!

Spent the afternoon on a family trip to Potteric Carr, South Yorkshire with Jenny and her parents. The weather forecast was showing better weather in the Doncaster area so we thought it may be worth a go, however the forecast was wrong and it was just as wet down there as it was in York! First stop was the cafe for some truly excellent hot chocolate and bacon sandwiches!

Fuelled up we started properly around the reserve where we enjoyed great views of a range of species including 2x Water Rail (including a showy one below that allowed me to get a record shot on my phone!), Little Egret, Snipe, Lapwing, Wigeon, Teal, Shoveler, Pochard, Canada Goose, Greylag Goose, Gadwall, Mallard, Little Grebe, Coot, Moorhen, Grey Heron and various Gulls were all recorded around the scrapes/marshes/waterbodies.



While other birds seen included Jay, Kestrel, Stock Dove, Pheasant, Wood Pigeon, Green and Great-spotted Woodpeckers, and several mixed foraging flocks of Long-tailed Tit, Great Tit, Blue Tit, Willow Tit and Chiffchaff. Reed Bunting, Chaffinch, Goldfinch, Dunnock, and Robin were also seen well.

There was a huge number of Fungi species out on show around the reserve so if you're into that sort of thing I'd recommend a visit. Giant Puffballs are awesome!!!

Not a huge species haul, and nothing particularly rare but good views of many species, despite the horrible weather, and we all had a good time!

There's been some really interesting rarities recorded in the Western Palearctic this weekend (White-crowned Black Wheatear in Germany, A Tropicbird sp off Spain, Great Blue Heron on the Azores, Little Curlew in Belgium, and Northern Waterthrush in Netherlands), hopefully something Mega will drop into the UK this week!