Driving along the M180 towards Hatfield I had passed an HGV artic not long after I noticed in rear view mirror, it started slewing towards outside lane. At first I thought it was going to overtake me, but then I saw one of it's tyres blow, the driver managed to steer the artic onto the hard shoulder. Not every day we see that happen, nor want to!
I missed the turn off for Hatfield Woodhouse, maybe I was concerned the artic driver had a lucky escape. Anyway I carried on along the M18 hoping there would be a turn-off for Hatfield, there wasn't. So took the A630 and finally found the A614 and arrived at the reserve.
It was totally different to what I expected, it had the biggest car park I have ever seen at a reserve, it is massive, must hold about 500 cars!
Enough of my rantings this is the total of what we saw:
Hen Harrier - 1 [seen by Dave]
Coot - 20
Mallard - 24
Little Grebe- 3
Canada - 6
Tufties - 14
Pochard - 23
Mute Swan - 1
Oystercatcher - 4
Cormorant - 6
Common Gull - 40
Black-headed Gull - 30
Moorhen - 3
Meadow Pip - 8
Skylark - 1
Blue Tit - 2
Great Tit - 3
LT Tit - 13
Robin - 1
Song Thrush - 1
Fieldfare - 7
Crow - 25
Rook - 1
Lapwing - c200
Starling - 60
Yellowhammer - 3
Chaffinch - 2
Linnet - 9
Magpie - 3
Wood Pigeon - 2
Blackbird - 1
31 species for a first visit is not bad and we only covered a small area.
with Dave Johnson
