Leeshaw & Leeming

Saturday 27th July a.m.
Leeshaw Reservoir
 A warm sunny start to the day as we arrived at Leeshaw with a temperature of 15°C. The first
bird of note was the Little Owl which was much more active than usual moving from the road
side wall to a nearby post as we went past.This gave us a great opportunity for a closer snap,
which off course we took full advantage of.There was nothing on the water until two groups of
Greylags flew from the direction of Penistone Hill landing on the water. There were Canadas in
the surrounding fields some of which moved to the water during our visit.The usual Meadow Pipits
& Swallows were flitting around but only the one Mallard was seen which flew off over the dam.
Lapwings were in the surrounding fields with some at the waters edge as was the case with
Oystercatchers. Also there were two Grey Herons basking in the sun on the shoreline,we also
spotted three Common Sandpipers on the mud at the edge of the water.Whilst we were watching
these we were pleased when two Snipe appeared from the grass giving us a good view of them as
they flew away into the distance,a first for us at this site.

Little Owl

Grey Heron

Grey Heron & Common Sandpiper

Oystercatcher

Not so Little Owl

Leeshaw

Leeming Reservoir
 The temperature had risen to 18.5°C when we arrived at Leeming, but there was now a lot more
cloud around.We walked along the narrow road which runs alongside the dam wall stopping to look
down at the stream which starts at the bottom of the reservoir overflow.We were rewarding by seeing
a Dipper, we walked to the corner of the dam where we saw a couple of flighty Grey Wagtails.The
level of the water is well down now with plenty of shoreline, the only wader though was a distant
Oystercatcher on the opposite bank which was being watched by a cat.On the water there were
Mallards & BH Gulls, it was quiet along the path as we walked round the reservoir with just a couple
of Willow Warblers seen.
  We took the path which leads to some woodland & to one of the streams which feeds the reservoir
 all was still quiet. This path leads above the reservoir & then back down to the corner of the dam.
As we walked along here we saw another Willow Warbler then a short distance further on we stopped
and listened to a reeling Grasshopper Warbler. We listened for a few minutes but could not get a
sighting of the bird which would be nice, we're starting to get an ear for the reeling now which begs the question, how many have we missed before?
 We caught site of a distant Kestrel and there were a good number of Swallows overhead, back at the corner of the dam there were Pied & Grey Wagtails.

Willow Warbler

Kestrel

Pied Wagtail

Leeming Reservoir

Plenty Shoreline at Leeming