2nd November,2009.

After transferring the car in for bodywork repair we visited a whole series of sites in the west B,arnsley area of South Yorkshire. I'm quite impressed and surprised at the number of woodlands which have Nuthatch in them nowadays. When I left South Yorkshire in 1999 few, if any, of the woodlands in the Barnsley area held Nuthatch, so the increase and expansion has been pretty swift!

Whilst we had a good selection of woodland species our quarry for the day, Lesser Spotted Woodpecker, remained elusive! Redwing were clearly arriving, and moving west, and records of Kingfisher and Water Rail were good in a local context. An enjoyable day that, additionally, produced a lot of good memories but, also , reminded me that the process of environmental change marches inexorably forward, be it with the reclamation of previously wild areas, the conversion of ruined buildings or even the introduction of new facilities within the countryside