Birdlist for (South) Yorkshire - What Next?! (1 Viewer)

This is my list over the last two or so years of birding in the South Yorkshire. I've not bagged anything new of late and was wondering whether there's anything notable that should be on the list that isn't? I know green woodpecker is missing, which is quickly becoming my arch nemesis


Black Headed Gull
Blackbird
Blue Tit
Bullfinch
Buzzard
Canada Goose
Carrion Crow
Chaffinch
Chiffchaff
Coal Tit
Collared Dove
Common Gull
Common Sandpiper
Coot
Cormorant
Dipper
Dunlin
Dunnock
Eurasian Jay
Feral Pigeon
Fieldfare
Golden Plover
Goldeneye
Goldfinch
Goosander
Great Crested Grebe
Great Spotted Woodpecker
Great Tit
Greenfinch
Grey Heron
Grey Wagtail
Greyling Goose
Grouse
Jackdaw
Kestrel
Kingfisher
Lapwing
Lesser Redpoll
Little Egret
Little Ringed Plover
Long Tailed Tit
Magpie
Mallard
Meadow Pipit
Mistle Thrush
Moorhen
Mute Swan
Nuthatch
Oystercatcher
Partridge
peregrine falcon (Malham, N.Yorks)
Pheasant
Pied Wagtail
Pochard
Redshank
Redwing
Reed bunting
Ringed Plover
Robin
Rook
Sandpiper
Shoveler
Snipe
Song thrush
House Sparrow
Starling
Swallow
Swift
Teal
Tree Sparrow
Tufted Duck
Waxwing
Wheatear
Whooper swan
Wigeon
Willow Warbler
Wood Pigeon
Wren
Yellowhammer

Notable as in fairly common?

Can't see Sparrowhawk

Want stands out to me are pied flycatcher, spotted flycatcher, redstart, hobby, merlin all these should be doable from Shefiield without leaving VC63. Intrigued to see peregrine listed as Malham don't they nest in Sheffield City Centre?

Little and Black necked grebes, both at Potteric Carr

stroll on - totally missed the grebes.

Wilfatron said:

Notable as in fairly common?

Can't see Sparrowhawk

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Yep, notable as in common. Actually I have seen a sparrowhawk - forgot to put it on (I started birding before I started the list).

Where's all the owls??!
Siskin springs to mind. Marsh & Willow Tit, Merlin, Rough-legged Buzzard, Hen Harrier, Lesser & Greater black-backs, Sand Martin, Reed Warbler, Sedge & Garden Warblers.....Cuckoo, and many more.

Where abouts are you? I can get you a Green Woodpecker dead easy on my local patch in the Wharncliffe Area

Others I'd say, cross reffing with my Yorks list:

Avocet - breed at Old Moor
Barn Owl - Old Moor
Black-tailed Godwit - Old Moor
Bittern - Old Moor/Potteric
Blackcap - Common everywhere!
Brambling - I know a good site near me in winter.
Caspian Gull - twitchable at Sheffield gull roosts
Crossbill - I know a few good sites
Common Tern - Old Moor
Corn Bunting - Hatfield Moors
Cuckoo - Old Moor/Hatfield Moors/some of the sites near me
Curlew - very easy on moorland/farmland
Gadwall - Old Moor/Potteric etc
Garden Warbler - easy anywhere when you get your ear in
Garganey - sometimes twitchable at Old Moor/Potteric etc
Goldcrest - very easy in coniferous woodland
Grasshopper Warbler - a few sites, but easier to hear than see
Great Black-backed Gull - easy in Sheffield gull roosts
Greenshank - Old Moor in autumn
Grey Partridge - Hatfield Moors, Wombwell Ings, etc.
Herring Gull - Sheffield gull roosts
Hobby - Thorn Moors is especially good
House Martin - dead easy!

Got to go, will work through the alphabet a bit more later

OK, and the rest...

Jay - very common in woodland
Lesser Black-backed Gull - probably the most common large gull in urban Sheffield
Lesser Spotted Woodpecker - a few sites but takes some finding
Lesser Whitethroat - fairly common around the E side of the area
Linnet - very common in farmland/moorland
Little Grebe - easy
Little Owl - fairly easy to find in farmland
Mandarin - a few easy sites in Sheffield
Marsh Harrier - sometimes at Old Moor or on passage
Merlin - can be found around the moorland fringe
Nightjar - Thorne Moors or Wharncliffe Heath, plus sever less publicised
Peregrine - breed on St George's church in Sheffield centre!!!
Pied Flycatcher - a few sites
Pink-footed Goose - easy to see on migration
Pintail - Winter at Old Moor, Potteric etc
Raven - moorland fringe
Red-legged Partridge - quite a few sites around
Redstart - quite a few sites around Sheffield
Reed Warbler - Old Moor, Potteric etc
Ruff - autumn at Old Moor
Sand Martin - Old Moor, Rother Valley, Potteric, Don in Sheffield/Rotherham centres, etc etc
Sedge Warbler - Old Moor, Potteric
Shelduck - Old Moor, etc
Short-eared Owl - Depends on vole supply, but can be found hanging round moorland fringe, etc.
Siskin - fairly easy in conifers (especially winter)
Skylark - easy
Sparrowhawk - easy
Spotted Flycatcher - fairly easy in woodland
Spotted Redshank - can show up at Old Moor in autumn
Stock Dove - easy
Stonechat - moorland fringe
Tawny Owl - very common in woodland but hard to see during the day
Tree Pipit - Wharncliffe area particularly good
Treecreeper - fairly easy in woodland
Water Rail - Potteric feeders in winter
Willow Tit - Old Moor/Potteric feeders
Wood Warbler - a few sites near me
Woodcock - a lot of woodland at dusk in summer
Yellow Wagtail - a few sites, inc Orgreave Lakes
Yellow-legged Gull - twitchable birds turn up in Sheffield and Redmires

All that's fairly easy and without leaving South Yorks! It's getting a bit late for most of the summer stuff now (still about of course but not as showy as earlier in the season), but if you need any specifics for anything give me a shout. Keep your eyes on the recent sightings at www.sbsg.org.uk and that'll give you more idea where to see stuff in the Sheffield/Rotherham area.

halftwo said:

Marsh & Willow Tit

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Marsh Tit is actually really uncommon in this area, I've never seen one nearer to me than Nottinghamshire, although there are sites in Derbys too.

I've been lucky at the Trans Pennine Trail near Dunford Bridge - but hardly nailed on there.

Thanks for the replies - very helpful.

Pete, I'm in Hillsborough and go walking on Wharncliffe crags quite often...

Forkbeard said:

Thanks for the replies - very helpful.

Pete, I'm in Hillsborough and go walking on Wharncliffe crags quite often...

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In which case you're very near a lot of that stuff. I'll send you a PM at some point with some specific locations. As I say, there's a nailed on spot for Green Woodpecker near there.

Pete Mella said:

In which case you're very near a lot of that stuff. I'll send you a PM at some point with some specific locations. As I say, there's a nailed on spot for Green Woodpecker near there.

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OK Great, thanks. It's much appreciated.

Jay is on the list as Eurasian Jay. Also, I've just added House martin too, although it was in Wales!

Forkbeard said:

Jay is on the list as Eurasian Jay. Also, I've just added House martin too, although it was in Wales!

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So it is - missed that. Plenty of HMs in the Hillsborough area, just a matter of time...

Yellow wagtail should be on the list also. It was Orgreave lakes where I saw them Pete. There were quite a few that particular day.

I can also add blackcap and whitethroat as of this morning. And some sort of warbler that I'm unsure about. It could've been a reed warbler.

Pete Mella said:

Marsh Tit is actually really uncommon in this area, I've never seen one nearer to me than Nottinghamshire, although there are sites in Derbys too.

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Still some fairly reliable sites for MT in deciduous woodlands on the magnesian limestone, east of Rotherham.

RB