Category: Field visits

Field visit to an icy Elsecar : December 10th 2022

We had a great frosty time on Saturday 10th December viewing the birds in the open water left free of ice on Elsecar reservoir with more Great Crested Grebes than usual. And a Water Rail spotted briefly coming out on the ice.

We started by going into the woods near Elsecar Heritage Centre to immediately hear and see a Great Spotted Woodpecker.

Spotting the remaining fungi as well: including Oyster mushroom(Pleuratu ostreatus), Sulphur Tuft(Hypholoma fasciculare) and Willow Bracket(Phellinus igniarius).

Then retiring to the Milton Arms or the Teepot Cafe.

Birds of Open Water at Anglers Country Park : November 23rd 2022

On Saturday 12th November we have a field visit to Anglers Country Park for the birds of open water and scrub; looking for fungi as well. We will start with the hide(s) and go on round the water and possibly into some woodland areas.

We are meeting at 10 am in the main car park at Anglers Country Park, Haw Park Lane, Wintersett, WF4 2EB, grid reference: SE375153.
Car parking free for 2 hours, £2 for 3 hours.

Batting in Dearne Valley Country Park : August 24th 2022

Our Wednesday 24 August evening field visit was a walk around Dearne Valley Country Park. We had a general look around the park along the canal, before using our bat detectors to identify the different bat species when it started to get dark.

The highlight of the evening was seeing the Daubenton bats skimming insects off the surface of the water. We had five species: three pipestrelle, noctule and Daubenton.

Thanks to Mark and Kevin for their support. It was good to have a number of bat detectors for people to try out.

Wall Browns: Walking in Alwyns’ Footsteps : August 13th 2022

In the summer we intend to have a field visit walking in Alwyn Timms’ footsteps, looking for Wall Brown butterflies on the patch where he recorded them. We will follow a route from Royd Moor viewpoint that Alwyn Timms took us on to count Wall Brown butterflies. Meeting at Royd Moor viewpoint, 10.00am, Saturday 13 August.

http://www.barnsleynats.org.uk/alwyn-timms-our-memories/

Brockadale Nature Reserve: July 23rd 2022

Five Barnsley naturalists joined the Yorkshire Naturalist Union (YNU) field visit to Brockadale Nature Reserve. It’s a varied site on magnesium limestone. Although the meadows were somewhat parched, highlights for us included sightings of Silver-washed Fritillary and copious Banded Demoiselles over the river Went.

Counting glowworms : July 13th 2022

Five Barnsley Naturalists and one interested walker on the TransPennine Trail (TPT) joined Doug late in the evening of Wednesday 13 July in his twice weekly count of glowworms during the summer on the TPT near Thurgoland.

Both the glowworm numbers (11) and moth trap numbers (4) were however very low that night.

For more information on glowworms – http://www.barnsleybiodiversity.org.uk/glowworm.html

Under wind turbines above Carlecotes : June 2022

A return visit to a fascinating mosaic of habitats in the Banks Renewable (wind farm) site between Carlecotes and Crow Edge with heath, grassland, woodland and bare ground and ponds: interesting plants and invertebrates: this time with frog tadpoles in one of the ponds, some orchids and moths. An oyster catcher calling! Ended by looking at the geology and industrial heritage.

Gosling Moor : June 11th 2022

A walk around Gosling Moor, an historic wood pasture, with some ancient and veteran trees, mainly looking at the trees themselves and the invertebrates they supported.

With a person at each corner, we held a sheet under various species of tree and gave a branch a shake.

We counted the species of invertebrates that fell into the sheet.

Oak had most as expected with Rowan not far behind.

Around Gunthwaite Dam : May 18th 2022

Wednesday 18 May saw our annual evening visit to the Gunthwaite area, walking from Gunthwaite dam to Gunthwaite Hall Farm: ancient paved tracks, field paths, hedgerows, pastures, woodland and an impressive veteran tree.

There were lots of woodland flowering plants alongside the tracks and in the woodlands, although this year the summer migrant birds were missing.

Nabs wood : April 9th 2022

There was a change of plan for our field visit on Saturday 9 April. We went to Nabs Wood near Silkstone Common looking for the first woodland flowers. Nabs Wood is a Woodland Trust site. We were intending to go to Bagger Wood and the nearby Lower Lee Wood, which are Woodland Trust woods as well. However both of these have had recent work done and looked rather bare. As well as the emerging flowers, we looked for invertebrates and fungi

Carlton Marsh Nature Reserve : March 12th 2022

On Saturday morning, 12 March, we visited Carlton Marsh Nature Reserve. A mix of reedbed, fen, scrapes, marsh, meadows and wet woodland makes Carlton Marsh a great place to visit, enjoy some birding, and spot signs of Spring!

Cliff Gorman who has been involved with Carlton Marsh over many years joined us and posted this account on the Barnsley Bird Sightings blog:

The Barnsley Naturalist Society visited this morning providing the following:
4 Buzzards in the air together, 5 singing Chiffchaffs, 1 singing Cetti’s warbler, 3 singing Reed Buntings, 1 yaffling Green Woodpecker, 1 Linnet, 1 Greenfinch, a male Grey Wagtail and 6 Common Gulls.

The first flowers of Cowslip were showing in the western Meadow along with Dogs Mercury and White Dead Nettle on the embankment.

4 Smooth Newts and a Froglet from last year were found under an old sleeper and a Lemon Slug was under a rock.

A fresh dead Wood Mouse was another interesting find.

It was really good to see old friends from this group again, I hope you all enjoyed it as much as I did. Thank you for coming and being so enthusiastic.