England - South Yorkshire - YWT Sprotbrough Flash

Location Summary

YWT Nature Reserve with three hides looking over the Flash from the River Don.

Possibility of seeing: Great Crested Grebe, Kingfisher, Lapwing, Canada Geese, Mute Swan, Cormorant, Coot

Hide 1 - A standing Hide.

Hide 2 - Kingfisher Hide - seating

Hide 3 - Seating

Website: YWT Sprotbrough Flash

Car Park: Free Parking

Fee: Free

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Captain's Log

Osprey

02/11/22

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Osprey!

I went to the Sprotbrough Flash on the off chance that the Osprey was still around. It had been there for a few weeks now, and I half expected that it would have started its migration back to Africa. I was delighted to find that it was still resident! There were about 15 other people packed into the Heron hide, but I managed to squeeze into a spot right at the end. The guy next to me had a telescope set up on a tripod that sent live images to his mobile phone. He showed me a close up of the Osprey, which was sitting on a branch further up the flash. He told me that it had fed a couple of hours ago. Another guy piped up that he'd been watching it the other day and it had caught two fish within 10 minutes. I rushed to get my camera out. The bird was sat at the outer edge of the capabilities of my lens, but I was happy just to get a view of it. There was continuous blasting in the nearby quarries, but it didn't seem to affect it at all, nor the other birds for that matter, The consensus was that it was a female juvenile, but it was unringed and so nobody knew for sure. Sprotbrough Flash has occasionally had the pleasure of an Osprey visting in previous years, but it had been a very rare occurrence. It did make me wonder why this particular spot attracted Ospreys. If it was a juvenile, then I presume this would have been its first visit. How did it know about the place? It was certainly late for starting its move southwards. One of the birders said that because it was a juvenile, it was honing its hunting skills before setting off on the migration. I've been listening to a programme on the radio this week that has been following some Ospreys on their migration. Scientists had attached gps trackers on some of them and this allowed them to follow them over to Africa. They said that only 1 in 3 successfully completed the migration circuit which seemed impossibly low to me.

Magpie V Osprey

It was quite a cheery group in the hide. The Osprey only had to stretch its wings and there'd be a flurry of activity in the hide too, with everbody ensuring their cameras were ready. One bloke announced that he needed to change the battery in his camera. 'You know what's going to happen. As soon as I get this battery out, she' going to come down here and grab a fish'. I know what he meant, I spent 2 hours sat on the bench, just waiting for the Osprey to move. She did a few wing stretches, but that was about it. A Kingfisher kept us entertained too. One of them spent about 5 minutes trying to swallow a fish. It did manage to get it down in the end. A Cormorant did a cameo performance by balancing on a narrow pole, stuck into the water, drying its feathers with its wings outstretched. As I watched the Cormorant, a cry went up in the hide. The Osprey had just done a shite. 'It'll have some more room for a fish, now', somebody at the far end of the hide suggested. There was a murmur of agreement. Some Magpies flew surprisingly close to it. I'm not sure whether they were trying to spook it, but the Osprey just seemed to ingore them. She never did get off that branch while I was there. That was a shame, but to be honest I was just grateful to get a sight of her.

Heron

16/08/22

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Sparrowhawk Havoc

I had to squeeze on to one of the benches of Hide 3 at Sprotbrough Flash. As soon as I settled in, the fellow on my right said 'Sparrowhawk, high, left'. I'm not sure whether it was for my benefit or for somebody else in the hide. The Sparrowhawk was causing havoc over the flash and pigeons were departing in all directions. I managed to track it for a couple of seconds and take a few photos. Blurred photos as it happens, although they were definitely recognisable as a Sparrowhawk. 'Did you get it?', the Chief Spotter asked. I showed him my blurred effort and he gave me a look that said, 'Leave it to the professionals'.

I stayed a while at the Hide. The Cygnets that looked so small in June now looked almost as big as the parents. A Heron flew to the far side of the flash, decided the fishing wasn't good enough there, and then flew almost directly over the hide. Just as I was setting off to depart a woman entered the hide. 'Hope I'm not crowding you out', she said. I told her, 'I was already on my way'.

Cormorant Lookouts

Kingfisher Miss

'Kingfisher. On the post!', the fellow said to me as soon as I entered the Kingfisher hide. I'd packed my camera away and struggled to get it out in time. Thirty seconds later, I was ready, but the Kingfisher had gone. He showed me the stunning picture he had just taken of it. I told him about the Sparrowhawk I'd seen at the other hide. He told me that he'd seen Sparrowhawks chase Kingfishers, but they were far too wily to be caught. They could always dive into the water, and a Sparrowhawk is unable to hover above them. 'Kingfishers over by the reeds!', he said. I looked and saw two blobs darting just above the water, and then out of vision. The chap was quite talkative and told me he'd started bird watching a couple of years ago. 'Yeah, I picked up a new bird, and she was into birdwatching, and she got me into it'. He didn't seem to see the irony of calling his new partner a bird. He said that he'd taken his best photos of Kingfishers just down the road at Denaby Ings. 'I think I might drop off there on the way back', he told me as he departed.

I never got that picture of a Kingfisher. The Sparrowhawk did return but it was circling too far up in the sky to get a good photo.

Wren

29/06/22

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Osprey Stories

The Trans Pennine Trail runs along Sprotbrough Flash. I've cycled along here many times and occasionally dropped in to the three hides along its length.

I was disappointed to find that somebody had burnt a small pile of rubbish in the Kingfisher Hide. Unfortunately the hides along Sprotbrough Flash do attract vandalism. I settled down and watched a family of Great Crested Grebes. An adult was catching fish and giving them to their young.

I was joined by a local birdwatcher and we chatted for a while. The Kingfisher Hide is named, believe it or not, because it is ideal for spotting Kingfishers. He said the foliage was too thick at this time of year to get a good view. An Osprey made a flying visit to the Flash in August 2021. Past records show that they do occasionally turn up here. He told me a story of one that visited a few year's back. Its appearance caused a rush of birders down to the hides. It was nowhere to be seen, much to the disappointment of the birders. The story concludes that somebody else had spotted it on the roof of the hide.

I wandered down to the third hide. Somebody had burnt a small pile of rubbish here too. <sigh>. I watched a Cormorant performing a balancing act on a post standing out from the water. It seemed quite content.

There's a circular path around the Flash; I'll probably do that next time.

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