As the light was beginning to fade we decided to call it a day and head home. A pleasant day with a total of 52 birds.

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1 Visit to Old Moor RSPB Reserve - 2 nd December members left Dronfield on a calm, overcast and slightly drizzly morning. Linda & Mick Fairest, Graham Gill, Charles Seymour and Malcolm Swift. We arrived at Old Moor before the reserve had actually opened and looking round from the car park noted Robin, Great Tit, Blue Tit, Coal Tit and Chaffinch. In the nest boxes behind the cottages in the court yard we noted 2 Tree Sparrows using one of the boxes. Eventually the visitor centre opened and from their windows overlooking the feeders in the garden we noted Bullfinch, Stock Dove, Collared Dove and Magpie. We visited the Tree Sparrow Farm area and there saw Jay, Moorhen, Mistle Thrush and Greenfinch. Graham and Charles witnessed a Sparrowhawk take a small bird from one of the bird tables! We continued to the Bittern Hide where the water birds included many Wigeon, Tufted Duck, Gadwall and 2 male Pochard etc. There were many male and female Pheasants wandering around the reserve today. From Reed Bed Hide we suddenly noticed a Cormorant attempting to kill and devour a large eel (approx.3ft long). The bird kept diving with the eel, coming back to the surface and tussling with the eel which kept twining itself around the bird. After what seemed an age the Cormorant eventually managed to swallow the Eel whole (enough to keep it going for a week or two!) The unfortunate Eel carried on wriggling about in the Cormorant s neck while the bird kept gulping and trying to swallow the eel further down NOT A PRETTY SIGHT! Meanwhile 2 further Cormorants came hoping for some regurgitation perhaps? Eventually the Cormorant flew further up the lake to continue digesting its kill. As we walked on to Wath Ings Hide we heard a Green Woodpecker. From the hide the water was very high so not many birds. 2 Snipe rested in some long grass near the Willow trees and a collection of gulls including Herring, Common and Black-headed had found a small mud match above the water to rest on. After our picnic lunch we completed the circuit back to the visitor centre calling in at Wader Scrape Hide from where we noted a small flock of Linnets, a female Goldeneye and a lone Green Sandpiper. As the light was beginning to fade we decided to call it a day and head home. A pleasant day with a total of 52 birds. Birds 52 Mammals 2 Flowers 5 Berries 6 Reporter: Linda Fairest

2 Birds Flora Mammals Black-headed Gull Red Valarian Grey Squirrel Blackbird Red Dead Nettle Rabbit Blue Tit Yarrow Bullfinch Alder Catkins Buzzard Meadow Buttercup Canada Goose Gorse Carrion Crow Chaffinch Coal Tit Berries Collared Dove Sea Buckthorn Common Gull Sloe Coot Guelder Rose Cormorant Rose Hips Dunnock Wild Privet Fieldfare Hawthorn Gadwall Goldfinch Great Tit Green Sandpiper Green Woodpecker Greenfinch Grey Heron Greylag Herring Gull Jackdaw Jay Lapwing Lesser Black-backed Gull Linnet Little Egret Little Grebe Long-tailed Tit Magpie Mallard Marsh Harrier Mistle Thrush Moorhen Mute Swan Pheasant Pied Wagtail Pochard Robin Shoveler Snipe Sparrowhawk Starling Stock Dove Teal Tree Sparrow Tufted Duck Wigeon Woodpigeon

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