Potteric Carr, 3rd february

Although its not in Nottinghamshire, i'm going to write a report of my latest trip out, which was to Potteric Carr near Doncaster.
i'd been recommended to go here, and from looking at the site this reserve looked like a must. it took a good while to get there (90 mins on train, 30mins walk from doncaster train station!) but was worth it in the end.
first hide i went in (of 14 available) and there didn't seem much about, but eventually i was treated to the sight of a green woodpecker in the distance. it was very far away but i saw it numerous times as it flitted between the trees and a reedbed. there were a lot of small passerines about, especially blue tits (which were singing everywhere). Saw a couple of Bullfinch walking down towards st catherines copse.


There are two hides near the visitors centre, willow pool hide and beeston hide. Both held some nice sightings for me. the willow pool hide was bonkers as there were literally birds EVERYWHERE. landing all over the place, jumping about, i didnt know where to look. there were a lot of Reed Buntings, which was good as i haven't got views of them as good as this before (the females were lovely), countless tits and chaffinches. I noticed a couple of siskin in the trees behind the hide, but the highlights were a Great spotted woodpecker that popped down and fed a couple of times from the table, and a willow tit (1st i've seen) which landed briefly in a small tree.
Beeston hide produced sightings of 2 water rails (lifers for me) and a good sighting of a bittern, slowly flying across the large reedbeds which grow there.















































I made my way to huxter well marsh and visited a few hides down there before heading back, there were huge numbers of wildfowl on the marsh, often flying up and landing again, creating quite a spectacle. most were gadwall, teal and mallard, but there were a few pochard, goldeneye, shelduck and shoveler about too, among others.

As it was getting darker i decided to walk back, stopping off at the decoy marsh hide to see a couple of mute swan, struggling in the ice, along with around 15 shoveler, a beautiful bird with striking plumage. Then i walked back to the train station, with aching feet, just as it was beggining to snow.