Potteric Carr.....Some Sun At Last!,Sunday 19th December 2015.

An all day's birding planned today as sleeping beauty was in bed after her nightshift,so i decided to head over to the Yorkshire Wildlife Trust nature reserve at Potteric Carr near to Doncaster just for a change of scenery if anything.
 After a trouble free journey along the M18,i arrived at the reserve car park just as it was opening,paid my four quid for my day permit and off i went.
 The first goodie encountered was a singing male Cetti's Warbler heard singing on the edge of Decoy Lake,no doubt thinking it was spring with the recent mild weather.Also seen here was the first of 3 Sparrowhawks observed during the day.
 I carried on my journey through this extensive reserve,seeing small numbers of Redwing,Blackbirds and Bullfinch before seeing a lovely doe Roe Deer near the Cottage Drain hide,before she bounded off after seeing the strange human looking at her.
 I eventually made it around to the famous Piper Marsh,where,unfortunately after much scanning it didn't reveal any Bitterns,but fine compensation was had from a showy adult Grey Heron as it was watched fishing.These birds are the masters of stealth and patience and it wasn't long before it paid dividends as the Heron caught a nice sized Perch for his breakfast.It was a pretty big catch and it took the bird a while to eventually swallow his or her catch and for the remainder of my time spent watching the bird,it just dozed contentedly.
 Continuing on my walk again a flash of electric blue revealed a Kingfisher flying along the Mother Drain and just before i reached the Roger Mitchell hide overlooking the superb Huxter Well Marsh a couple of snippets of that distinct,stuttering call of another Cetti's revealing it's presence in a small Reedmace covered pool,two for the day wasn't bad.
 A prolonged watch from the Roger Mitchell hide while i enjoyed my lunch saw some pretty decent numbers of wildfowl and gulls which included a single drake Goldeneye and a single adult Great black-backed Gull which was bathing amongst the commoner species.
 The best bird of the day was seen here,a single adult female Marsh Harrier which was watched on several occasions as it hunted this area,just great to see as always!.
 The remainder of the reserve saw more of the same species being seen and i eventually made it back to the car after another very enjoyable visit to this excellent urban reserve.

Willow Pool.

Doe Roe Deer.

Piper Marsh.

In coming Cormorant,Piper Marsh.

Grey Heron with breakfast,Piper Marsh.

Grey Heron dozing after breakfast,Piper Marsh.

Mute Swan,Piper Marsh.

Huxter Well Marsh.